3-Point Hitch TC30, R4 Tires, and 3pt Hitch Arms - Not Enough Room!!

strez · Dec 25, 2007

Hello. Thought I'd post about an annoyance of mine - perhaps somebody out there has some good ideas that will help me out.

Subject says it all. I have a TC30 with R4 Industrial tires mounted. When I have an implement attached to the 3-pt arms (box blade, rear blade, et al) I cannot for the life of me get the arms set in such a way that it doesn't either (a) make it impossible to hook up the implement to the arms because the arms are not spread wide enough, or (b) have the arms tight enough so that one or both of the arms do not rub one or both of the tires. Simply put, it just seems like there just isn't enough room between the inside edges of the tires to accommodate a standard sized implement.

The latest frustration for me is when I just installed a new set of tire chains on the R4's . . . needless to say this only compounded the problem and the tire chains - if not aligned perfectly - hit on the 3pt hitch arms as the tire rotates. Very frustrating.

I'm thinking one of three things - either (a) rotate the hitch pins on my implements to the _inside_ of their current mounting position to gain more room (thus allowing the arms to be about 3" more towards the midline of the tractor on each side), (b) get a set of wheel spacers to push the tires out an inch or so on each side (anyone know of a manufacturer of wheel spacers for the TC30?), or (c) get a set of quick-hitch connects for the arms to eliminate the need to spread the arms very wide when hooking up the implement (thus allowing the arms to be a bit more tighter towards the midline of the tractor and not need to spread apart very wide to attach the implement).

Of course - other ideas/suggestions are also welcomed . . . let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

JC-jetro · Dec 25, 2007

strez said:
Hello. Thought I'd post about an annoyance of mine - perhaps somebody out there has some good ideas that will help me out.

Subject says it all. I have a TC30 with R4 Industrial tires mounted. When I have an implement attached to the 3-pt arms (box blade, rear blade, et al) I cannot for the life of me get the arms set in such a way that it doesn't either (a) make it impossible to hook up the implement to the arms because the arms are not spread wide enough, or (b) have the arms tight enough so that one or both of the arms do not rub one or both of the tires. Simply put, it just seems like there just isn't enough room between the inside edges of the tires to accommodate a standard sized implement.

The latest frustration for me is when I just installed a new set of tire chains on the R4's . . . needless to say this only compounded the problem and the tire chains - if not aligned perfectly - hit on the 3pt hitch arms as the tire rotates. Very frustrating.

I'm thinking one of three things - either (a) rotate the hitch pins on my implements to the _inside_ of their current mounting position to gain more room (thus allowing the arms to be about 3" more towards the midline of the tractor on each side), (b) get a set of wheel spacers to push the tires out an inch or so on each side (anyone know of a manufacturer of wheel spacers for the TC30?), or (c) get a set of quick-hitch connects for the arms to eliminate the need to spread the arms very wide when hooking up the implement (thus allowing the arms to be a bit more tighter towards the midline of the tractor and not need to spread apart very wide to attach the implement).

Of course - other ideas/suggestions are also welcomed . . . let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

I know for sure on Ag tires you can mount them several different ways to increase or reduce width of tires based on you need. It seems to me you may be able to rotate the rims kind of inside out to get more width. I'm sure someone with industrial tire will chime in soon for an advise. Stay tuned. Have you checked the owner's manual yet. On my 1700 there is a page dedicated on many iteration on how to mount the rims to get desired width.

JC,

hockeyhead · Dec 25, 2007

Wow, I don't have any such problems, I also have a TC-30 with R4's, I run a
6'RFM, 5' rotary, 5' tiller, 5' BB, 6' grader blade, PHD, without any problems with width or hooking up the arms. On some things I have made the pins are 27" apart copying the impliments that I'd purchased. All impliments I have are cat 1, are you trying to run something larger? I'll go measure the distance between the rear tires at the 3pt arms and get back to you.

hockeyhead · Dec 25, 2007

I have 31" inbetween the rear tires and 2.5 to 3" from the 3pt arms to the tires. This is with the back blade on it, The turnbuckles are adjusted for an1/2" of movement each way. R4's are not adjustable for width (per the manual) and should be dish out. If somehow you ended up dish in you would lose 2" per side. hope this helps some.

RickB · Dec 25, 2007

There should be, in fact there is, sufficient clearance between the inside of the R-4's and the draft links when attached to implements with Cat I dimensions. The stabilizers will keep the draft links away from the tires when adjusted properly. If you are not using implements with category I dimensions, you have an implement problem, not a tractor problem. Tire chains certainly can cause problems.

strez · Dec 25, 2007

hockeyhead said:
I have 31" inbetween the rear tires and 2.5 to 3" from the 3pt arms to the tires. This is with the back blade on it, The turnbuckles are adjusted for an1/2" of movement each way. R4's are not adjustable for width (per the manual) and should be dish out. If somehow you ended up dish in you would lose 2" per side. hope this helps some.

Thanks for the reply.

My measurements are as follows:
~29.5" in between the two rear tires - not the 31" you measured
~34" from hitch pin to hitch pin (at the widest point of course)
~27" from the base of one hitch pin to the base of the other (basically the width of the implement - exclusive of the hitch pins)
~1" between the 3pt arms and each tire with back blade mounted - with very little slack at all on each of the turnbuckles.

As an aside - the tires are 15x19.5.

Re the dish out vs dish in - not sure which way mine are mounted as I am unfamiliar with the terminology - but here goes an explanation of how they are mounted on my tractor. In the middle of the rim where the wheel bolts to the hub is a piece of dished metal that looks like a pie pan. On my tractor - if that were indeed a pie pan - the pie would be on the outside of the wheel. In other words, the bottom of the pie pan is facing the inside. Make sense? If so - is this dish in or out?

strez · Dec 25, 2007

RickB said:
There should be, in fact there is, sufficient clearance between the inside of the R-4's and the draft links when attached to implements with Cat I dimensions. The stabilizers will keep the draft links away from the tires when adjusted properly. If you are not using implements with category I dimensions, you have an implement problem, not a tractor problem. Tire chains certainly can cause problems.

I know there should be - and unfortunately in my case there isn't. Implement dimensions and tractor measurements are as described in post above. I'm pretty sure I have Cat 1 implements (7/8" diameter hitch pins for the lift arms, about 27" from the base of one hitch pin to the other).

Re the stabilizers - here's the process I follow. First I hook up the implement on level ground, and lift it up off of the ground. Next I center the implement -this never results in more than 1" of space max between the lift arm and the tire on each side - even with the lift arms squeezed as tightly together as possible against the base of the hitch pins. Lastly, I loosely tighten each of the turnbuckles to reduce the left/right sway of the implement to keep it centered.

That's it in a nutshell.

hockeyhead · Dec 25, 2007

I believe I have the same rim 15x19.5. If I stand on the outside of the rear tire, looking at the wheel lugs I have about 8.5" from the wheel lug mounting surface to the outboard edge of the rim, measuring depth. If I stand inbetween the hitch arm and measure the inside depth of the rim I have 6.5". This is a dished out condition meaning that the rim offsets the centerline of the tire 1" outboard from the mounting hub surface. If this condition is reversed on your machine that would explain the conditions and numbers you supplied. If not I'm clueless, but there is a lot more help here, as it's a quiet day because of the Holiday,

RickB · Dec 26, 2007

Simplest way to resolve this is for you to post whether your valve stems are towards the center of the tractor, or are visible on the outside face of the rim. Hockeyhead or someone else with this tractor/wheel configuration can tell us whether yours are mounted correctly. I'll try to remember to look today at work.

strez · Dec 26, 2007

RickB said:
Simplest way to resolve this is for you to post whether your valve stems are towards the center of the tractor, or are visible on the outside face of the rim. Hockeyhead or someone else with this tractor/wheel configuration can tell us whether yours are mounted correctly. I'll try to remember to look today at work.

My valve stems are pointed out and visible on the outside of the rim.