Towing with a Ball and Drawbar

[8N_John]

I will be connecting a ball to my drawbar for towing a small trailer with my 8N. I realize the drawbar will tilt slightly without something to stop it from rotating. However it seems that the rotation would be limited as once the ball is connected to the trailer, the connection would limit the movement.

Is it possible to use this setup without a special device to prevent rotation of the drawbar? Anyone had experience with this?

 

[rdbrumfield]

Hi John. It would be best if you stabilized the drawbar. Having the pulling and downforce on the hitching mechanism would be looking for problems.

 

[Bird]

John, I'm quite confident that the stress of doing it that way will damage the trailer hitch coupler. You can buy a drawbar lock for that purpose from several places.

 

[jinman]

Bird, here's the drawbar stay and some details of the mounting that show how it should be attached with the lift arm stays also attached. The slot in the drawbar stay fits around the lift arm stay (see attachment). /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Bird]

Yeah, that's better, Jim. I just looked up the first picture I found and yours is a much better picture.

 

[oliver28472]

Another possibility is the EZ mover advertized here. Bolts to your drawbar and uses a top link. Put a receiver hitch in it.

 

[Bully]

watch out for shifting loads, aft of the trailer axle. without any bars to the top link, the load can shift and you will have a dump trailer.

 

[Soundguy]

You are asking for trouble in 2 ways.

1, the drawbar can rotate enough to rip a ball out of a cheap/older hitch.

2, the 3pt arms can float up when you try to stop making some weird geometry.


You can get drawbar stays to keep your 11 hole drawbar down, and drawbar locks are easy to make to keep the drawbar from rotating. I've made 2 from scrap metal and a few minutes of welding.

If you have the under fiffy drawbar bracket, you can use the generic TSC drawbar with yor 11 hole drawbar, with a few bits of hardware for support.

To give you an idea of just how cheap/easy it is to make a 'junkyard-scratch built drawbar lock, her eis a pic of one I buzzed together using a piece of rebar, and two scraps of steel I-Beam, and a 'D' bolt, and a regular nut and bolt.. Took 5 minutes to make.. The one ibeam section 'd' bolts around the lift arm, and the other ibeam section has a bolt welded to it that goes thru the 11 hole drawbar, then gets a washer and nut. Takes 1 minutes to install. This one pulled my 16' trailer on a hay ride last year. This year I made a nicer one out of some 1/4 flat stock. and washers/ears/tabs.

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

One more thing I'll add. By having a stabilized drawbar that doesn't spin.. you can really get good at moving trailers in your yard without getting of fthe tractor. Just back up, line up the ball, lift the 3pt, and the fixed ball lifts the hitch.. move the trailer where you want it.. drop the 3pt, and leave the trailer there.

Soundguy

 

[RedDog]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I will be connecting a ball to my drawbar for towing a small trailer with my 8N. I realize the drawbar will tilt slightly without something to stop it from rotating. However it seems that the rotation would be limited as once the ball is connected to the trailer, the connection would limit the movement.

Is it possible to use this setup without a special device to prevent rotation of the drawbar? Anyone had experience with this? )</font>


Before I bought my Kioti, I moved a small trailer numerous times that way without a problem. It was on a Massey 65 with a single axle trailer. It is definitely not the "ideal" setup, but it did the job.

I wouldn't go down the road with it!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

RedDog