Uses for extra Quick Hitch Top Hooks?

[WranglerX]

Good a place as any to put this query.

I have a Mahindra rake and a WoodMaxx 62" flail. I've not used either yet. Bought a Harbor Freight QH yesterday after stopping at the local tractor dealer and getting a quote of nearly $550 for a LandPride QH :thumbdown: I won't use it nearly enough to justify that cost.

The top hook on the QH is in the top position, looks like if I lower it one pin hole and get the proper Cat1 to Cat 2 bushings it will fit the rake. BUT the vertical distance from the side pins to the top pin on the flail is about 20", the hook just barely touches the flail's top pin (trying things with the QH off the tractor) and it is on the curved part of the hook. The WoodMaxx manual says the flail is Cat 1 QH compatible (but not JD i-match compatible) so either there are no standards for QHs or HF's is way out of spec or WM is way out of spec. The top pin in the flail rides in a horizontal slot, no vertical adjustments possible.

My options:
1. Drill another hole in the QH's top hook, it looks like I could get one in below the current lower hole and the same distance apart as the 2 existing holes. The bottom of the hook would still be below the pin but the pin would hit on the vertical part of the hook.
2. Take the QH back and just suck it up mounting the flail? The rake isn't nearly as heavy so messing around to get the link arms attached wouldn't be as bad as trying to do that with the 700# flail.

Given the OP's original post I've added one possibility:
3: Can I buy a top hook for the QH with a longer "tail" so it can be raised higher than the OEM hook? I don't see anything with a Google search. I have no ability to fabricate anything of that nature. I could make one out of wood be we all know how well that would work out.

Thanks,
Bruce

But there is a standard, just because a manufacturer of implements choose to not follow it and do their own dimensions so only their product line fit their I-match does not make the "standard" wrong or invalid....

Best thing QH manufacturers could have done is follow one standard and probably NOT made top hook adjustable and noted specific necessary clearance around hook area, biggest fault in all this is CHINESE QH... Buy it cheap and spending more money buying new hooks and such to make things fit, where is savings.... Only thing Chinese QH did was make some equipment manufactures look real greedy....

Dale

 

[bruceha2000]

I just sent WoodMaxx an inquiry to see if the wrong lift bracket was sent with the unit. It surely does have a Cat III F1 vertical distance instead of a Cat I.
Thanks for the chart Dale.

 

[California]

One more trick to defeat a mismatch or interference at the top hook: Get lined up and drop the hook upside down over the implement's top pin. I have one implement that has a horizontal bolt parallel to and below its top pin, preventing the hook from entering. This was my solution.

This still is easier than dismounting the QH and attaching directly because I can lift the implement by its lower pins to drag it out of the weeds before setting the top hook.

Using the hook upside down assumes the top hook is held by push-in pins with hairpins..


(Also shown in the photo - trailer ball drawbar in the QH lower hooks, with anti-rollover straps that are bolted at both ends of the strap. The straps look lightweight but I've pulled a 2600 lb watering trainer over rough ground for several years without bending those straps.).

 

[bruceha2000]

Interesting idea. Is the sole purpose of the top hook to hold against horizontal motion?

The WoodMaxx guy asked for pictures, here are some that I sent

 

[WranglerX]

Interesting idea. Is the sole purpose of the top hook to hold against horizontal motion?

The WoodMaxx guy asked for pictures, here are some that I sent
View attachment 603291 View attachment 603292 View attachment 603293

Would seem to me there is another design fault with QH side.... Clearance issue is with hook designed by some Chinese engineer(?) who has never connected up a tractor implement....





Also heard the concept of top hook (maybe with a pivot link) is so implement can not be kicked up (limited) into vertical position and possibly come forward enough to injure operator.... Also heard one can use a chain to allow implement to float (no rigid top link) as long there was some limiting device to prevent "kick up"????

Both concepts make sense...

Oh well....

Dale

 

[bruceha2000]

I'm not sure I understand the "clearance issue" Dale. The picture was taken with the mower's cat 1 pins in the QH's cat 2 "hooks". The mower is still in its shipping "crate" with one side removed so I can connect it to the tractor to pull it out and finish the setup. The mower's lower pins are sitting in the QH's lower hooks and the QH's top hook is just barely high enough to contact the top pin at all. If I take the pin out, the QH pivots away from the mower.

I know I'll need bushings to bring the pins on the mower and rake up to Cat 2 size. Seems like companies would make Cat 1 quick hitches since it is unlikely people with Cat 1 3 points, and the smaller tractors they are put on, would be buying Cat 2 implements. Instead there is a big market for bushings to "fix" the mismatch.

I'm hoping the service guy at WoodMaxx is going to look at the pictures and say "****, they put the wrong arch in the crate" and send me the proper one. They do make an 88" and a 96" mower that are Cat 2. I think they've sold plenty of the 3 models of Cat 1 mowers and if they all had the same F1 spacing it would have been noted some long time ago. Maybe not.

 

[WranglerX]

I'm not sure I understand the "clearance issue" Dale. The picture was taken with the mower's cat 1 pins in the QH's cat 2 "hooks". The mower is still in its shipping "crate" with one side removed so I can connect it to the tractor to pull it out and finish the setup. The mower's lower pins are sitting in the QH's lower hooks and the QH's top hook is just barely high enough to contact the top pin at all. If I take the pin out, the QH pivots away from the mower.

I know I'll need bushings to bring the pins on the mower and rake up to Cat 2 size. Seems like companies would make Cat 1 quick hitches since it is unlikely people with Cat 1 3 points, and the smaller tractors they are put on, would be buying Cat 2 implements. Instead there is a big market for bushings to "fix" the mismatch.

I'm hoping the service guy at WoodMaxx is going to look at the pictures and say "****, they put the wrong arch in the crate" and send me the proper one. They do make an 88" and a 96" mower that are Cat 2. I think they've sold plenty of the 3 models of Cat 1 mowers and if they all had the same F1 spacing it would have been noted some long time ago. Maybe not.

To me. looking at pivot top attachment point look like it going to hit the bolts that holds the hooks when top bar drops on to hook....

Not only does top mount look to high (cat 3) as you see it, it also looks like space between bottom of hook and bolts that hold hook to mount is two small to accept top attachment point of implement...



Dale

 

[bruceha2000]

OK, I see now. I didn't think about that, I was focusing on the height issue. I'll have to see if the gap is wide enough. If not I guess I need to get the "fork" regardless.

 

[SSdoxie]

To me. looking at pivot top attachment point look like it going to hit the bolts that holds the hooks when top bar drops on to hook....

Not only does top mount look to high (cat 3) as you see it, it also looks like space between bottom of hook and bolts that hold hook to mount is two small to accept top attachment point of implement...

View attachment 603380

Dale

This interference is why Threepoint has the extra hooks he mentioned at start of this thread. The replacement hooks project out farther so bracket on the implement do not contact the bolts.
Bruce, you could gain 3 advantages by modifying the existing hook by welding a piece of bar stock with holes drilled to match the existing pattern to back side of the hook to move the hook back plus make the bar stock slightly longer to accommodate 2 more holes lower down to raise the hook higher for the flail mower. By having the hook moved outward you could use hitch pins to quickly change hook height versus wrenching on the bolts.

 

[bruceha2000]

This interference is why Threepoint has the extra hooks he mentioned at start of this thread. The replacement hooks project out farther so bracket on the implement do not contact the bolts.
Bruce, you could gain 3 advantages by modifying the existing hook by welding a piece of bar stock with holes drilled to match the existing pattern to back side of the hook to move the hook back plus make the bar stock slightly longer to accommodate 2 more holes lower down to raise the hook higher for the flail mower. By having the hook moved outward you could use hitch pins to quickly change hook height versus wrenching on the bolts.

Sadly I have no ability to weld anything. No education in welding, no welder. As a newbie to tractors and tractor "things", I'm quite amazed at the lack of standardization in "standardized" NEW attachments including NEW quick hitches.