Water tank fixed or on 3PH?

Steveng · Aug 6, 2002

I recently bought a water tank on 2 wheels which will have a filled weight of about 1000 kg (2000 pds?). I want to fill this tank at my house and drive it down to the place the horses are (about 1/4 mile through a dirt road). Since my tractor (nibbi 4WD 20 HP) does not have the 'normal' connection for attaching trailers (with a pin through the hole of the trailer), fixed to the tractor's rear end, I use the 3PH to attach the tank. This is easier to put the tank at it's place too: lift the tank a bit, put a support underneath and lower the tank onto the support and disconnect. And now (finally) my question: Can moving the water tank around affect the fixings and hydraulic piston ? Lifting the tank is no problem since it is quite balanced (and the 3PH can take about 1000pds) but driving it around pushes and pulls the entire 3PH. (You can find a drawing in attachment that might explain what i'm trying to say here) I can alwys make a fixed trailer attachment to the tractor... Any opinions are greatly appreciated.

RobS · Aug 6, 2002

You should have no problem pulling a trailer on the tph Steven. That will be a lot less load than a disc or box blade which connects to the tph as well. Lots of people use a tph drawbar for pulling trailers instead of the "swinging" drawbar on the tractor frame.

Nice sketch too /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

rozett · Aug 6, 2002

Why not just buy a drawbar for the 3ph and pull the tank around? The drawbar is only around $30 and it should be able to handle the 'tow' weight of the loaded tank.

Soundguy · Aug 6, 2002

It looks like he has a stabilized 3pt drawbar already.. but was concerned with the motion up and against the 3pt hydraulics.

Personally I think a swinging drawbar would be the best bet.. keeps the load from shifting as much.. water is about 8# per gallon and flows, if the tank isn't full... A quick stop would make the 3pt come up, and could unload the rear end.. might be hard to stop.

Again.. a worst case scenario... I've never personally seen an accident involving a 3pth drawbar towed impliment. .but have heard of them... Havn't heard of a swinging drawbar problem (yet)

Soundguy

gws · Aug 6, 2002

Re: Water tank fixed or on 3PH?

I have a 55gal drum mounted on a carry all to move water around. You didnt say the size of your water drum

dgood1 · Aug 6, 2002

The safe way is to use the draw bar. Don't know the size of your tractor. Going down hill with the setup that you show could have an unsettling effect on your stability. The further that have the weight attached the more it can cause problems.
Something like a long lever can move a heavier weight than a short lever can.

Do you have stabilizers on your lift arms?

Just my opinion (which I am full of),

Don

Anonymous Poster · Aug 6, 2002

The word DOWN the road in your post concerns me. If you will be hauling a full trailer down a hill, you could definitely be in for trouble, as the laod could force the 3ph up as you attempt to ****** the load.
If you are pulling on flatland, the only problem you would encounter would come from a partly filled tank sloshing as you stop, that too could push the lift up.
Simplest solution would be to build yourself a drawbar that had the towing connection point at the right toung height with the 3ph fully up. It wouldn't hurt to rebalance the trailer so there are about 440# of weight on the toung either.

Steveng · Aug 7, 2002

I've done some calculations (metric to american std) so here it is:
The tractor weight is around 2200 pounds. It is a 4WD with equal wheels. It's not as sturdy as a tractor where only the wheels turn because of the two hinge points. The water tank is about 190 gallons (length of the tank is 6 feet) with the axle in the middle and a tow bar of about 5 feet. This brings the total filled weigth of the trailer to about 2000 pounds. The road is flat, except for the last couple of feet down (not steep) to the meadow. I guess going down is not a problem since the weigth will push down on the tractor, going up is more difficult (the water will flood to the backside of the tank pulling the tow bar up). The 3PH is not yet satbilised from left to right (will do this shortly) but I don't know how to prevent it from going up (hydraulics can lift up but not push down). Greetings from Belgium...

hazmat · Aug 7, 2002

<font color=blue>The 3PH is not yet satbilised from left to right (will do this shortly) but I don't know how to prevent it from going up </font color=blue>

You can rig a check chain from the three point hitch to something lower on the tractor (where the drawbar would go) this will keep the three point from raising up. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.agri-supply.com/31-40.pdf> Agri-Supply pdf </A> see sketch on page two of this section of their catalog.

Greetings from Massachusetts!

Steveng · Aug 7, 2002

Good idea, but since the attachment of the 3PH is already very low on the tractor I'm not sure this will work. I'll check it out when I come home this evening (and it's -for once- not raining). To see things for yourself, you can check out a picture of the tractor on the 'other brands' section, in the 'nibbi tractors info' thread. When I look at the picture myself, I can't help thinking that it might be a good tractor for the 'Photos - Ugliest tractor fotos' thread, and the foto even makes it look better than in real-life. But hey, I kinda like the darn thing!