What am I not getting... 3 pt and trailer

[Soundguy]

Stay bars and a drawbar lock will make the 3pt drawbar much safer..

Soundguy

 

[rozett]

For your amusement, I detached my box blade for the first time yesterday. I believe my neighbors (who live very far away) got a lesson in articulating foul language .

And I take it from your username, that after removing your boxblade, you went inside and had some smoothsippin... Jack Daniels black label on the rocks?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

All things being equal, I'll take the SAFEST route when possible. Without knowing all the specifics, I'd say the SAFEST way to pull a trailer with a tractor would be from the FIXED drawbar. Raise 3-point draft arms up out of the way and go.

Now, there's times that won't work. You may need the trailer ball higher than the drawbar will allow. Maybe it needs to be farther back from the tractor. Whatever the reason, trailer towing can be done from the 3-point hitch with certain precautions.

One thing to consider. What are you going to be towing? (trailer/cargo) An empty trailer? A load of firewood? 200 bales of hay? I use a 3-point trailer hitch for pulling gooseneck trailers, as well as conventional "bumper pull" trailers. A gooseneck is worse, but bumper pulls will cause the hitch to raise when you have the draft arms even slightly higher than parallel with the ground AND then start down a hill. The forward "push" of the weighted trailer will cause things to happen that you'd rather not have happen. ANY loaded trailer can (and will) do that.

Part of the original "FERGUSON SYSTEM" 3-point hitchs that you'd find on all the old Fords and Fergusons was stay bars that attached just under the seat, and ran to the ends of the draft arms to stabilize the hitch for towing. Good if you can use them.

 

[RedRocker]

I put a ball on the back of my box blade for moving trailers.

 

[dieselsmoke1]

I put a ball on the back of my box blade for moving trailers.

Now that's interesting. Think I'll have one of those. Thanks for the idea.

 

[AlanB]

I did basicly the same, but welded in a 2" reciever. Still need the bars to tie the bottom pins to the top link to keep it from raising up though.

 

[djradz]

Do you have the drawbar under the rear differential? If so, trailering from this will be much safer than trailering from a drawbar on the lift arms. If you're only talking (relatively) light loads, it shouldn't be an issue.

BR

I agree. Although using a drawbar between the lower links works in most cases, sometimes if you go to back up a large load, the links may rise - not a good situation. If you're tractor comes with a fixed or swinging drawbar, it usually is a better situation. The only time I use the lower-link drawbar is if I need to get the trailer our away from the tractor furhter, such as when I'm going to be making very sharp turns and don't want the tractor wheels hitting the trailer.

 

[daTeacha]

I used one of the lift arm drawbars on my Kubota to haul the trailer that normally carries the tractor. A very helpful item is a second piece of steel with appopriate holes in it to connect the hitch drawbar to the tractor's regular swinging drawbar hookup point -- a big pin that drops through two holes sticking out the back of the differential in the case of my little 'bota. This extra piece of steel was pinned or bolted to the lift arm drawbar and did wonders to keep it level, which was very useful since I was pulling the trailer with a ball hitch and not a clevis pin arrangement. It limits how much vertical motion you can get with the lift arms, but that shouldn't be a problem unless you're trying to dump the trailer from the tractor seat.

 

[Varmintmist]

This might be a stupid question, but you are trying to put the ball on a drawbar and not in the hole for the drawbar pin, correct?? The only way I can picture getting to close is if you didnt put the drawbar in.

There is a round hole under the PTO shaft that is for the drawbar pin, a drawbar slides in the rectangular hole under there and the pin is put in the round hole to hold the drawbar. A ball hitch or clevis or poop spreader can be hooked to that drawbar and towed.

If you are going to tow off a 3 pt drawbar, get a drawbar lock at TSC. It will keep the 3pt drawbar from turning. If the 3pt bar turns and you have enough weight on the trailer, you will elongate the hitch and it is a cast iron bear to get the ball out of the hitch..... errrrr..... so I am told

 

[daTeacha]

My impression is that he had the trailer tongue attached directly to the tractor where the drawbar would normally go, thus bringing the trailer too far forward and hitting the lift arms.

I modified the 3 point drawbar arrangement a bit. I didn't have the regular swinging drawbar for the tractor and thought the price was pretty steep, hence the 3 point bar. I happened to have a length of 3/8" or 1/2" steel that would reach from the drawbar pin to beyond the 3 point bar. I drilled it for the pin, drilled it for a bolt to pass through the 3 point bar, and drilled it again for a hitch ball. It all worked well enough but when I put too heavy a load on once it bent slightly just after the 3 point bar. I just removed the ball, flipped the whole thing over, reinstalled the ball, and started to lift the same load again until it was straight.