Homemade Pintle Hitch

Hommade Pintle Hitch HITCHES Hitches 26-3-34 Thanks for the story on the hitch I made to stiffen up the drawbar on my IH 84 tractor (Vol. 25, No. 6). I originally came up with the idea because the drawbar on this tractor often flopped around as I backed up, making it difficult to hitch up to my pto-powered feed wagon. I solved the problem by welding an open steel frame onto the drawbar. The top of the frame hooks to the 3-pt. top link, which makes the drawbar rigid. A pto shaft can run through the frame. If I want I can replace the drawbar pin with a 2-in. ball to move livestock trailers, etc. I recently added an attachment that supports a pintle hitch hookup. I welded a 1/2-in. thick steel plate onto a short length of 2 by 3-in. tubing and then bolted the pintle hitch to the plate. I spot welded nuts for 1/2-in. bolts on the back side of the plate. There are three sets of holes so six nuts were required. And four bolts were needed to mount the pintle hook. In addition, two 3/4 by 6-in. grade 8 bolts were used to attach the bracket to the drawbar frame. The addition of a spacer allows the pintle hook bracket to set squarely to the drawbar. Then 3/4-in. nuts were spot welded in place on the top side of the 2 by 3 tubing. This pintle hook is of the 5-ton variety. Larger ones could be made to work accordingly with minor adjustments. Because the 1/2-in. thick plate is higher on the top side, two 1/4 by 1 1/4-in. flat straps, 7 1/2 in. long, were placed at an angle to the tubing and welded in for additional support. Now I have a really versatile hitch that will accommodate drawbar pin implements, 2 or 2 5/16-in. ball hitch implements, and pintle hook pulled implements. (Leonard Seltzer, 16040 W. Elmwood, Manhattan, Ill. 60442 ph 815 478-3578)

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