Home-Built 3-Pt. Quick Hitch

Home-Built 3-Pt. Quick Hitch HITCHES Hitches 28-1-34 "It works faster and is also much safer to use than conventional 3-pt. hookup systems," says John Carson, Sherwood Park, Alberta, who modified the 3-pt. hitch on his Kubota tractor as well as the mounting brackets on all his 3-pt. implements. "I can easily and safely attach or remove any 3-pt. implement in just a few seconds," says Carson. "Bending or losing pins is now a thing of the past for me." He cut 3 to 4 in. off each end of the lower hitch arms, then welded 4 by 4-in. steel mounting plates in their place. A pair of pintle hitches - the kind used by large trucks - were then bolted onto the plates. The next step was to modify the mounting brackets on each of his implements. He left the original bracket in place and welded on another identical bracket 6 in. away. Then he made a 6-in. long sleeve that fits between the two brackets. A 1 by 8-in. bolt fits through the brackets. He made the sleeves by drilling a 1-in. dia. hole through a 2-in. dia. solid metal rod, leaving walls that are 1/2 in. thick. To hook up to the implement, he simply backs up until both pintle hitches are under the sleeves, then raises the lower lift arms slightly. Then he manually closes the latches on the pintle hitches and attaches the top link. "I made this modification to every 3-pt. implement on our farm three years ago and wouldn't want to farm any other way. I don't know why someone didn't think of it long ago," says Carson. "I use it with my 50 and 100 hp Kubota tractors and with my disk, subsoil ripper, snowblower, rototiller, sweeper, and bale forks, mower, etc. "I looked all over trying to find a commercial 3-pt. hitch system like this but had no luck. Some of the bigger 4-WD tractors on the market today come factory-equipped with a quick tach 3-pt. It's quite a job to back the tractor in and try to align the implement with the lower lift arms, because you have to get everything lined up just perfect. Sometimes it used to take me 5 to 10 minutes to hook up an implement. "Another problem is that the pins can loosen up and get bent so bad they have to be replaced. I've never had to repair or replace anything." Carson has drawn up detailed diagrams of how he made the quick hitch. Anyone interested can fax or email him. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Carson, 52277 RR 225, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada T8C 1C7 (fax 780 467-5257; email: jcarson@interbaun.com).

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