3-point hitch for jeep wrangler?????

[Wannabee]

Hi all,

Just saw a link for a three-point hitch that fits into a 2" receiver for a SUV/truck etc.

Anyone ever used this before? I think it is called a t-point or something like that. It is $1400.

Better question: Anyone ever built something like this they would like to share with me? I have a jeep wrangler, but no tractor. A 3-point hitch would come in handy if I could build one cheap enough......

Thanks!

[ET1 SS]

During the 1980s I used to see 3-point setups on the back of jeeps very often in Central California.

They were the MA / MB / GP / M38 / CJ2 / CJ3 / CJ4 / CJ5 / CJ6 body style.

I was told that they were much cheaper to operate in the field pulling a harrow than a tractor was.

[Darren]

Originally Posted by ET1 SS

During the 1980s I used to see 3-point setups on the back of jeeps very often in Central California.

They were the MA / MB / GP / M38 / CJ2 / CJ3 / CJ4 / CJ5 / CJ6 body style.

I was told that they were much cheaper to operate in the field pulling a harrow than a tractor was.

Unimogs were set up with 3 pts and ptos originally. They started out as a tractor/truck. Now I think they're more of a truck/tractor.

[ET1 SS]

I do like unimogs

[Ozarks Tom]

I built one last year for my Bronco to blade snow on our 1 1/2 mile of gravel road. Put a cheap HF winch on it. Works great. Had to hinge one side so it would follow the contour of the road.

Total cost, including winch, was around $90. Had to have a trailer place wire the Bronco for the winch for around $150. I can email pictures if you PM me.

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Ozarks Tom

I built one last year for my Bronco to blade snow on our 1 1/2 mile of gravel road. Put a cheap HF winch on it. Works great. Had to hinge one side so it would follow the contour of the road.

Total cost, including winch, was around $90. Had to have a trailer place wire the Bronco for the winch for around $150. I can email pictures if you PM me.

Tom, Nick (n9viw) says he'd like to see pics - or we could invite ourselves over to look at it. LOL!

[Plowpoint]

I think in the right circumstances a 3 point hitch on a Wrangler would work out quite well.

I would think it would be situations that required faster speeds with low traction requirements in particular where no visibility was required. With ground driven haying equipment, you could do a lot in a hay field faster and easier. As someone else said, harrowing would work until the soil got so loose that the Jeep started to break traction.

Ultimately though you would reach a plateau. Ground driven, or separate-engine-driven equipment is much more expensive over that of pto equipment that within a short period of time, a used tractor would have paid for itself. And while 3 point hitch equipment that was not PTO driven could be used successfully, I would think the lack of visibility would hamper how effective the equipment was.

For instance I was think of grading a road or long drive. I use my tractor and 3 point hitch grader blade, but without being able to see what the cutting edge was doing, and being able to control the 3 point hitch to compensate, what good could come of it even if you could do it faster? Mirrors would help, but with the more mirrors you use, or the more fisheyed, the harder it is to judge distance.

At some point traction will also be an issue. You could easily compensate with high traction tires, but tires are only part of the equation, the suspension of a tractor articulates far better then a Jeep allowing the tires to be in contact with the ground better. How many times would it take at getting stuck to make a 3 point hitch on a jeep prohibitively frustrating?

I realize all these things can be overcome. Mirrors would help like I mentioned, as would better tires, and obviously Jeeps take a variety of suspension improvement parts, but at what cost? A used tractor can be had for $1500-2000 dollars with a PTO and 3 point hitch so equipping a Jeep Can be done, and would work, and has a certain appeal, fiscally it does not make much sense.

[Qhorseman]

Originally Posted by ET1 SS

During the 1980s I used to see 3-point setups on the back of jeeps very often in Central California.

They were the MA / MB / GP / M38 / CJ2 / CJ3 / CJ4 / CJ5 / CJ6 body style.

I was told that they were much cheaper to operate in the field pulling a harrow than a tractor was.

There is a hay baling contractor in the Valley in CA. that uses them to pull hay balers. Most around us were old flat fender Willy's.

[Jim-mi]

But then what is it going to cost you when you blow out any of the jeeps drive train . .????
Whats the price of a transfer case, a tranny . .???

Answer; a used tractor

[farmrbrown]

Originally Posted by Wannabee

Hi all,

Just saw a link for a three-point hitch that fits into a 2" receiver for a SUV/truck etc.

Anyone ever used this before? I think it is called a t-point or something like that. It is $1400.

Better question: Anyone ever built something like this they would like to share with me? I have a jeep wrangler, but no tractor. A 3-point hitch would come in handy if I could build one cheap enough......

Thanks!

No to the first question.
Yes to the 2nd.

Actually it wasn't so much a 3 pt. hitch, but a 4 blade plow that fit directly into the receiver.
Very crude, but effective.
If you can weld, a trip to the scrapyard and about $100 for everything, you'll be in business.
Naturally, this isn't the perfect solution and others have pointed out the drawbacks. But if the field is fairly level, not too big and not too rocky, it will work in a pinch. I've actually been using my 4wd truck this whole year as a tractor, pulling out small tree stumps as well. Obviously you have to use some common sense and know its limitations, but beggars can't be choosers, lol.
Did I mention that if you are not a good welder when you start, you'll be a LOT better when you finish?


I'll try to post a pic of my Frankenstein a little later.

[haypoint]

I saw an early 1950 Jeep with a 3 point hitch and a PTO. Seen pictures in magazines, too. They were used to plow and operate small equipment.

I'd think that a whole 3 point hitch hooked to the little square hitch socket wouldn't work on anything heavy.

[Pony]

Originally Posted by Jim-mi

But then what is it going to cost you when you blow out any of the jeeps drive train . .????
Whats the price of a transfer case, a tranny . .???

Answer; a used tractor

Pft. You'd be mighty hard pressed to blow out a Jeep drive train pulling a two-bottom plow or a scraper blade.

Heck, Nick didn't blow out the drive train on his CJ8 (Scrambler) pulling a high-stuck M715 down off a hill (the bumper needed some help after, though).

And if you do damage the drive train, it ain't rocket surgery to fix. You can find parts forever.

I love Jeeps. Kinda like Legos for grown ups.

[Cabin Fever]

I've been looking for a Willys Jeep for several years and ran across this one for sale on Ebay. Posting it here for the Jeep crowd.

Jeep : CJ Trencher Jeep : CJ Trencher | eBay

[Bandit]

The Cheap Way Out
Category 1 3-Pt. Hitch to 2in. Receiver Adapter | 3-Point Hitch Adapters| Northern Tool + Equipment

Do You mean this 3 point hitch set up for a 2 in. receiver ?
T-point lift vehicle three point hitch description
T-Point lift vehicle 3 point hitch

You just Missed a Monroe Hitch on Fee-Bay ( Bill if You are Reading this , it is really E-Bay )
Monroe 3-point hitch for Willys Jeep | eBay

I would keep searching for one of these http://www.vintagejeepparts.com/jeep...raulicLift.asp

The Love 3-Point Hitch

Another site to research about jeep 3 pt. hitches and what a jeep can do .
http://farmjeep.com/

[n9viw]

Ah! Jeeps, my favorite subject.

My uncle has a '46 Willys CJ-2a with the 3-point hitch setup on the back. The rear frame member has a bracket which holds two stubby little arms on a horizontal rotating shaft, and there was a bracket (since removed by a previous owner) that held the two lower arms and the third link above.

A pair of links connected the stubby arms to the lower arms, and the stubby arms on their shaft were cam-driven off a PTO drive. Engage the PTO, and the little arms would raise... and lower.... raise... and lower... very slowly, so as to not yank or drop the equipment.

Add a PTO drive spindle, and you'd be in business for just about any 3-point, PTO-drive implement you'd want. Even without the PTO drive, you could use it for plowing, discing, scraping, or whatever. His second PTO was used to pulley-drive a 240VAC generator mounted between the front seats.

A lot of aftermarket companies sprang up around the early CJs back in the 40s and 50s, with just about any attachment you can think of. One popular one was a hydraulic backhoe- the backhoe attached to the frame and the bed, and the hydro pump was bolted into the engine belt path. The trouble is, trying to pick up too much weight caused the front end of the Jeep to come up... so people would weight them down, or chain them down. If you find one of these unfortunate creatures, it's not uncommon for the frame to be 'hump-backed' or even broken, right under the driver's seat.

That said, I agree with Haypoint- a standard 2" receiver is typically Class III, which is limited to about 200# tongue weight. That would handle a scraper blade, or a 2-bottom plow, but not much more than that, and even then not for long. Another issue is that it doesn't address side-load or axial torque- I'd imagine that after a short period of time, even the most robust hitch will become twisted, bent, or cracked.

If you're serious about this, you're going to have to figure out how to tie this thing DIRECTLY into the frame, without the receiver. This obviates the streetability of the Jeep, as if it's going to have any sort of longevity and strength it's going to also protrude up into the bed area, or stick out the back (which adds strain to the unsupported tail section of the Jeep, eventually causing frame damage).

As much as I'd love to say you can do it, I find myself siding with those who say, save up your money and get a dedicated tractor. Unless your application is VERY limited (say, just a scraper blade now and again), you're better off getting the machine that was actually made for the work. Why pound a nail with a screwdriver?

[n9viw]

The setup on my uncle's CJ-2a is very similar to the image of the second Jeep on this page: Farm Jeep . The text indicates that's a hydro setup, but my uncle's is definitely NOT- there's a shaft running from the PTO drive off the side of the trans back to the rear frame crossmember, where it drives a gear reduction cam that causes the short-arm shaft to slowly rotate about 90* or so, up and down and back again. Wish I'd thought to take a picture of it, I don't know if he even still has the old beast anymore.

[n9viw]

That T-point looks interesting, but that's still putting way too much 'tongue weight' on a Class III receiver. Take a look at the clearance between the rear tire and the fender on this poor Jeep, just carrying a simple 5' Cat 1 scraper blade: http://www.t-pointlift.com/images/T-Point_on_Jeep.jpg

If you click on it, you can zoom in. Please note the contact points of the rear leaf spring relative to the center of the hub. Can you see that the hub center is quite a bit ABOVE the eyes of the springs? Those springs are in NEGATIVE ARCH. He's probably sitting right on the bumpstops, and his tires are grinding away on his fenders and fender flares.

A similar setup on the Ford truck doesn't cause it to sag, nor do even heavier loads, but then again, it's a truck, not a Jeep as the OP stated... apples and oranges. Personally, I'd think the truck would be even harder to use, given that it has a higher center of gravity and greatly increased turning radius over the Jeep, not to mention poorer visibility.

And even given all that, I still think that their stated "2000# capacity" is WAY too much for a Class III receiver, which I INCORRECTLY stated was 200#- it's actually 500#, which is STILL insufficient, IMO, to support that T-point setup plus a heavy implement.

[Wis Bang 2]

Just to add my $0.02 My dad was involved w/ the county Civil Defense and used to go to the depot at Mechanicsburg, Pa. He said they had an old flat fender jeep w/ the back fender/tailgate area chopped up and about a 1" steel plate welded onto the frame holding a RR car knuckle...so the could move rail cars w/ the old Willys!

I used to see one w/ a pto powered sicklebar mowing a sloped area a few times a year.

[n9viw]

I have a book entitled "The Essential Military Jeep", which shows a Ford GPW being used to tow rail cars somewhere in India. They're tough little buggies, to be sure, which is part of the reason people think they can do all sorts of things with them that they really probably shouldn't!

[bn6106]

I have used mine for many years and I'm very pleased with how it works. I have used a cat 1 box blade, cat 0 blade, a rake, 6ft disc, and a plow spike. I have a ford 250, a Toyota 4x4 truck and a neighbor that used it behind his jeep.