3 pt hitch
 

I normally do all my own research and rarely ask questions on forums, but I could use some help here from a guru. If you don't own a tractor, you likely won't be able to help.

I have an old Mitsubishi D1500 4WD tractor with 3 pt. hitch, but the stabilizers were missing when I bought it, and the concept of how they were attached is baffling me. I know the attachment points have to be pretty much on the same axis as the shaft of the bars (not the lift bars, the ones down below, closer to the PTO) and I have manuals for similar tractors, but they all have different attachment points, and this one has no spot or bracket for attachments on that axis.

A neighbor helped put together a temporary fix, but his stabilizers keep crystalizing and breaking under the stress. I have a HEAVY 4' bushhog, and steep fields. Without proper stabilizers, the bushhog runs into the back of the rice paddy tires and mungs them. If the stabilizers aren't right, I can't use the lift on the bushhog like I need to to turn on the headlands.

I'm ready to bow to an old farmer who can resolve this issue on a permanent basis. I need the wisdom of those years of experience. Is there anyone here who can do that?

Reply
 

Found a couple of pictures showing the hitch you're talking about, not good angles but they look like a hitch that uses sway blocks rather than stabilizers. Are there spots that look like they'd hold sway blocks that were taken off? If you can find a way, blocks would be an easier fix than trying to jimmy up stabilizers.

Maybe you could rig check chains instead of bars, make them adjustable so they have a little slck to facilitate lifting. The sway blocks sound like a good idea too.

Not familiar with your particular tractor. My tractors use a bracket under the rear end where the fenders bolt on. It's nothing more then a heavy angle iron with a pin in it. The stabilizer slides on the pin and then slides on the pin of the equipment. It's parrallel to the lift arms which are the lower arms. On my type you can have solid bars or chains with a piece welded to the ends that would slide on the pins. I've seen some with a turnbuckle type adjustment.
Having a bush hog hit the tire is the slightest of your worries. a swinging bush hog can easlly flip a tractor on a slight hill or if a wheel drops in a hole or ditch.

http://store.telepak.net/samstractors/page95.html
http://www.stevenstractor.com/access...omponents.html
Is this any help?

You should be able to zoom on this and get an idea
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listings...x?OHID=5788066

I'll try to get some pics and upload them tomorrow.

Dale - no sway block spots that I can see.

Ross - the parts manual shows chains with [tensioners.... cinch blocks... crud, can't think of the simple name... two screw threads into a block... not clevis... what you use to tension guy wires. Too tired to think right now.] There are some chain links involved and a bracket, but the bracket doesn't seem to have a place where it fits.

Beeman - I think you have a closer description here. The BH is tight to the tractor and I stopped immediately after the last attempt at a stabilizer broke. I can't afford to have a tractor roll on me.

agman - those lift bars intersect and are joined to the lower bars I'm talking about. See how thin the tranny case gets out towards the wheels? Mine gets thinner.

I'll try to get pics up. At this point, all I can think is the stabilizers somehow attached on the same shaft pins as the arms, but the strength would be minimal during turns, especially on that... aw crud, still can't think of the name. Going to bed.

hi
 

my old tractor has a set of brackets that bolts to the rear end housing. It has the pins on it. two sets of pins in different spots. It also has a set of sway chains. No turnbuckle though. There is a bottom tow plate that bolts directly onto the bottom of the rear end housing for a hitch, or pulling out or jerking heavy loads like other mucked in equipment, logs, stumps, etc. be careful, an old acquaintance of mine allowed his 5 year old son to ride along with him while using a chisel disc. The child fell off and went through the disc and died immediately, chopped into hamburger. my nephew lost his arm, pulled off by a grain auger, pulled the new Carhart overhauls apart along with his arm in less than a second without slowing down. Be careful when around farm equipment, and repair older equipment with new safety attachments best wishes, ray

there should be some holes for bolt on pins somewhere at the back of tractor or out by the wheels.
try asking here http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/
go to the Mitsubishi section. also u might try asking in the attachments section.

From the looks of the pic that Agman presented, I'm surprised that the ears on the axle housing aren't broken off. I don't know this tractor, no drawbar?
I was going to suggest blocks on the drawbar.

Is there a way to chain it from the main axle housing to make it a little stouter if it is under that much stress?

OK, here come some pics. First, the bushhog:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/...2a5b6a7d_o.jpg

You can see that the top point has a stiffbar to keep the tractor from flipping backwards, yet allow the BH to be raised and lowered.

On the right, you see how the lower hitch has been attached with the handmade stabilizer which attaches at the center top hitch point.

Here is how the homemade stabilizers fail:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/...d97f1eba_o.jpg

This image shows a wooden stabilizer I added that pushes up against the axle nubs when the BH swings too far to the left or right. Otherwise, the front edge rubs against the rear tires.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/...39172058_o.jpg

The rear of the tractor. The lift arms are in the down position.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/...77a7e9ed_o.jpg

Another angle. You can see the wear mark from where the wood was rubbing up against the axle nubs.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/...a00103de_o.jpg

hi
 

I see what you mean, that is a little bitty outfit, isn't it? No wonder you don't feel safe on an incline, if that little mower jerked to the downhill side while lifting it could easily flip you over.
If i were in your shoes I'd be calling an Mitsubishi dealer or the nearest tractor repair shop, and ask what they have to fix my situation.
Personally I believe a larger outfit would be in order if you plan on doing this type work all the time. You can get a pretty good size tractor for very little any more because there just isn't that much use for them any more they just sit. Bigger outfits don't use them, they're too small, small outfits only need one because they use too much fuel to run all the time. but when you need one you need one, period. you could pick up a nice size used tractor for under $3000, no more than $5000, and do anything thats too big for the little one, and still use the little one most of the time. the right tool for the right job, don't take offense its just my thought here, be safe, ray

A bigger tractor is out of the question. I don't have the money, and other projects would get higher priority. I don't take offense, but you are sidestepping the question. If I had money I could hire the job done. The tractor was about as much as I could afford, and even buying the junk bushhog and refurbing it was a strain on the budget. The question is how to make THIS work.

Actually, the bushhog being heavy is a major plus. The tractor and bushhog together are semi-rigid and have a VERY low center of mass. As long as I quarter the steep slopes and the bushhog behaves properly, it is quite a bit safer than other combinations would be, and if that was a major concern, I could bolt on training wheels.

The 4WD is an absolute necessity which would rule out most of the inexpensive larger tractors anyway.

This is a problem where throwing a lot of money at it won't work. It is one where experience, ingenuity, and quite likely some more welding will work. Somehow, I think I'm going to have to build around those axles and sleeve them, so I can put some of the forces out there to the sides. That back plate is not being helpful in trying to figure out how to do it.

Hard to tell clearances from pictures. I'd be tempted to try putting a clevis on the drawbar and cross brace a couple of loadbinders or short chains and a couple of heavy used springs out to the ends of the lift arms but that could be exactly the wrong thing if the clearances are different from what I'm thinking.

Hmm looks like a home built drawbar from the picure. I'm going to say Dale had the right thought that it uses sway blocks probably integrel to the drawbar hitch frame which was likely an adjustable swing drawbar at that. The blocks likely butted against the plate that bolts around the PTO and has the lower link pivots as a guess. The PTO has an extension so I'm guessign the hitch and drawbar and 3pth were likely limited to very small attached machines and you're hitching up larger than intended equipment. Not saying you can't do what you're trying but you'll need beefy-er blocks. We had a tractor that used blocks..... A Case?? Hmm I wonder if my brother is reading this thread, he remembers stuff like this better than me!

I might also be tempted to build a steel sway block kind of box from the drawbar up to whichever toplink bracket you aren't using. Say a piece of channel iron lying across the drawbar, bolted to the hole, out to the width of where you want the arms held, then two uprights that the arms will run up against, a brace across the top and a piece running forward to the toplink hole. Depending how comfortable you are with more weight on the back end.

Harry,
I assume you have another complete linkage as what is connected to the mower? A heavy lift arm and a rod with a U welded to the end is what I am referencing. With the heavy lift arm and the connecting rod w/ U bracket inplace that makes up the lifting mechanism. The heavy lift arm is on the mower incorrectly as pictured. OK, with the lift on correctly, the anti-sway bars (factory ones, turnbolt design) bolt to the lift arm existing hole. The hole is the one on the mower side of where the rod w/ U bracket mounts. The other end of the anti-sway bracket mounts to a pin affixed to a bracket that is missing on your tractor. The bracket is under the axle housing and aligns with the pins on the differential housing that hold the heavy lift arms. The same setup is replicated on the other side of the tractor for the second lift arm. Is there a chassis group of holes ahead of the axle that would allow a bracket to be mounted and the bracket extend to the rear and underneath the axle to where a shaft could be position for the anti-sway linkage could attach?

The drawbar had an upper part that had to be cut off to clear the PTO shaft. These tractors have a small PTO that was designed for Japanese hands, and the adapter slides over it.

Dale, I think you are on to something with the channel iron idea.

What do you guys think of this? What problems can you see?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/...edabf008_o.jpg

1 points to a half hook that is a vertical bar that engages the back half of about 1/4" of the pin, leaving plenty of room for the regular attachment.

2 Points to a nut, bolt, & lockwasher to hold the welded yellow piece in position (along with those half hooks), thus making it removable.

3 Points to the critical resolution of where the pivot point of the stabilizers has to attach along the axis of the main attachment points, so that the bushhog can be lifted and lowered.

Without the half hooks, the stresses would be trying to twist the drawbar left and right. Sorry for the crudeness of the drawing. That triangle under the drawbar is an area where the metal will have to be built up.

Here is one of the easier slopes that I got half done before the stabilizer crystallized. The photo is 3D with those red/blue glasses. I have some slopes easily twice as steep.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/...76f6f6af_o.jpg

Edited to add:
Agman, you are right, when I stuck the heavy arm on backward in that photo of the bushhog. (Yes I have two) Look just above the pin and clevis and you can see the attachment point for the stabilizer on the heavy arm. The heavy arm goes from the bushhog to the lower pins, and the lighter one goes to the lift arms. The real pull and drag is the dragging of the bushhog over staubs and when it gets stuck in gullies. The lift is comparatively an easy task.

There are no free holes on the chassis/transmission case. The parts manual that comes closest to describing the original setup shows a chain coming from that attachment point on the heavy arm, to the turnbuckle, to another chain, to a bracket that looks a little like a scrap of heavy angle iron. However - it doesn't show where it attaches to the frame.

What DaleK proposed will work. Your drawing looks terrific.
You can get a Cat1 topling here cheap...should make a good anti-sway bar
http://mower-blades.agrisupply.com/s...ew=grid&srt=16
Here you can see a factory bracket. It is clearer on the left side of the pic.
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...o/84223630.jpg

Looks reasonable so far Harry. I'd probably put a hole through the crosspiece and drawbar as well and put a big bolt through it. Might even leave it on and take the back bolt out when you want to use the drawbar, that homebuilt drawbar looks pretty weak and it could use some backup.

Mounting bracket #1 will have to be bolted on in order to mount to tractor.

Excellent!!! Good idea, Dale. Agman, I kinda see what they had originally designed and I can see why it was taken off. It would have had almost no sway control, and been incredibly weak. Maybe fine for rice paddys that are flat, but Japan has some steep slopes as well. Thanks for taking the time and effort to find that picture. On the toplink, I have one that is like what you referenced. I can't use it as a top link because it drives the bushhog into the ground when I cross a gully, but repurposing it as a sway bar sounds like a great idea.

You guys are great.

Thought of that. That is why it is only the back half where it engages. Bracket goes under, is lifted up angled, then is drawn into final position with the bolt(s). Saw something similar and copied the idea.

Are the lower link points long enough to have the bracket resting there with the lower arms put back on?

Yep, there is some slop, so it shouldn't be a problem as long as those hooks are off to the side and not in the center of the link points.

Harry
If you are going to have that fabricated why not just include a new hitch drawbar in the design? If it were me I would make the design to where the existing lift pins are captive to reduce any shifting.

Sigh. Got to taking measurements and feeling around underneath and discovered the drawbar doesn't go back and connect into the tranny case or frame, but is only welded to that bolted on plate around the PTO. Not strong enough. I also notice the lower attachment pins are tending to bend towards the front of the tractor a little. Time for some re-thinking.

As a temporary fix, I'll likely make a couple of slip sleeves to go around the rear axles, then attach a drag on both sides to extend just past the tires and act as a bumper. Meanwhile one of the attachment arms needs welded as it is beginning to crack at one of the bends.

Ever feel like old Nick is working against you? I got the stabilizer that was broken welded, got the attachment arm welded where it was cracking, tried a variation of running push boards against the axle (which almost immediately got fouled in the tires, so I discarded that idea), and tried to get back to bushogging in the original configuration to "get er done" and did one pass and broke the weld on a lift arm. Arrrgh...

Harry
The bush hog jerking about is probably what is bending the lift pins. Once you get the mower stabilized the bending will likely cease. Cannot you make a bracket to affix to the chassis and then attach a new drawbar to that bracket and to the bolted plate at the PTO?

I think that may be a solution. I'm getting closer to replacing that bolted plate completely. I agree that the slinging is much of the problem.

Harry Chickpea
A brief question. Once you have the mower set in the position you are going to mow is it essential for you to use the hydraulic lift? If not, I know how to stabilized the mower in a different manner.

Yeah, unfortunately it is essential. When I turn on the headlands, I have to get that back wheel off the ground. When I don't, it stresses the lower attachment pins, and I can't get a turn radius that works. I also have some runoff dips in the land where the front of the BH can get stuck.

I'm having to do some major re-thinking (again). I realize that if I don't resolve the major issues, I'll be damaging more stuff. Why don't they make a Roomba bushhog? :D

Too bad about having to lift. If you are willing to try a cheap easy test I have one final suggestion. Put the mower on the tractor. Instead of a toplink substitute two chains. Run each chain from the bush hog lifts pin to the point on the tractor where the toplink would normally fasten. Have the two chains to where there is the absolute minimum or slop when the mower is at the ideal position for mowing. These two chains will greatly reduce the side to side slinging. You will be able to lift and the weight of the mower will help stabilize the mower when the mower is raised. When the mower is lowered to the mowing position the front weight of the mower will keep tension on the two chains holding the mower stable.