“Poor Man’s” 3-Pt. Hitch

“Poor Man’s” 3-Pt Hitch HITCHES Herb Hallman Fosston Sask wanted to use a 3-pt hitch snowblower on his IH 806 tractor but couldn’t justify a new 3-pt hitch So he made his own 3-pt hitch that pins onto the snowblower’s factory 3-pt brackets It uses lower “push arms” that bolt onto a 5-in wide 1-in thick steel plate that fits underneath the tractor’s drawbar “A conventional 3-pt hitch has lower lift arms but my hitch uses push arms instead that don’t lift The hitch tilts the blower but doesn’t lift it An old 4 by 8-in hydraulic cylinder serves as the 3-pt’s top link ” Hallman says he built the hitch 2 years ago and it has been trouble-free “I planned to use the hitch only temporarily until I could build brackets to mount the snowblower on front of my tractor However it works so good that I think I’ll leave it right where it is That way I can leave my front-end loader on all year long ” says Hallman He removed the tractor’s drawbar and 2 bolts that support the drawbar frame then drilled holes in the steel plate to match up with the bolt holes in the frame He used 2 1/2-in square tubing to make the lower push arms pinning them to the lift arm brackets on the snowblower and to ears that he welded onto both ends of the steel plate “All the bolt holes were drilled slightly bigger than the bolts so that the blower can flex on rough ground without bending anything ” says Hallman “I mounted a homemade hinge on the snowblower end of the cylinder There’s never any downpressure on the blower and it can lift independently of the tractor if it has to The other end of the cylinder pins onto a top link bracket that was already on the tractor ” notes Hallman Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Herb Hallman P O Box 4 Fosston Sask Canada S0E 0V0 ph 306 322-4567; c hallman@sasktel net

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