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Pivoting 3-Pt Quick-Tach Hitch
"Many farmers are buying steerable, trailing equipment rather than mounted equipment because they just can't make turns. This hitch lets you turn with the less expensive mounted equipment. It also lets you use smaller size tractors because you get better traction with mounted equipment," says Rex Griffith, of Seneca, Kan. about his pivoting 3-pt. quick-tach hitch.
Griffith got the idea for the hitch about three years ago when he bought a 1586 International tractor with a "roll-over" four 18-in. bottom plow. "I had the latest equipment on the market but I couldn't make the turns on the terraces on my farm," says Griffith. "On turns, I had to brake and, depending on which way I was turning, the plow would dig deeper or shallower."
So Griffith built a quick-tach hitch, much like other hitches that adapt to the regular 3-pt., except that his pivots. After some 1500 acres with the hitch hitched to his plow, he says it has solved his turning problems. "Without the hitch we could only turn in about a 200-ft. circle. Now we can turn in 50 ft. What's more, it lets the plow sit up and plow without any effort on your part," explains Griffith.
Two heavy pins at the base of the hitch slide back and forth when the tractor turns. The top point simply pivots in its mounting. The hitch adds no length to the tractor mounting. Griffith says it's designed so it won't slam around on a turn and it can be locked rigid for times when no movement is needed.
His prototype model is built to fit a Cat. III tractor but he says it could be built for the smallest to largest tractors, and used on any 3 pt. mounted tractor. He is now negotiating with a manufacturer to take over the production. He says it will cost "only slightly more than a conventional hitch."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rex Griffith, Rt. 1, Box 33A, Seneca, Kan. 66538 (ph 913 858-4774).


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1981 - Volume #5, Issue #3