Swivel Hitch

[Elkaholic375]

I’ve seen lots of talk about leaving hitch pins with some play so implements can move behind the tractor. What do you all think about welding something like this into my drawbar to eliminate pin slack and still allow movement?

 

[Jim.ME]

I would just use a smaller diameter pin, such as a 3/4" one in a 1" hole.

You could encounter hookups in the future that need the plain drawbar and that swivel ball would be in the way.

 

[paul]

The weight of your implements will ride on the top of the ball ridge, and put the weight down to the bottom lip of the ball cage. Which will wear and break out quickly, as those balls are designed for pulling on the edges not so much lots of weight slamming down to the sides of the ball.

I would not trust my welding skills to weld such a unit onto a hitch to put load stress in that direction either. Kind of asking to break the weld or the outer ring off over time. I realize they are supposed to be welded vertically and hold up to lifting and pulling heavy 3pt loads, but now you are laying it flat….

Look up “bull pull hitch” and you will see how it needs to be designed to hold up to the abuse a hitch ball gets in that orientation.

They don’t give those bull pull units away, but it is what you should get for your use if this really is that important to you.



Paul

 

[tom upton]

I had a 1209 JD haybine once that had the swivel ball on the haybine and a fixed pin that bolted up to the drawbar of the tractor. If you really wanted to you could probably find one of these in the junkyard and bolt the piece that was on the haybine to your tractor, but why? I am guessing you are worried about the wear on your drawbar hole? A welder and die grinder every 20 or 30 years will take care of that.

 

[joeysmith]

Had a 530 jd baler with one
Worked well
New holland swather uses one an it works well

They are on the implement from the factory

 

[Jim.ME]

I had a 1209 JD haybine once that had the swivel ball on the haybine and a fixed pin that bolted up to the drawbar of the tractor. If you really wanted to you could probably find one of these in the junkyard and bolt the piece that was on the haybine to your tractor, but why? I am guessing you are worried about the wear on your drawbar hole? A welder and die grinder every 20 or 30 years will take care of that.

That sounds like you had JD's Equal Angle Hitch. Set correctly it makes it so that the u-joints are at the same angle during turns. That improves the geometry of the PTO shaft when turning to lessen vibration and binding in corners. They still use it on a number of PTO driven pull implements such as MoCos and small square balers for a couple.

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