Custom front and rear hitches

[JCM 9,130]

After @ebinmaine    Request for front bumper / carrier / toolbox  it gave me an idea to see how many variations of front and rear hitches the members have attached to their WH tractors for various duties. Like to see some of them and where the Ideas came from. The front hitch shown on the 417 was originally a Mackissic chipper / shredder mount that I picked up from a dealer many years ago and thought I could put that to good use. A friend of mine who I worked with in a Chemical Plant was a phenomenal welder and has  been retired for many years and still loves to stick 2 pieces of metal together and mentioned I was looking for a way to have a removable hitch on the front of my WH tractors. The first pic shows the mount attached to the frame and the second pic shows the modified part that now has a receiver hitch and a flat plate on top which I had a 12 volt winch mounted on. The second pic with the modifications comes off within seconds with a pin and the other mount needs to be unbolted from the frame which is pretty simple. Interested to see whats out there.

Edited April 28, 2020 by JCM

[ebinmaine 67,306]

[CCW 1,292]

Couple I made for my 312-8

 

Front -

 

 

Rear -

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by CCW

[CCW 1,292]

Now you have me thinking.  Am in the process of modifying the rear hitch so all the angle iron and threaded rod goes away.  Instead there will be just one short piece of angle iron and short threaded rod to the suitcase weight bracket.  It's a work in progress and I will have pics in a day or two.

[CCW 1,292]

Well this went much quicker than I planned.  See below for before and after pics of my rear hitch.  Original design had the two long pieces of threaded rod going from under the hitch to over the suitcase bracket (second pic).  New version (third pic) has a nut welded to top of upper hitch tube and a threaded rod extending from there to a small piece of angle iron across the hitch bracket.  See first pic for the upper angle iron piece.

Edited April 28, 2020 by CCW

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@JCM... My original front weight hanger/bumper turned into my rear weight hanger to my new heavy duty weight hanger/bumpers there's at least 3 RS members have one of these...          (@PeacemakerJack @cschannuth and the 3rd member I can't recall bought the 520 engraved version 5 years ago) anyways I felt I needed the extra weight out front with the heavy rear clevis hitch attachments and tiller so the original was something my dad had laying around and I made work in the front like a mule drive or snow blower as well as my new style... Then I just made to uprights to make it work on the rear for 2 stage counterbalance... Then the rear sleeve hitch carry all not my idea but Craftsman's that I fabbed up myself.

[CCW 1,292]

24 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

@JCM... My original front weight hanger/bumper turned into my rear weight hanger to my new heavy duty weight hanger/bumpers there's at least 3 RS members have one of these...          (@PeacemakerJack @cschannuth and the 3rd member I can't recall bought the 520 engraved version 5 years ago) anyways I felt I needed the extra weight out front with the heavy rear clevis hitch attachments and tiller so the original was something my dad had laying around and I made work in the front like a mule drive or snow blower as well as my new style... Then I just made to uprights to make it work on the rear for 2 stage counterbalance... Then the rear sleeve hitch carry all not my idea but Craftsman's that I fabbed up myself.

 

 

 

 

Wish I had the shop that could fabricate something like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by CCW

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

this is the bracket that I bought from Jeff for @Coulter Caleb‘s birthday for his 418-C.  Extremely well made and works great!

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

32 minutes ago, CCW said:

 

Yes this mad scientist's laboratory was an industrial factory machine shop... "government jobs" allow you to hone your skills.

[Pullstart 62,800]

Here are a few plow hitches I’ve built.  @PeacemakerJack has the third one, with the little plow welded on as a gusset.

[Pullstart 62,800]

Here’s a front hitch I built from a 4 way lug wrench and a little car receiver.  It works great for navigating a trailer around the property!

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by pullstart

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

I’m a huge fan of the hitch that @pullstart made for GhostRider...top notch work and the little plow moldboard is a cool custom touch.  I just need to get a bushing made to size it down from 3/4 to 5/8” hitch pin size and I’ll be in Good shape!

[cschannuth 3,816]

2 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

@JCM... My original front weight hanger/bumper turned into my rear weight hanger to my new heavy duty weight hanger/bumpers there's at least 3 RS members have one of these...          (@PeacemakerJack @cschannuth and the 3rd member I can't recall bought the 520 engraved version 5 years ago) anyways I felt I needed the extra weight out front with the heavy rear clevis hitch attachments and tiller so the original was something my dad had laying around and I made work in the front like a mule drive or snow blower as well as my new style... Then I just made to uprights to make it work on the rear for 2 stage counterbalance... Then the rear sleeve hitch carry all not my idea but Craftsman's that I fabbed up myself.

The one for the 161 is mine and I love that thing.  Jeff extended mine to account for the long snoot of the Black hood and it works great. 

 

[Coulter Caleb 532]

2 hours ago, PeacemakerJack said:

 

the bracket that I bought from Jeff for @Coulter Caleb‘s birthday for his 418-C.  Extremely well made and works great!

I totally agree definately a great feature to my favorite tractor...

[CCW 1,292]

13 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Yes this mad scientist's laboratory was an industrial factory machine shop... "government jobs" allow you to hone your skills.

 

 

A few years ago I was still teaching in a high school metal shop that allowed me to quite a bit of fabrication with the students.  My home shop is more geared to woodworking.  No longer have a metal lathe of milling machine though I can go into the high school and use them if I need to.

[CCW 1,292]

13 hours ago, pullstart said:

Here’s a front hitch I built from a 4 way lug wrench and a little car receiver.  It works great for navigating a trailer around the property!

 

 

 

Would love to see some more detail on this idea.  Very bright and intriguing

 

. 

[Pullstart 62,800]

14 minutes ago, CCW said:

 

Would love to see some more detail on this idea.  Very bright and intriguing

 

. 

I’ll see what I can do for ya with some pics soon.   (I have to find it!)
 

I pretty much cut 1 leg off the 4 way and welded it back on or bent it to fit the attachamatic. (Not sure)

 

Then I set the assembled hitch receiver on a stack of wood blocks at a desired height.  
 

I then grabbed what scrap metal pieces I had laying around and welded stuff together.

[Pullstart 62,800]

@CCW

 

I found that hitch cleaning shop today!

 

You can see that I cut the top leg of the 4 way and welded it at an angle.  The rest is just strategic bracing to support the hitch ball and also locate it side to side in the front mount.

 

 

[CCW 1,292]

@pullstart another project for me to keep in mind.  Thanks.

[ebinmaine 67,306]

@pullstart.

 

Nice work there bud....

 

[Pullstart 62,800]

Not totally custom, but a few home made parts to get this hitch to function.  I would like to reproduce this hitch in the future... I have a few machines that could benefit from this!