Attaching a heavy implement

This evening I was over my fathers and he was complaining it was really hard to hook up or unhook his 3pt tiller (recent purchase) from the tractor. There are several reasons.
1. We wanted to place it on something to keep it out of the dirt but the tractor doesn't lift it but like 8" off the ground and sometimes, somehow we can unhook it on a pallet then come back for it and can't get the lift arms up high enough to reattach it.
2. The tiller is so heavy we can't budge it by hand to line up the lift arms and pins--not even a little.
3. The compact JD 850 doesn't have a lot of room to move the lift arms off the pins and on the pins without hitting the tires or the sway chains stopping them. Add to this the tiller shifting to the side of the tractor that's lower before lowering it leaving that arm unable to be removed.
4. He, we have a hard time being be but so precise backing up to it for hookup--an inch matters a lot.
5. There seems to be nowhere perfectly level side to side and back to front to store it.
6. Usually it's only him attaching/un-attaching it.
We decided to try things tonight. Frankly it was very hard for the two of us. Not to mention unsafe. Me standing between the tire and tiller holding the lift arm and him backing up a bit and lifting up or letting it down trying to line the pin and hole up. We feel the tiller should rest on the depth skids and not sit on the tines when stored but maybe that doesn't matter. Doing so leaves the frame so it will rock back and forth around the tines--it has to be propped up so it doesn't fall forward. Any comments/ideas? I'm sure others struggle with heavy implements as well--how do you deal with them? My father is 70 now so this isn't going to get any easier for him without some kind of idea. I actually thought of sitting the two skids on dollies allowing the implement to be moved a bit but that'd only work if it was on concrete but all we have is dirt. We have used cinder blocks under the skids which holds the tines off the ground and keeps the tiller rock solidly planted. And, we've tried setting the tines down on boards and propping the front of the frame up with a cinder block.

Quick hitch

We had the same problem. My son bought a quick hitch, was better but the rocking back was a problem. I tried to put a board behind the tiller. Solved the problem got a hyd top link from Amazon. I can hitch up almost everything without getting off. I have a tiller, finish mower, rough cut mower, hay rake, bale fork, wood spliter, blade, box blade, and probably something else. And they all will fit the quick-coupler, with a little work. But it is worth it. About your lift arms not going up far enough. We have a compact 4320 JD. I adjusted the lift arms so they went down to about 8 inches from the ground and it lifts plenty high probably 3 ft at the pins. Vic

I'm with David on the Quick Hitch, I got one this spring,(I'm 68) I keep kicking myself cause I didn't get it years ago.

On those heavy tillers I have made removable jacks for each side and the back. Just get your self three top crank jacks. Make your self some square tube mounts like a small version of a receiver hitch. With the tiller on three jacks you can tilt it any way you need to hook or unhook it.

I usually put one in the center of the back and one on each side towards the front. The back one has to have a longer mount to reach over the dirt leveling board.

I have tried the quick hitches and the implements you would be using on a JD 850 do not have similar hitches in all cases. Plus I do not like the SLOP that a quick hitch has.

My mixer grinder has a pretty tall jack. It doesn't go down very low. The tractor that I like to grind with is a little lower. I have two 2x10s laying on the floor in the shed. I back up on them and the hitch is perfect. The boards always lay there and I know if I hit them it will hitch up.

We had a similar problem years ago with a Gill pulverizer.I solved it by putting ply wood on the pallet.Made for surface that would let it slide fairly easy with the help of a pry bar.
As far as the lift arm hitting the tires try inverting the pins on the tiller.By putting them on the inside it might give you more movement.
Hydraulic top links are the way to go also.We started using them over 30 years ago.
Good Luck.

"We decided to try things tonight. Frankly it was very hard for the two of us. Not to mention unsafe. Me standing between the tire and tiller holding the lift arm and him backing up a bit and lifting up or letting it down trying to line the pin and hole up".

You know to never do that again, right?

Chris,

You are the second person within about a week that wrote about a Deere 950, and in both cases, that little tractor is being taxed. I have one that I purchased years ago from a friend that got into financial trouble resulting from a divorce, so I helped him out and got that little 950 that I have way too much $$$ invested in to sell. Live and learn.

Anyway, a 950 weighs about 3,000 lbs and about 25 HP. The 850 I think is 23 HP, and the turbo 1050 is 27 HP. All of them are light weight weak little tractors. You don't want to go wider for the most part than 5' on any implement from the 3pt, because once you start going 6', that little hydraulic system doesn't care for the weight. Doesn't have the umph. I don't know how big or heavy your father's 3 pt tiller is, but if the 3 pt won't lift it over 8", its either pretty heavy, you have a hydraulic problem, or the lift pins on the tiller are pretty high for its short arms. If its not real heavy or sits real tall, maybe try changing the filter (below the floorboard) and hydraulic oil for starters. By the way, the trans oil is the same hydraulic oil for the lift arms, loader, and....what's the trans dip stick say? The 950 is a Cat 1 tractor and when the lift arms are down, you are correct, they don't spread wide, not even to slip a draw bar in between them. They open wider when they all the way up, but thats about 3' off of the ground and won't do your father any good.

Fact is, that little Yanmar is a little tractor, and it gets over taxed real easy. Your father has purchased himself a piece of equipment that rides its operating edge and his as well. As some of the fellas mentioned, try a quick hitch. If that doesn't work, tell him to sell it and pick himself up a much cheaper 8N, TO, or something like them at around 35 HP.

Good luck

Mark

Don't stand between the tractor and implement. Just don't.

A quick hitch, if all your implements conform to the standard.

Several companies make some grab hooks, kind of a bottom portion of a quick hitch, much more flexible and forgiving of different 3pt configurations. Like this one,

http://www.greenwellmfg.com/products.htm Pats Easy Change.

A hyd top link makes any of these easier as well.

You guys are perhaps not very familiar with a tractor, it really isn't quite that hard, but can be a challenge to get familiar with a new machine.

I'm not familiar with JD, your tractor must have the short bent 3pt arms, kind of sort of a cat 1 size, but smaller actually. You could shorten your top link some to raise up the tiller some? Maybe.

Paul

I have been putting adjustable gauge wheels on the front of the equipment that wants to fall forward for safety reasons. You can adjust them after you get it hooked up. Over blocking up equipment with blocks that could fall. Never get between the equipment and tractor even when I hook up I line up one pin then use the tractor to straighten out for the other to line up. Just to easy to get injured.

from what you have said, first you dont have enough tractor, you either need a larger tractor or smaller tiller, i have used several 'cheats' as im usually by myself too when hooking up impliments, for the couple i cant pry with a 5 foot digging bar to hook up, i have suspended the big grader blade from the roof support of the machine shed, [ assuming the shed roof support is strong enough to do this, mine is,12 inch I beam ] hanging by equipment transport chains from the semi trailer at a height which makes hooking it to the tractor easy its simple to swing it to hook it to the tractor, yes, dont get under it and this is not safe, but if one does everything safe you dont get much work done, the other cheat i use is to simply pick up the impliment with the loader tractor and a chain and then back the tractor im using up to it for hook up

An 8N is not a tilling tractor--way too fast--as are most tractors of that vintage. The 850 is quite strong and works that 4.5 foot tiller with ease beyond my wildest expectations in low 2 and 3. The 850 is replacing a farmall cub and ford 601 which are being sold. The ford is a bit heavier but both will even lift that tiller hanging at the end of a boom pole--just don't drive off fast. Maybe we're weak but the tiller might as well be made of lead to me trying to move it by hand--I can't budge it.

Yes, I'd say the pins are high on it but it's not an implement that needs to be lifted far in use. I say 8 inches because a 8" concrete block is about all I'd want to put under it before sitting it down.

The lift arms are heavier and thicker than those on the 601 an the 850 uses chains as sway bars instead of the rigid bars on the 601. The 601 has more distance between the rear wheels too. With the 601 we had plenty of movement and room working the lift arms on then we could lift the implement sway it from side to side while attaching the sway bars. I wish we could use sway BARS on the 850. We've never hitched the tiller to the ford but other heavy implements like a aerator. It's a trade off using a more compact tractor but we're still looking for ways to make the downsides easier.

Want to talk about another down side--it's hard to get on an off the 850 with it's tight operators platform access--compared it to the 601 and cub.

I'd make sure your 3pt is working and adjusted properly.

Pour some concrete floors things slide pretty good on smooth level concrete.

last but not least. If you can find the implements that have removable pins in a yoke instead of the bolted on pins sticking out the side it will make a HUGE differance in being able to back in and hook them up.

Our JD750 can handle all 5 foot implements with ease. No reason an 850 can't. Maybe your tiller is way bigger then this ?

If you can't find a level spot, MAKE a level spot. Gravel or concrete pad, big enough so the tractor's rear wheels can get up on it too.

Leverage is your friend (i.e. Give me a fulcrum and a long enough lever, and I can move the world!).

It really sounds like this is too much tiller for the tractor. Maybe not size-wise, but WEIGHT wise.

My single-handed method: Hook the lower of the implement pins first (that is, hook the side such that on the other side, the 3 point arm will be lower than the pin). DON'T try to line both up at once- you'll break your heart trying. Hook the lower one, then use the 3 point control to lift that side, which will lower the other side. You can also use the height adjustment on the right 3 point arm. Then move the tractor forward or back to line it up in that direction. A pry bar and 3 lb. hammer help with "final adjustment".

I'm for the quick-hitch idea if possible, I bought a MX rotary mower from deere this summer and it would rub on the rear tires of my 4020 when I lifted it. So to get more room I bought a quick-hitch my first 1 and I'm thinking about getting a couple more, they are very handy although it helps if everything is level when you hook and unhook.

We have a different style of quick hitch in Europe. It is a light-weight triangular frame on the tractor with a channel iron frame on the implement. it is even used on tractors up to 200 hp but will fit any compact of over 20hp(approx). I was ill with a bone marrow problem when I was 13 and could not lift any weight , but could drive a tractor with power-steering. My father bought one of these frames and he made up the implement frames. I was able to lift the heaviest of implements, (but fitting the PTO shaft was another matter!)
There was an adjustment for removing all slop . It would be a simple system to fabricate.
Sam

Nice idea. That looks better than the quick hitch being sold here--looks more self aligning. Our implements vary quite a bit in how they are set up and I know many would not work with a quick hitch. The tiller for instance has a bolt a few inches under where the pin attaches the top link which would make using a quick hitch impossible. Plus a quick hitch adds like 50lbs more wieght on the lift and pushes the implement further back and cost quite a bit. But fabricating your idea here would be more than we would want to get into.

I like to hook up to top link first. Then if you need to come back an inch or two, instead of moving the tractor, I just use the top link to pull the implement closer. Even the heaviest implement seems to pull pretty easy with a well greased top link.

Try hooking the non-adjustable lift arm first, and then, if you need, you can adjust the other lift arm up or down. Just count how many turns of the adjustment you do, and adjust it back when you are done.

Good luck.

now this is one i havent seen, it looks easy to make, once you lift the impliment how does it attach? does the triangle frame attach and hold it or is there regular 3 point rms below the picture and it stays on in the normal fashion?