Another ball hitch question.

[HankB 16]

I was looking for something to pull an empty Harbor Freight trailer around the yard. Weight is probably not an issue but I'm sensitive to cost. I'll push the trailer around the yard before I by hand before I spend $50 for the one on ebay. (Like a little bird told me, cheap! cheap! cheap!) I was hoping to find a ball with a stud that would fit the factory hitch but I'm not sure I'll find that.

I'm curious if anyone has a good solution to this problem. I'm thinking about fabbing something like the one in the other post. My son is looking for welding projects. I'd probably just make the piece about 6" long and straight behind the factory rear hitch.

thanks

[Dw Andy 0]

So you have the factory type hitch? I've seen a hitch ball with a 5/8 stud that would fit, and was made for a garden tractor. It was at a fleet/farm type store. The ball size was 1 7/8 though. :thumbs:

[HankB 16]

So you have the factory type hitch? I've seen a hitch ball with a 5/8 stud that would fit, and was made for a garden tractor. It was at a fleet/farm type store. The ball size was 1 7/8 though.

Thanks for the tip. That would do the job. I can't find it on Farm and Fleet's site but TSC has it.

Just googling for it only got balls with 3/4" or 1" shanks.

[whfan74 2,073]

For light loads I took a standard Wheel Horse draw bar, drilled the hole just a little bit and bought a cheap ball to mount on it. Under $10 and you are good to go. Just an idea!

Here is one on Ebay right now that looks like my setup.......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=370323456583

[mcwh1950 2]

hankb this is what i use.

1 7/8 ball 2 1/2 long shank by 1/2 from k-mart , load rate 2000 lbs.

[GlenPettit 1,718]

Using your existing draw-bar hitch with a 5/8" stud/Ball in it will work just fine, it's a little low as compared to a car hitch, making the trailer front tilt down and a load could shift forward (you do want a slightly forward balance in the weight to reduce bounce).

The hitches on eBay are excellent, heavy duty and very quick to change off, and your trailer should be more level using that higher hitch.

It is very common for people to move 2,000# or more trailers using the original draw-bar with a ball on it, it's the "bonceing-effect" that will does the damage, usually bending the original draw-bar (keep ball-to-axle distance close). In driving around the yard, picking up stuff, going fast, be sure keep the trailer and load light; -- on a smooth drive, going slow, your draw-bar can take a very heavy load fine. I found that with the trailer ball, the threads and bolt tend to rust together and are very hard to remove, takes two wrenches and muscle, that's why I like the higher eBay hitch, can easily switch tractors with just a hitch-pin pull.

[SALTYWRIGHT 861]

I have front trailer hitches on 3 of my tractors and it works out good. You can control the trailer better. also you can see where it is going. I move my boat trailers that weigh 1800 lbs. all the time. :thumbs:

[HankB 16]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions. I wanted to point out that my desire is to move an empty trailer. And at most, the trailer is fully loaded with about 1200 lb on it. But I just want a way to roll it into the back yard and out of sight. If I wasn't such a lazy bastage, I'd just do it by hand.

I recalled that I had an old rusty ball that came on the A-80-E. (It was held on to the rear of the tractor with a hose clamp around the threads. It didn't exactly inspire confidence and my son and I found it funny.) After making sure I could drill it, I cut the threaded shaft off and drilled and tapped it for a 1/2" bolt. That was the largest tap I had.

So for now, that's going to be my solution.

And I'm glad I got that angle grinder a couple months ago and cut off wheels a couple days ago. How did I make it this far without proper tools!

thanks again,

hank

[wingrider 21]

Here's a idea for you. I had the same problem so I made a hitch that bolted onto the trailer first, and I put the right ball on this piece. Then I took some 2" channel and welded a down bracket then another going forward to the tractor drawbar. Just make these up to keep the trailer level when it is hitched to your tractor. When your done all you need to do is pull the pin out of the drawbar and park the trailer, & if you want to use the trailer on a normal trailer hitch just unbolt the bolts and unhook the ball out of the trailer and its back to normal.

I needed to haul some gravel about a mile & half to build up my drive and came up with this idea, the trailer sat level so it was easy to shovel the stone out and its works great. Good luck

wingrider