Custom Front Hitch Mount

Well the Custom Made section got messed up in the move so I'm putting this here.  Something else I need to fix... 

Anyway, I started on a custom receiver hitch that goes on a front Tach-A-Matic bracket a few days ago and am sharing what I did in case others would like to do the same.  I have a few bad brackets so I started with one of those.  This one had the the shank and threads for the pulleys missing as you will see in the pics.

First up was to get the broken rod out and remove the adjustment and ears for the belt tension.  Basically it was just gutting the bracket minus the upper rod.  After that a 3/16" steel stop was welded in toward the bottom so it would stay straight on the tractor.  I used a Tach-A-Matic from a used parts pallet of them for the fitting of everything.  I keep what a lot of peeps would normally throw away just for these kinds of things. They come in handy for things like this and avoid cutting up good used parts.  Also, when peeps see what I make a lot of times they want me to make one for them too.  The pic of it on the tractor is just a test fit after tack welding before the stop was completely welded in.

 

I had to order some drill bits for the receiver and hitch holes and they came in today so I started playing around with the hitch project again. 

The holes are supposed to be 21/32".  The size is inbetween 5/8 and 11/16, perfect for the 5/8" pins.  I'll prob be making a lot of these so I got cobalt bits.  The 3 pack wasn't much more than a single so it made sense to have a few extra on hand. 

 

Working on a lot of projects today but managed to get the receiver and a few extras drilled, will be keeping one for a pattern.  The first 2 pics are of one of my Incra Rules that I use for precision marking like this so holes line up right.  There's not a lot of play here once you drill 4 holes in 2 pieces of steel, or drill just the receiver that has to line up with store bought pieces.

If you're interested in these you can search Amazon, they come in a lot of sizes and sets, the 18" set is here -  Incra Rule 18" 3 Piece Set   

Everything was planned so that there's clearance in the bracket, if something is a little longer it can go a little deeper.  So far everything is perfect, a little prep and welding is next. 

All welded up.  I have another insane idea for this, working on it now...  

 

The big holes got welded in where the cross shaft for the pulleys mount, it made it look a lot nicer.  I'm not sure I'm done with it yet so I left some other holes in it for now.  It also got G70 hooks welded on each side.  It looks like a little monstrosity now. 

I had someone in yesterday that saw it wants one, I knew this would happen... 

The last few pics are of a setup I'm making to put on my heavy trailer to winch things up on it.  I actually made the WH front hitch setup because I had everything out already to do the trailer setup.  I'll put a post up on it later in the Tools + Equipment section.  
 

I finished up making a bunch of weld on receiver tubes today and decided to put a 3" ring on this setup.  No it doesn't need it but it does make it look even more like a little monster... 

 

Making a few of these for customers and starting on revision #2.     Going to break this up into 3 posts so they are not so large.

I got out 2 more damaged brackets, who says it doesn't pay to keep what some peeps call useless.  I knew one day they would be put to good use instead of cutting up good ones for projects like this.  The new design includes no more welding up holes from the cross piece for the pulleys, the cross piece is cut out and the part of the rod that goes through the bracket is left in there.  The Wheel Horse peeps got plenty of penetration on the welds so they will be fine.

Another change is doing the hole on the mill so it has rounded corners.  The one done in the pics will become a pattern for future setups.  That method makes a nice hole but sure makes a lot of dangerous little metal shards.    

 

With the pattern done it speeds things up a lot, no more measuring or double checking everything.  The original front holes are 3/32" so putting a drill bit in the bottom hole and looking at the top hole lines up things really fast and accurately.  The sides can be marked through the pattern then a piece of tubing put on the front side marks to do the corners.  Then it's ready for the mill.

After the cutout it's ready to be positioned and welded up.  This one is going a lot faster than the original setup.     The biggest time is spent getting the brackets gutted and smoothed up.

 

In case you think you missed something, if you clicked the last post on the front page there are 2 more new ones above this.  

In the first pic shows the bottom piece that holds the bracket up.  It's at the bottom under the hitch.  The new multi-function workbench/tester (originally rearend tester) came in handy for setting this up and only took a minute.  After it was in position it was welded in and everything blasted.  You can see in the pic with the tube inserted there's not a lot of room on the back side to get everything just right.  

You will also notice the receiver is welded on the front sides now instead of the rear, it made for a nicer job.  There was too much stuff in the way to do it from the rear and make it look nice.  There's a lot more weld on it than needed but it looks good the way it is.  

The bracket is allowed to tilt upward in case something is being done from higher than the bracket.  This is intentional to help a little with keeping the front end and front tires on the ground.  

I'm sure it will be refined a little more and the customers wanting them liked the original.  This one is nicer and has a better fit and finish than the original one so it's a win win.