Hitch Placement

TJ'S Tractors · Sep 17, 2016

I have a John Deere 830 that I pull a little in farm stock class always loose traction my hitch is at 18 inches Height and 25 back of axle center would it hurt me to move it back about 6 or 7 inches on the brawbar my thought are it would put more weight on rear tires and take some off front end, but I think I"m front heavy now, my front never seems to lift at all Thanks for your thoughts

D beatty · Sep 17, 2016

First off you have to see what the rules are for the pull your at to see what they will allow in a farm stock class. I have found better traction with draw bar as short as allowed by rules for the class you pull in.

mmfan55 · Sep 17, 2016

If they use a long chain on the sled : that may help a "nose heavy " tractor. If moving the drawbar back means you have to pile weight on the front: then it is counterproductive. The longer the drawbar is: the faster it heads towards the ground when the front comes up. Losing down pressure from the sled . Depends on your particular circumstances were you pull.

DPittman · Sep 18, 2016

Most sanctioning or plow classes mandate 20" hitch height max and no shorter than 18" from axle centerline to point of hitch. But once you do that,most likely the front end will come pretty quick, so now you're fabricating wheelie bars, weight brackets, so forth and soon. How intense ya wanna get? It is a lot of fun.

D beatty · Sep 18, 2016

Our club in farm stock and local classes is 18" hitch height max and no shorter than 28" from axle centerline to point of hitch. In our farm and local classes you need no wheelie bars but can use them if you want and a set of rules where and how you hang weights. I hear some talk that next year we will have to have kill switch and maybe wheelie bars in farm stock and local classes. I think that if we have to do that in those classes it will kill those classes.

moresmoke · Sep 18, 2016

As high and short as the rules allow will pull best. Static physics would say that the longer the drawbar, the more the front will lift. But, pulling is dynamic, I don't care about the statics of it. By the time you are static, the hook is over.

showcrop · Sep 18, 2016

You have established that you are front heavy. You have two choices: move up to the next heavier class putting almost all of the weight on the rear, or as you asked about, if the rules allow extend your hitch point down. You will get more draft from the sled, how much depending on how long the chain is.

VicS · Sep 18, 2016

Gene Sellers (probably the best light weight puller) wrote a good article in the hook magazine a few years ago. He says in effect it is a math problem. A heavy front and a longer drawbar puts more weight on the rear wheels. But it is harder to get right! I have tried. Probably you should consider a combine axle from a jd of course. At least lose the wish bone and some smaller lighter wheels and tires, lighter smaller aluminum radiator. Just a few thoughts.

PretendFarmer · Sep 19, 2016

My drawbar on my SM is probably close to 30" back from the rear. Because of that, it does really well in 5500lbs class where I pull. And that's because its a long chain. From the sound of things, you pull a long chain. Putting the hook point closer to the rear axle will make things worse for you.
Best thing you could do is a make an adjustable one, that can slide in and out so you can fine tune how far back it should go before its too far.
If your club allows 20" high, start with that.
When I pull with a club that runs a shorter chain, I have to stack more on the front. I haven't had time to make an adjustable hitch. It only adjusts up and down, not in and out.

showcrop · Sep 19, 2016

(quoted from post at 12:10:40 09/18/16)
You have established that you are front heavy. You have two choices: move up to the next heavier class putting almost all of the weight on the rear, or as you asked about, if the rules allow extend your hitch point down. You will get more draft from the sled, how much depending on how long the chain is.

I meant to say extend out not down. You can prove this yourself by drawing a simple diagram with two different drawbar lengths, with the chain from the sled to the drawbar. The longer drawbar will show the steeper slope of the chain. Every drawbar that I have ever seen has different holes for in-out adjustment, though they are not usually in the right place for pulling. I have added holes by drilling a pilot hole then cutting with the OA torch.

D beatty · Sep 19, 2016

I tried pulling from the swing draw bar that is about 34" behind rear axle and 18" max height per club rules and would break traction easy . Some of the older pullers told me to pull from D draw bar and use a twisted clevis instead of C clevis. Making these changes on my Farmall 450 I now place up in the top three most of the time. We pull short chain sled and have yet to pick front end off ground.

Hitch Placement

TJ'S Tractors

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D beatty

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mmfan55

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DPittman

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D beatty

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moresmoke

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showcrop

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VicS

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PretendFarmer

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showcrop

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D beatty

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