Re: IH300 U fast hitch float?

Posted by dick on February 16, 2003 at 10:17:25 from (209.245.13.20):

In Reply to: IH300 U fast hitch float? posted by Brett on February 15, 2003 at 13:58:47:

Gentlemen, I think this discussion has done more harm than good; see Dave's comment and request below. Yes, IH had several different setups for its Fast Hitch, and they all had different ways that you could make them float, etc., etc. But introducing many (or all) of them into a discussion of what is found on a 300 Utility isn't helpful, and greatly confuses people such as Brett and Dave who would just like a simple answer to their specific questions. I'm going to try to supply these answers below, and hope that I haven't greatly offended anyone with my observations above.

Dave, to make the hitch float, ASSUMING you have the standard Fast Hitch as described in the operator's manual, all you have to do is to pull the pin coupling the "rockshaft actuating bellcrank" to the left-side upper arm of the hitch. This is shown on page 23 of the operator's manual, in illustration 23. The original operator's manual is available from Binder Books; if you don't have one, I'd urge you to get one, it's a basic essential if you want to maintain your tractor properly and operate it safely. If you don't have a manual, the "rockshaft actuating bellcrank" is the piece where the moving end of the hydraulic cylinder is attached; the float pin is located about as far away as it can be from where the cylinder attaches to this piece, you should be able to locate it easily. Please feel free to email me if any of this isn't clear.

Brett, as some of the earlier posts have indicated, the STANDARD Fast Hitch arrangement on the 300 Utility REQUIRED using double-acting hydraulics. Getting the hitch to float is supposed to be done as described above for Dave. The double-acting hydraulics were required because a cross-check valve was included in the hitch system to prevent the hitch from bleeding down. Your tractor may or may not have this check valve at this point, and it may be bypassed. If you have the STANDARD system, this check valve is about 2"x5"x1" thick, is attached to the bottom of the hitch's control valve, and the hoses going to the hitch cylinder come out of it. If you don't have this check valve in your system, your hitch almost certainly bleeds down quickly.

If you REALLY want to, you can remove this check valve, or you could cap it off and hook the hoses to the ports on the top of the control valve. If you do this, all you have to do to use single-acting hydraulics and have a floating hitch without removing the hitch pin is to change the setting on the switch on the front of the control valve from "D" (double-acting) to "S" (single-acting); it is not necessary to remove a hose and vent the cylinder as you were thinking of doing. Please also note that it is NOT a good idea to lock the control handle as you also seem to be thinking of doing; this continually loads the hydraulic pump even when it isn't doing anything useful, will waste gas and probably overheat your hydraulic system. Personally, I think this is a bad idea and would strongly suggest you use the hitch as originally intended, but it's your tractor. Please feel free to email me if anything isn't clear.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Re: IH300 U fast hitch float? Red Rider 20:57:31 02/16/03 (0)
• Re: Re: IH300 U fast hitch float? dave 14:37:57 02/16/03 (0)

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