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HH34/J26 Three Point Hitch Hybrid Build

5K views 30 replies 6 participants last post by  Vigo 
#1 · (Edited)
I recently put the J26 3 point hitch on my other 446 and I'm looking to build a HH34 3 point or even a hybrid between the HH34 and J26. I want something a bit more heavy duty for my Super 446 diesel build. The HH34 is ridiculously expensive and I believe it can be built much cheaper.

I have the blueprints for the J26 3 point but there are none out there for the HH34. I have the skill and capability to design a HH34 but don't have any good dimensions to go off of.

I did find this post by @sdunt and it has been a great start but I need some more specific information to keep going with this design. Thank you sir for posting these pictures!


I have also found @bobneumann built his own as well.

If anyone would please help out with specific dimensions for the HH34, I'd be more than glad to design the hitch and components and share with everyone. I don't want anything out of this, I'd be just happy to share the blueprints for others to use as they see fit.

I'd also be more than happy to pay for shipping both ways and some extra for their trouble if someone would be interested in sending me the main body of the HH34 to get the dimensions as well.

I have the main bracket roughly designed to the dimensions that @sdunt posted. I did what I could do with the pictures and kind of guessed at it as well. Here is the start.





Any help on this would be greatly appreciated and would be an awesome contribution to this website.
 
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#2 ·
I'd be glad to post the measurements of what I built, but I doubt if it's very helpful. I started off building a J26, and got the back plate mostly done. And then shelved it for 3 or 4 years. When I resumed, I cut out and redid a lot of my first effort, and then carried on from there modeled after the hh34 concept, but not to hh34 measurements. And built to Category 1 specifications instead of Cat 0.

So I ended up with a hybrid. Perfectly useful, but absolutely non-standard.

Anyone who wishes to copy it is welcome to, but I suspect most folks, especially purists, would want to stay closer to standard.

Bob
 
#3 ·
I appreciate that! I'm more with you on building/modifying something to work better which is what I plan on doing.

However if I can keep the main body as close as possible to the HH34 that would be great and I'm sure like you said most would like as well.

What I plan on doing is running the HH34 main body BUT possibly use the J26 lower lift and keep the upper lift arms straight like the J26. This will better suit my current rear PTO setup.

But I really like how the HH34 brings the links back a smidge to utilize the new design sway control link.

Like you I also plan on running the Cat 1 swivels at the back of the lower lift arms to use both Cat 0 and Cat 1 implements.
 
#4 ·
What software are you using to do the 3D CAD? I'd love to do some strength analysis of what you make vs. the stock hitch I have. I plan on eventually redesigning the hitch but the J26 I have now is more than enough for my needs. I believe the J26 is far more sturdy than people here seem to give it credit for.
 
#5 ·
I use fusion 360 but I'm just a beginner lol. The last time I ever really used any kind of cad software was almost 20 years ago in votech.

You maybe be right. If I can't get anyone to help with the HH34 dimensions I may just re design the J26 to use the newer style sway control.
 
#6 ·
I've never used Fusion 360 so I can't help you much there but if you get some plans drawn up I'd love to see them. For 1/3 of the day I'm a CAD desk jockey with a fancy piece of paper that has my name on it so I enjoy seeing other people's thoughts and ideas on paper and come to life. There was a neat post on here a while ago where they used clamps on the axle shafts next to the 3pt to create sway links that seem to work pretty well. I can't seem to find the post now but maybe someone with better memory or google-fu can link it here for you to get some ideas.
 
#9 ·
I'm sure gonna try at least. The diesel engine is at least twice as heavy if not three times as heavy. I can barely lift it myself.

I'm also running the John Deere combine weights that are 168 lbs each.

Mostly looking at a box blade that they call modified cat 1 I believe. Nothing much more than that.
 
#10 ·
I'm sure gonna try at least. The diesel engine is at least twice as heavy if not three times as heavy. I can barely lift it myself.

I'm also running the John Deere combine weights that are 168 lbs each.

Mostly looking at a box blade that they call modified cat 1 I believe. Nothing much more than that.
I would think it would be much easier to convert the cat 1 equipment to cat zero. Cat 1 arms are quite a bit longer which takes even more weight off the front and throws off your draft. Then without stiffening your frame in the middle it’ll be short lived I’d think.
 
#11 ·
To me it's about universality: I built my arms to the original Case factory length, but put Cat 1 swivel eyes on them. If I need to attach Cat 0, I have bushings to put in the swivels. So I can attach to either category.

That way I can be certain that I can attach to any small-ish 3 pt. implement. Unless the implement is just physically too large to handle, I don't have to worry about which Category it was made for.

Bob
 
#12 ·
Yep exactly what Bob said. I'm not making the hitch to cat 1 just the swivels. There are quite a few Implements I've seen that all you have to do is flip the pins inside and your good to go. I've been really eyeing up the new TSC box blade but I don't care for the price tag.
 
#15 · (Edited)
So at this point.... with the lack of information on the HH34 I'm going to continue on with the hybrid J26.

I like what @scottlcy did with his and plan on doing something similar.

I'd like to do a swivel on the top of the lift links. The stock design causes a lot of wear with the pins just flopping around however they want. So I'm going to double the lift arms (one on each side of the swivel) so there is no twisting of the arm when lifting. The bottom of the lift arms would be that fork style to prevent the lower lift arms from twisting.

The biggest problem is the sway control. While it gets the job done? The factory chains just suck and pretty sure everyone knows this.

@DDudeinar I believe this is the post you are referring to.


When working linkages geometry can be an issue without binding. Having a little experience with building offroad vehicles, I believe I can tackle this.

The sway control or stabilizer needs to at least have the same pivot point as the lower lift arms. If the pivot point is exactly the same then the sway bar can be any length because the arc will be the same.

If the pivot point is behind (to the rear of the tractor) the arcs will be different and bind before the lift arms reach full swing in either direction. With this short of an arm it will be magnified a lot.

If the sway bar pivots before (to the front of the tractor) this should work as the length will help. It will still bind but not as bad.

Anyway I'd like to do something like these sway bars from messicks for the kubota BX. If I use 1"x1.5"x.120" wall steel tubing and .75"x1.25" bar, they should slip in and out of each other fairly easily.



It looks like the BX has a wing that pivots in the center on the same pivot as the lift arms. If I can replicate this that would be great! I'm not sure how much room though to do this in the center between the arms.

Maybe I can attach them to the sleeve hitch points on the axle or the tubes as well.
 
#16 ·
I have 4 tractors with sway bars very similar to the one you pictured, although they attach to the outside of the arm with the other end connected to the axle. They work excellent! My Case uses the stock sway chains, also work good, although I made a little different attachment point to the top of the drawbar. The early style 3 point works just fine for a GT once you eliminate the 40 years of wear. Now, if you are going to use the tractor commercially, maybe run a tiller or rear blade 10-14 hours a day for 4 months at a time, well then by all means upgrade the hitch to all heim joints ect.
 
#21 ·
Here's a $30 option at Tractor Supply:

So I have the j26 on my 444, but i built the lower arms and the side links. What i've learned about the Case setup in particular is that on the J26 design the fact that the rockshaft arms go out straight sort of dictates that your lower arms also need to go out straight, which means they have to be bent outwards somewhere past where the side/lift links attach. If you have straight lower arms which angle out and then hook lift links from your straight rockshaft arms to them, the rockshaft arms get a bending/twisting force from picking up on something that isn't directly below them. So you can either put the angle in the rockshaft arms or in the lower arms but ideally the lift link itself would remain nearly vertical between the two.

It's also somewhat important that the attachment from the lift link to the lower arm be a 'clevis yoke' that goes around both sides, because if you don't center the lift force over the lower arm it will have a tendency to twist it as far as the ball ends will allow, which might be fine or might not depending on how you look at it.

The length of the lower arms takes away from your lift capacity, but if you make them TOO short it will just limit your lift height instead by running the implement into the back of your tires as you raise it.

Cat 1 top link pin is farther up from the lower draw pins than on Cat0, as someone already said. You can leave the stock top link attachment point alone on the tractor side but what will happen is as you raise the implement, it will also tilt forwards. For many things this does not matter as the only time it needs to be at a particular angle is when it's touching the ground. A power top link also makes this mostly not matter. The fact that we don't have a pto shaft with limited 'compression travel' and u-joint angle to worry about, also makes it not matter much.

I intend to modify my j26 a lot further by adding the deck lift cylinder on the other side (attached at a different radius because of its different stroke length), redoing my lower arms and lift links, and putting a power top link on it at some point. But the tractor itself would still not be useful for most of my Cat1 implements which i use on my Kubota B6100 because of weight/traction. I have not added enough weight to my Case to give it useful 1wd (open diff no steering brakes 2wd) traction for dragging actual cat 1 ground engaging implements. But i frequently use it for a landscape rake, carryall/pallet forks, a small ripper/plow thing i made, and pulling cars around occasionally. I have a ~40" dethatcher i am probably going to double the size of to ~80" , and it could probably still use that well. After i am done with all upgrades I would hope it could use a ~5ft angle blade 'ok' but not great. So hopefully your expectations are calibrated properly about what you could accomplish with cat1 implements.

Hope that helped any.
 
#22 ·
Here's a $30 option at Tractor Supply:

So I have the j26 on my 444, but i built the lower arms and the side links. What i've learned about the Case setup in particular is that on the J26 design the fact that the rockshaft arms go out straight sort of dictates that your lower arms also need to go out straight, which means they have to be bent outwards somewhere past where the side/lift links attach. If you have straight lower arms which angle out and then hook lift links from your straight rockshaft arms to them, the rockshaft arms get a bending/twisting force from picking up on something that isn't directly below them. So you can either put the angle in the rockshaft arms or in the lower arms but ideally the lift link itself would remain nearly vertical between the two.

It's also somewhat important that the attachment from the lift link to the lower arm be a 'clevis yoke' that goes around both sides, because if you don't center the lift force over the lower arm it will have a tendency to twist it as far as the ball ends will allow, which might be fine or might not depending on how you look at it.

The length of the lower arms takes away from your lift capacity, but if you make them TOO short it will just limit your lift height instead by running the implement into the back of your tires as you raise it.

Cat 1 top link pin is farther up from the lower draw pins than on Cat0, as someone already said. You can leave the stock top link attachment point alone on the tractor side but what will happen is as you raise the implement, it will also tilt forwards. For many things this does not matter as the only time it needs to be at a particular angle is when it's touching the ground. A power top link also makes this mostly not matter. The fact that we don't have a pto shaft with limited 'compression travel' and u-joint angle to worry about, also makes it not matter much.

I intend to modify my j26 a lot further by adding the deck lift cylinder on the other side (attached at a different radius because of its different stroke length), redoing my lower arms and lift links, and putting a power top link on it at some point. But the tractor itself would still not be useful for most of my Cat1 implements which i use on my Kubota B6100 because of weight/traction. I have not added enough weight to my Case to give it useful 1wd (open diff no steering brakes 2wd) traction for dragging actual cat 1 ground engaging implements. But i frequently use it for a landscape rake, carryall/pallet forks, a small ripper/plow thing i made, and pulling cars around occasionally. I have a ~40" dethatcher i am probably going to double the size of to ~80" , and it could probably still use that well. After i am done with all upgrades I would hope it could use a ~5ft angle blade 'ok' but not great. So hopefully your expectations are calibrated properly about what you could accomplish with cat1 implements.

Hope that helped any.
I believe I looked at those lifts arms and they're too long and when fully compressed the arms still have a slight downward angle instead of being level with the ground or higher at full lift. Also, the ball joint at the top shouldn't be used with the J26. If it fits in the opening on the HH34 then it will be fine to use the top ball joint.

Also, you should remember this is going on his diesel build more than likely so he will have a good bit more weight on his tractor than your assumed to be stock 444. His will probably weigh similar to mine and mine will weigh about 1000lbs without ballast which is very close to your Kubota. The only issue he and I will have is the 2WD vs 4WD traction issues. I believe at the weight these tractors will be the small Cat 1 attachments meant for the sub-compact size tractors will work perfectly. Your B6100 is only rated for 400lbs of rear hitch lift which is actually pretty close to what people say a stock 400 series can lift ballasted correctly. I did the math on it and mine will lift 400lbs no problem without any ballasting and just relying on the front-end weight from the engine and I personally believe the J26 is plenty strong enough to lift that weight.
 
#23 · (Edited)
I believe I looked at those lifts arms and they're too long and when fully compressed the arms still have a slight downward angle instead of being level with the ground or higher at full lift.
So i can understand if the arms i linked to are just too long, but i don't get what you're saying about what is supposed to be 'level at full lift'?

Also, the ball joint at the top shouldn't be used with the J26.
I thought he said he was going to 'pocket' the end of the rockshaft arms so that they would be on both sides of a ball type joint.

he will have a good bit more weight on his tractor than your assumed to be stock 444. His will probably weigh similar to mine and mine will weigh about 1000lbs without ballast which is very close to your Kubota. The only issue he and I will have is the 2WD vs 4WD traction issues.
My Case is actually lighter than stock because it's repowered with a Predator 212cc and has no pto assembly, mower deck etc. I do have filled rear tires and just built a 'chain box' for the front pin mount thing which is probably over 100lbs when filled with chain. But it's still an open differential 2wd with no steering brakes (ie manual 'traction control') no matter how much weight i add to it.

My B6100 on the other hand has a 500lb FEL on it, and filled 31x13.50-15 rear tires (~19 gal/150lbs each) so it is probably closer to 1700lbs. I was using my 60" box blade with all 5 rippers down yesterday and not only does it need its 4wd and rear diff lock to effectively do that, i also had to pick up a bucket of dirt to add weight to the front tires for traction.
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My Case could pull MAYBE 2 of those rippers through the dirt, and couldn't pull a 60" box blade full of dirt basically no matter what. I still love my Case but it's not really capable of using very many Cat1 implements just because i put Cat1 ball ends on it. That's why.. I have multiple tractors. 😈 A Case should use a 42-48" box blade, in my opinion.

Your B6100 is only rated for 400lbs of rear hitch lift which is actually pretty close to what people say a stock 400 series can lift ballasted correctly. I did the math on it and mine will lift 400lbs no problem without any ballasting and just relying on the front-end weight from the engine and I personally believe the J26 is plenty strong enough to lift that weight.
I thought it was 500lb. I remember reading that the B6100 and the Case on paper had the same 3pt lift capacity. In real life the 6100 is slightly stronger and probably closer to 600lbs, but the Case is limited more by weight on the front end than the actual 3pt hydraulics. Before I added the chain box i couldn't really get close to 500lbs without the front end coming up so i've never truly maxed it out. The b6100 i max out basically every time i'm on it because the 60" box blade weighs ~325-350lbs, i added a 113lb weight to the very back of it, and as soon as it's half or more full of dirt i can no longer lift it unless i back away from the dirt a little bit or tilt it forward with the power top link to let some dirt drop out behind me.

I'm planning to increase the 3pt capacity on both machines. On the Case i'm adding a 2nd cylinder to the rockshaft, on the Kubota i have concerns about the rockshaft arm durability so i'm going to add a couple of small external cylinders (actually power steering cylinders from a Case 580!). (y)


I'm very happy to share my 'small tractor 3pt experiences' but I don't want people to think i'm shittalking a Case just because it's a 2wd garden tractor. I love them and that's why i'm here.
 
#24 ·
At this point I'm just going to build a modified j26 style hitch with stronger upper lift arms and hopefully tie it into the frame a bit better.

I don't need to worry about adding a cylinder or anything like that. The john deere cylinder I'm using is rated for 2000 psi so I will gain a ton of power just from that.

I do understand what you guys are saying about cat 1 Implements though.
 
#25 ·
I'm working on improving my lift arm stabilization. Like the HH34, I have a triangle brace coming up from a ball hitch mount, and it falls inline with the lift arms' center of rotation. So I'm going to model a stabilizer after the HH34, and drill through that triangular brace. (I'll pull the right wheel and the right lift arm, and stick an extended 1/2" drill bit through the righthand lift arm pin hole, and just drill into/through that triangular brace.)

But the factory HH34 stabilizer isn't adjustable, and we can't have that. So I'm fabricating a 3/4" turnbuckle with about 2.5" inches of travel. Fully retracted, it'll hold the righthand liftarm SUPER narrow, fully extended, the lift arm will basically rub the righthand tire.

The LH acme threaded rod and nut are salvaged from a trashed trailer tongue jack. The RH threaded rod and nuts are standard 3/4-10. The rods will travel in and out at differing paces, but it shouldn't matter.


I'll post more pics as it progresses.

Bob

Slope Parallel Font Drawing Rectangle
 
#27 · (Edited)
I'm working on improving my lift arm stabilization. Like the HH34, I have a triangle brace coming up from a ball hitch mount, and it falls inline with the lift arms' center of rotation. So I'm going to model a stabilizer after the HH34, and drill through that triangular brace. (I'll pull the right wheel and the right lift arm, and stick an extended 1/2" drill bit through the righthand lift arm pin hole, and just drill into/through that triangular brace.)

But the factory HH34 stabilizer isn't adjustable, and we can't have that. So I'm fabricating a 3/4" turnbuckle with about 2.5" inches of travel. Fully retracted, it'll hold the righthand liftarm SUPER narrow, fully extended, the lift arm will basically rub the righthand tire.

The LH acme threaded rod and nut are salvaged from a trashed trailer tongue jack. The RH threaded rod and nuts are standard 3/4-10. The rods will travel in and out at differing paces, but it shouldn't matter.


I'll post more pics as it progresses.

Bob

View attachment 128273
Here's the finished product.


Automotive tire Wood Automotive exterior Gas Automotive wheel system


I only intend to do a single side, I'll let the left hand lift arm be controlled by its connection to the righthand arm.

And for locking, I have a pivoting clamshell shroud on the turnbuckle. You can snap the shroud closed for adjusting the turnbuckle, and then leave it hanging down when you're done. Any forces trying to spin the turnbuckle can't overcome the gravity that's pulling that clamshell downward, so it'll just stay where you leave it.

Here are some construction shots for anyone interested.


Asphalt Gas Auto part Metal Cylinder

LH acme nut insert on the right, standard 3/4" nut on the left.

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Both nuts welded in place, I marked the rods with teflon tape to confirm I have enough travel in and out.

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I used a holesaw stuck in through the lift arm pivot hole to drill out the vertical brace. That hole is in line with the lift arm pivot pins, so the shaft stuck in that hole will just rotate cleanly up and down with the lift arms.

Metalworking hand tool Wood Gas Screw Auto part
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I slotted some 1" bar and forged/welded an eye onto a 1/2" grade 8 bolt to create the rearward "hinge". The bolt will go through the lift arm shackle to pin it to the lift arm.

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Then I cut the bar off and drilled the end so it can go over the 3/4" LH acme rod and be welded on.

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Then I made two new pins: the pin at the very top is a new lift arm pivot pin. I turn a u-shaped channel near its inner end.

Then I made the other upper left pin. Its slotted end slides in the new hole in the vertical brace. It's other end telescopes over the u-channel end of the lift arm pivot pin. When you put in that big hairpin, it goes in the u-channel, which captures the pivot pin.

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So those two shafts can rotate freely vs. each other, but they can't come apart. They're pinned together.

Handle Door Wood Line Fixture
Wood Tool Gas Font Metalworking hand tool

Then I milled down the end of the standard 3/4 threaded rod so that it can slide in and get pinned into the slot in the inner (upper left above) pin.

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lastly I created a hinged clamshell shroud to go on the turnbuckle itself.


Time to assemble:

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This rotating pin is locked "left-to-right" It can't slide right due to the spacers on its right end. And it can't slide left due to the flange/collar on the pin that's joining to the 3/4" threaded rod.

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Super narrow


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Super wide. Almost rubbing the rear tire.

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All finished, counterweight re-installed.
 

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#26 · (Edited)
Looks nice. If you use jamnuts of any kind try to make them engage the same kind/size of tool that turns the turnbuckle to minimize the amount of tools you need to keep with the tractor. You can stick things off the side like 'flag nuts' to make them more workable by hand but you if you do that you have to have clearance to spin said appendage and it doesn't look like it.
Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Motor vehicle

In the pic of my Kubota above you can see that i replaced one of my stabilizer turnbuckles with a small ratcheting loadbinder which is blissfully 'tool free'. Why only one? Because i only bought one to explore the feasibility of it when i had the idea.. now i need a 2nd one and haven't bought it yet. :whistle: So there is still a wrench hung on a hook right above it for the stock stabilizer on the other side. I did learn that is not sufficient for bush hog use when one bounced off and i bent it about in half with the bush hog.. whoops. Started hanging them on a carabiner after that but when i don't need any tools for stabilizers anymore i will say GOOD RIDDANCE!!
 
#29 ·
Yes that rear on the back left is free floating. I figure it'll be important even just to make easier to hook up implements. Having said that, when I went ahead and hooked up the counterweight implement it was really pretty easy to just use the turnbuckle to bring the lift arm over when I was ready.

So for what I'm doing with it I may never pull the pin. But I can if I want.

Bob
 
#31 ·
Creative design. I like the reuse of trailer tongue jack components!

I can see the impetus for the assymmetrical design, and i like about it that it can also ‘side shift’ a 3 pt implement without having to go back and forth working the stabilizers on both sides. I found some need to do that when using a 5ft angle blade to backfill a trench with a tiny tractor, because i needed a lot of angle on the blade, also needed the blade to extend beyond the rear wheel on that side, AND found that even if i had a larger blade it would not necessarily help because the angled 5’ blade was already imparting a large ‘rear steer’ force and ‘wagging the dog’, which would have been even worse with a larger blade. So, offsetting the blade via the stabilizers came in handy.

I haven’t come up with a stabilizer design idea that i actually like for my Case yet, but this is definitely getting filed away in the ideas drawer up there. 👍
 
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