[BowlBuilder]

I would like to modify my sleeve hitch with a dedicated cylinder and a selector valve. I have seen this done a few times and some of them looked plain horrible while others looked pretty decent. I saw a thread once, I believe on MTF, where someone attached a cylinder directly to the arm on the hitch and tucked the cylinder along length of the frame. It was very sanitary. I have searched and cannot find this thread. I am looking for ideas/pictures from anyone who has added a hydraulic cylinder to their sleeve hitch in any manner. The more pictures of different ways of going about this would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[troll]

:goodpost: Yeah...what he said! I would like to be able to use the sleeve hitch and front plow. A dedicated cylinder for the hitch would solve that problem
I hope everyone had a joyful and safe Christmas!
Troll

 

[dweber85rc]

I did this and had a thread over of MTF http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=211136 Hopefully mine wasn't one of the ones that looked horrible. I know mine isn't pretty but it is plenty strong and does look better now that it has a coat of paint on it. I modeled mine after the design that cub cadet uses for lifting their sleeve hitches. Its simple, it works and I didn't have to try and fit anything else under the tractor. It is pretty tight under there by the time you add the T's needed and extra hoses. My mower deck barely clears the hoses and extra fittings. I was lucky that I only had to buy the fittings I needed for connected to the TCV-otherwise I had everything else on hand. No a bad way to spend $20. I know some have complained that the selector valve can be hard to operate if you have a load on one or more of the cylinders-but I never experienced this. Mine pulls in and out smooth, even with my rear grader blade on the back and with the mower deck on. Plus I have more travel with it than I did with it stock.

I wish I would have done this modification right when I got my 220 in the spring last year, Would have saved me countless times taking the mower deck. I also did it because I was noticing the mid lift plate that the sleeve hitch lift arm attaches too would flex a lot if I had my rear grader blade on(weighs about 150 lbs) and I didn't want it to bend or break.

 

[BowlBuilder]

I feel like the bastard stepchild who no one wants to talk to :headscratcher: . Hasn't anyone performed this modification or seen a thread which discusses it w/ pictures or even have any thoughtful suggestions or insights which may lead to a nice, clean installation? Any help whatsoever would be appreciated. Thanks to those who have responded.

 

[Hydriv]

I have no idea as to the marital status of your parents but I am always willing to talk to you. :sidelaugh:


I often leave threads like this alone in the hopes that other members will post their thoughts, suggestions and experiences.

As I see it, what you want to do is desirable but complicated by the lack of available room. The sleeve hitch is connected to the bell crank by way of a 1/2" thick piece of flat bar that is bent in several directions . There is precious little room between the inside of the rear tire and the frame/fenders of the tractor, regardless of model. And when you get forward of the tire, you then have the footrest and parking brake in the way.

The actuator arm on the hitch points upward but at an angle. My thoughts are that you must make a new arm that bolts to the stock one and points downward, below the hitch. One hole would have to be drilled in the hitch frame to accept a second bolt for this new arm. The cylinder would mount below the frame in the most convenient spot and perhaps a link would have to be fashioned to connect the new arm to the rod end of the cylinder. The length of the new arm would have to be worked out in accordance with the amount of stroke of the cylinder but I think that an OEM middle lift cylinder could be adapted for this task. That cylinder is designed to work on the existing hydraulic system. Pressure and flow issues would be non-existent. No problems with adding a selector valve either for separate control.

I am speaking off the top of my head so that you have something to think about. Obviously, it would be helpful if you had a spare lift cylinder around so that you could try positioning it under the tractor first to see if any of this is do-able. I would be reluctant to choose a smaller diameter cylinder for fear that it would not lift all of the loads you might place on the hitch. After all, the lift relief is usually set at 575 PSI to protect the cylinder and everything it is mounted to.

 

[BowlBuilder]

Thank you for your (as always) informative and insightful response. I am not dead set on mounting it directly to the sleeve hitch arm, I was just impressed with the clean look of the installation. Any pictures/ideas/opinions would be greatly appreciated no matter how the task is accomplished. Surely more than one or two people have thoughts or information concerning this subject.

 

[Hydriv]

I suppose that another way would be to mount two 1 1/2" diameter cylinders under the frame on both sides and have them push two new arms that are welded to the sleeve hitch. Of course, this would be more costly and involved but sometimes you can find low cost cylinders on e-Bay or at some of the surplus centers. Once again, cylinder stroke along with the length of the arms would have to be determined. Ground clearance on a 400 Series would be less problematic than on a Lo Pro.

 

[dweber85rc]

Well, there are options but it depends on the kind of tractor(hi wheel or low wheel) you have and how complicated you want to make it. When I did mine, there is no way I could have fit a cylinder under the tractor(220) and still have any ground clearance or be able to put the mower deck on. If you have a 400 or 4000 series tractor then that is a different story as many of those have a longer wheel base and you also have more room to work with underneath.

I just made a plate that bolts on to the rear axle and then welded the cylinder mount and lift arm to the plate and then welded the mount for the arm onto the sleeve hitch-10 minutes of welding total. The downside to the way I did it is I loose the ability to use the center hole on the sleeve hitch-but I don't have any attatchments that use that hole anyways. Running the hoses took the longest part because I didn't want hoses hanging out all over and there isn't much of any room anywhere on there for extra hoses.

Like I said, anything can be done it depends on how complicated you want to make it.

 

[Billygoat]

What about building a three point hitch and a sleeve hitch adapter? I am assuming you have to buy a cylinder for your project anyway, then the biggest cost of building a three point would be the lift arm ends and the pieces for the adjustable side of the hitch. I will have to admit that the metal needed I can get for myself from the scrap bin and I don't know that you can. That would add expense to the project if you have to buy all the material.

 

[akeller]

Good topic. I have been giving this a thought for some time so it got me motivated. I did a mock up to try the simple configuration below. With this sleeve hitch on my 446, one inch of piston travel translated to two inches of travel at the end of the hitch. Not real practical unless you have a long throw cylinder.

In the second configuration below you would need to fab a connecting rod roughly eight inches long, just over the top of the axle tube, and connected to the existing crank on the sleeve hitch. This way one inch of piston travel translated to three inches of sleeve hitch travel. Much better but still not as much as the rock shaft, which I haven't measured because I had the heat on in the shop and didn't want to open the doors to start the 446.

I wonder if it would be OK to mount the cylinder off the axle tube :think:

Al

 

[akeller]

Much better but still not as much as the rock shaft, which I haven't measured because I had the heat on in the shop and didn't want to open the doors to start the 446.

I got curious and braved the Pennsylvania cold. It looks like a 1:5 ratio of piston travel to sleeve hitch end lift from the rock shaft.

 

[dweber85rc]

I wonder if it would be OK to mount the cylinder off the axle tube :think:

Al

I wouldn't. No matter how you place it on the tube you would be placing it in a spot that isn't designed to carry a load. Its possible if you had a long and skinny hydraulic cylinder you could place it where the bar mounts to the sleeve hitch and bolt a bracket to the frame depending on the wheel spacing. I used a cylinder that had a 5/8" bore and it has no problem lifting any load I will ever put on it. Realistically you don't need a 1" or 2" bore cylinder for the hitch, 1/2-3/4 bore is adequate for the loads the hitch was designed to carry-provided you don't have any side to side movement and the cylinder is purely pushing/pulling. However remember it is easier for a cylinder to lift a load pushing it rather than pulling