My attempt at fabricating a front reciever hitch....

[Rob]

Well then, as a follow-onfrom my other thread i decided to fabricate a front reciever hitch myself to fit my trusty B7100.
Having seen the pics put up on the forum i was impressed by the potential of such a setup, and the ease in the attachment could be interchanged.

My intial use is for a new winch, so i started working on an idea.
I wanted to keep the overall dimesions and footprint as compact as possible ,but, still retain a strong basis for the hitch and future fitments.

I didnt really want to start buying more expensive steel plate so had a search through the shed and found an old john deere crawler rear hitch assembly , and ,it was made from nice thick qualitysteel plate, i think its about 12mm.

so then after a fair bit cutting etc i had enough pieces suitable for the plan in mind.

the result is in the pics below, and it has worked out really well for my application.It integrates well on the front of the chassis and the position of the winch does not hinder the openening of the bonnet, if anything it strenghtens the front end a fair bit i think,
It'snot a brilliant job to be honest , but it serves the purpose i have in mind, see what you think and any feedback on improving it would be good.

rob

 

[Rob]

fewmore pics.

 

[Rob]

final few guys, finished item , fitted, just waiting for the quick disconnect connectors for the power cable.

Even got room in the small bay on the hitch to store the snatch block and a few bits.

rob

 

[skeets]

Very nice!!

 

[wills670]

Looks good.

 

[Kytim]

Bravo! good job but I want to caution you. As strong as the mount appears, and as stout as the winch is, be careful where you attach to a tree. You may find you tractor swinging in the air!! Hahaha
but seriously, good work.

 

[bwssr]

Sweet job, sir!

 

[Battered Sav]

Great job Rob, well done.

 

[Dennis T.]

Looks good !

 

[cabu]

Looks good. Like it. Pimp my Kubota...

But what was the main reason to add a winch? Pulling wood out of the forest? Pulling the tractor out of the mud?
The 7001 seems to be a little light for a winch...

 

[Rob]

thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

cabu, the main reason for the winch is for extracting myself and the 7100 from situations where normal traction has failed, which where i live during winter months, is pretty well all the time.
The ground is very wet here with a very high water table, turfs are not the best for traction, but, they do float over wet ground well even if it is at the cost of traction normally found with ags.

I have ags on my B6000, but have been known to still get it bogged down, so the winch would help with extracting that also.

light log pulling may be handy but i wasnt planning on using the winch for to much of it.

rob

 

[gpreuss]

I think you just want to be able to hang it out to dry when you wash it...
Fine Job!!!

 

[Rob]

hey guys, thats just given me another really mad, mad idea...... , errrrrrrrrrrr on second thoughts maybe not ..


The wife gave me this nice little badge sometime ago, she says it sums me up most of the time....women, what are they like.

pic.


cheers all and have a good one.
rob

 

[skeets]

Some how I don't think your alone in there,,lol