the only adjustment on mine is one that allows the implement to drop a little lower into the ground while giving up an equal amount of lift height.

if you are talking about the 2 bolts right at the implement, these are so you can tighten teh implement and lock it in place. some things you want to allow for wobble, such as a disc. while other things you want loked done tight with no side to side wobble.

 

It's possible the springs you talking about are lift-assist springs and are adjustable as to the amount of assist but without a picture I'm guessing.

 

I too am only guessing, I am going on stuff I have read here, decided I finally had to ask. Definitely nothing wrong with asking.

 

The purpose of the bolts is to keep the implement in place. If you are dragging a plow you don't want it to swing left to right on it's own. The bolts allow you to snug things up so that the implement is a tight fit. It prevents things from breaking as they could easily do if they were loose and could move on their own.

Neil

 

I've been curious of this myself. today I called a fellow that has ALOT of garden tractors to inquire about a sleeve hitch for my 105 cub. He said he has 'em and would sell me one for $35.00! Then after talking awhile,he precedes to tell me that if I want to use the hitch for attachments,such as a one bottom plow,that I need a Brinly hitch adapter,which,of course,he has. What am I missing? I search ebay for sleeve hitches and they show what he is selling me for 35 bucks. Is there more to this configuration than the three/four items that people claim to be a sleeve hitch on Ebay? After viewing pics of the hitch itself, I can't imagine it couldn't be "scrapped" together out of a few parts with help from a mig and sawsall.Could some one post some detailed pics. of the hitch with measurements? Maybe I,or someone else interested in these "hard to find parts" could fab 'em up cheap. :sorry1:

 

if I want to use the hitch for attachments,such as a one bottom plow,that I need a Brinly hitch adapter,which,of course,he has. What am I missing? I search ebay for sleeve hitches and they show what he is selling me for 35 bucks. Is there more to this configuration than the three/four items that people claim to be a sleeve hitch on Ebay? Could some one post some detailed pics. of the hitch with measurements?

Cub has a lift hitch system that they use, and if you want to use standard sleeve hitch attachment, then you need the Brinley adapter.
If you can buy either one for 35 I would go for it. It would take a fair amount of time and metal to build it from scratch.
I found a set of sketches with the measurements to build a sleeve hitch for a Massey Ferguson 10/12. The actual sleeve hitch should work on many if not all GT's, I would think. The rest is going to be tractor specific.

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/0JyFSa...mzPnOKknX9WFmvHhsd2csEHHUI-6yGNG1PJPfp45aUCpGVPYF0tXQqTkA/SleeveHitchDesign.pdf

Here is mine on a MF-12

 

I would love to see a few detailed drawings since I plan to scrap together two sleeve hitches for my new 1988 Craftsman GT18 painted as a Caterpillar. I am going to have one front and rear and add a hydraulic system to the tractor for lifting them.

 

wv, you and me both. I want to try and fab a power steering pump off a car to lift my snow plow and rear attachments(soon to come). But first I would like to know the "standard" for the attachments.

 

I am just going to use some hydraulic parts Dad has laying around, might have to buy a couple spool valves though. It shouldn't be very hard to scrap together some rather stout sleeve hitches if only I had some specs, or the tractor I bought with a sleeve hitch, hard to bring home anything in the winter.

 

A "Sleeve Hitch" is to garden tractors what the "3PH" is to the larger tractors....a universal way to adapt implements to the tractor. A Sleeve Hitch is a single pin connection that provides multiple attaching points (3 mostly) for certain attachment alignment such as moldboard plows. A Sleeve Hitch has a bail that usually pivots on each side of the tractor draw bar. Attached to the bail is some sort of lifting arrangement.

The 3PH adapter...adapts a Category "0" 3PH to a Sleeve Hitch configuration.

 

It seems that each tractor had its own version of a "sleeve hitch" but the sleeve hitch adapter in this picture,is used with a Cat"O" 3 PTH. This adapter is slightly different than the "Brinley" 3 pt adapter, also, which had a double cross bar with the 2 "tightening " bolts mentioned. I don't have a picture handy, or I would post it.

 

Google Image

 

I think this is the one he's after......

 

The adapters that attach the implement to sleeve hitch are all the same size. I cut mine out of 3" x 4" x 1/4" rectangle tubing and cut one side off. Then you just drill a 5/8" hole 1" centered from the edge. At that point you just weld it on to whatever you want to use as your attachment.

The sleeve hitch itself swivels at the bottom of the rear plate housing of the tractor or bolts to the rear plate. It is a piece of 2" x 3/8" flat bar with a small piece of 1/4" thick tubing welded to it. It has a nut welded on the flat bar on both sides of the tubing to receive the bolts.

If you can bend a piece of 3/8" flat bar then you wouldn't have a problem making one.

Neil

 

I want to try to use the 1.5 inch square tubing I have to make two sleeve hitches, I have no 3/8" flat bar nor the ability to bend it. Unless someone has any better ideas I plan to at hook point stack an extra square chunk on top and drill a hole through both for the pin. I would be willing to buy a reasonably low priced sleeve hitch if it was made to fit the tractor.

 

Thanks fellas. Now I know what I'm looking at.Tweid,nice looking MF :fing32:

 

Here is some of the fun you can have with a sleeve hitch!!
The plow is one of the implements you want mounted tight and ridged with those two set bolts. I am pulling a 10" Brinly single bottom moldboard plow in the first pic. That is my old gas powered 782 Cub Cadet. My 782d diesel Cub has a Catagory 0 3pt hitch on it. Mike

 

cadetpwr,nice tractor. That last pic of the rear of the yellow cub is perfect! Gives me a good idea of how it all hooks up.How/where does the flat piece hook to the lever to raise lower the attachments? Is it mounted directly to the lever? If so,it's safe to assume its above the pivot point. Or does it connect under neath where the deck would connect? Maybe I'm missing something. Do you have to remove part ofthe hitch in order to use the mower deck?
Thanks

 

The lift bar goes from the top casting to the center rock shaft under the cub, what it actualy attaches to depends on the model of the cub, if it has hyd lift or manual lift. They also make a spring assist for the manual lift cubs. The IH 3pt is differnt amoung the Cub models, one is for the Original cub, then Narrow Frames, then Wide Frames, then the red 82 series have a different lift bar. You then add the "U" shaped Brinly adapter to mount the plow, disc ect to. When CCC/MTD took over the Cub Cadet line, they changed the rear end housing to alum. At the same time, they went to the Cat 0 rear 3pt hitch as the alum rear end cant take the stress of the lower bracket for the sleeve hitch. Brinly makes a triangular adapter for the Cat 0 hitch so you can use sleeve implements. I have one for our 782d. Here are some more pics. Mike

 

Sweet looking cubs Mike!:thThumbsU . This is what I came up with so far,granted it's not as beefy as the cast original piece, but it does the lifting as the "draw bar" takes most of the load.

Here it is mocked up on the tractor

Not quite finished yet. I can buy this lift mechanism off a local guy for $35.00,but I thought it would be fun to try and cobble something together. One other question. Can I use a length of chain to go from the lift mechanism to the drawbar,or do you need something solid to help keep the attachment planted on/in the ground?

 

I would spend the money and buy a Cub Cadet 3 point hitch system. That will not hold up. The bottom of the hitch takes the load when pulling the attachment and the top link takes the load when lifting.
Plows do weigh 65 to 85 pounds.

Different views of the hitch on my IH Cub Cadet 100.

The top of the lifting straps are slotted to allow some float.

Digger/hiller

 

Thats one fine looking cub Merk! I will buy the hitch for a measly 35 bucks. He's an older fellow that's in no hurry to dig one out for me and I got a slight case of cabin fever! Until then I will tinker in my little shop and see what happens. After all,I did turn a weight bench into a snow plow frame that "wouldn't cut it" and with the last 5" of snow topped with 1" of ice it's still together! Thanks for the pics.

 

This is what I've got so far. Yes it is only 1/4" and not 3/8",but I think it will be ok when I'm finished. All of this was cut w/the trusty 'ole "fire axe". And so far it's cost me...............NOTHING except electricity and oxy/acyt.

Don't mind the mess in my little shop!

 

That looks really good dmaxx. I of course bought a clearanced sleeve hitch at Lowes for about $40 and will build a new mount to fit the sleeve hitch to the intended tractor.

 

it looks ok, but thin. i bought a electric SH a few years back and the metal is soft so that it keeps bending. you want hard steel.

 

Yes it is thin. It's 1/4" instead of 3/8",but I'm not finished yet and I believe things were made different then than now.They were made to last. As long as my smoke wrench has fuel and my little Hobart has wire, I will prevail:hide: ! :sidelaugh
I have a 2002 2500 hd chevy truck that has thin looking fenders compared to my 1960 dodge too...But the chevy has lots more bracing and bolts and welds!

 

Another bad picture taken w/cell phone!

A little weld spatter,but suites me.

 

That turned out nice dmaxx. :thThumbsU

 

that sleeve hitch turned out really good. I like how you boxed it in across the bottom.