Slide Hitch For Forage Harvesters

Slide hitch for forage harvesters HITCHES Hitches 17-3-38 A "slide hitch" mounted on the back of his Deere pull-type forage harvester lets Connecticut fanner Ralph Gold "steer" the dump wagon that trails behind the harvester. "This has become a popular idea in this area. Some farmers have been doing it for 10 years or more," says Gold. "The original idea was to avoid hitching and unhitching dump wagons when moving from field to field, which was often necessary on our small New England fields. But once we started using the idea, we realized it's a very handy option in the field, too. "It lets you make small corrections when operating on sidehills and, after dumping the wagon, it lets you steer the wagon away from the truck to avoid scraping it or hooking sides between the truck and wagon." Gold made his hitch by putting a length of 3-in. sq. tubing across the back of the harvester, attached to the main frame. A slightly larger piece of sq. tubing about 2 ft. long slips over it. A hitch for the wagon and bracket for the cylinder both attach to this sliding section. A 3-ft. long cylinder slides the hitch back and forth. It doesn't take a big dia. cylinder but does require an extra set of hydraulic remotes on the tractor. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Ralph C. Gold, Cream Hill Farm, 199 Cream Hill Road, West Cornwall, Conn. 06796 (ph 203 672-6077).

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