Hydraulic Cylinder Replaces Top Link On 3pt Hitch

Hydraulic cylinder replaces top link on 3pt hitch HITCHES Hitches 15-5-6 An 8-in. hydraulic cylinder that replaces the top link on his 3-pt. hitch lets William Griessler, Delanson, N.Y., automatically change the pitch of the hitch right from the tractor seat. Griessler removed the conventional screw-type top link and replaced it with a modified cylinder, attaching one end to the 3-pt. and the other to the tractor using special fittings he designed. "It's one of the handiest ideas I've ever come up with," says Griessler, who's made the conversion on his Ford 4000 and 4100 tractors. "It eliminates the need to get on and off the tractor to change the pitch of the top link. Works great to change the angle of my 3-pt. bale fork, especially when a bale is on a slope. It also works great for dropping bales on end into a bale feeder. I also use it with my 3-pt. mounted dirt scoop. I retract the cylinder to tip the scoop so it bites into the dirt as I back up. By raising the 3-pt. hitch and extending the cylinder I can dump the dirt out. "I also use it for skidding logs - it lifts the log while I chain it - and for digging out rocks. I tilt my 3-pt. rock digger at a 45 degree angle to get under the rock. Then I back up and keep pressure on it while retracting the cylinder to lift the rock out of the ground. I've moved tremendously big rocks with it." Griessler made special adapters to fit each end of the cylinder. He pinned a steel block between the prongs on the end of the cylinder, then welded a flexible ball hitch - the kind that normally secures the ends of drawbars - to the steel block. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, William Griessler, RR 1, Box 280, Delanson, N.Y. 12053 (ph 518 895-2561).

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