Electric Lift Hitch Powered By Winch

Electric Lift Hitch Powered By Winch TRACTORS Hitches 30-6-30 "It makes hooking up to an implement a fast and easy job," says Stephen Ferrante of Gaylord, Mich., about the home-built electric lift hitch he built for his new Deere X500 garden tractor. It's equipped with a 2-in. receiver hitch and is powered by a winch that operates off the tractor's battery. The hitch attaches to the tractor at three points and can be installed or removed in only a few minutes. Ferrante uses it to pull a 4-ft. wide rake that he built himself. The winch mounts on top of a vertical metal channel that's attached to a pair of hinged metal frames. To raise or lower the rake he flips a switch that's velcroed to the grab handle on the tractor's left fender. Retracting the cable causes the frames to pivot upward, and extending the cable causes the frames to pivot downward. To hook up to the rake, Ferrante simply inserts a pin through the receiver hitch. He can change the rake's pitch by manually adjusting a mid-mounted turnbuckle. Two other turnbuckles are used to make the hitch frame more stable. The hitch attaches to the tractor with a 4-in. long bolt that goes through the drawbar, and with a pair of horizontal metal straps with bolts welded onto one end. The bolts fit through holes already in the tractor frame. "I think it has potential not only for garden tractors, but also for ATV's and utility vehicles," says Ferrante. "I didn't change anything at all on the tractor. My biggest expense was $200 for the winch. I use a tensioner to keep the cable from unraveling whenever it's let down too far. I rigged up a limit switch from an old dehumidifier in order to keep the cable from raising too far. "I added the horizontal mounting bars to keep the hitch from tilting too much on sidehills and as I raise and lower the implement. I plan to make adapters so I can mount the same hitch on front of the tractor and operate a snow blade, etc." To build the rake he bought curved steel tines with holes drilled in one end and bolted them to a length of 3-in. angle iron. The tines are 1 in. wide and are spaced 1 in. apart. The rake can be turned 360 degrees and pivoted 30 degrees up or down on side hills. The rake's tongue has 1/4-in. thick steel welded onto one end to fit the receiver hitch. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stephen J. Ferrante, 4342 Whitehouse Trl., Gaylord, Mich. 49735 (ph 989 732-7924).

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