3 Point Hitch Stabilizers

[dlsmith]

After breaking another one of the Kubota stabilizer links this spring, I decided to build a set of telescoping stabilizers that would be stronger. I had a little over two feet of material left from a telescoping drive shaft I bought to make a shaft for the snow blower on my 430 John Deere. The bar is 3/4" by 5/8" and slides into the tube with minimum of play. I cut bars and tubes a foot long and laid out a series of holes on each one, 3/4" spacing on the tubes and 5/8" spacing on the bars. That was a lot of drilling, but my 3/8" cobalt bit was drilling just as well at the end as in the beginning. I made clevises for the ends out of 1/4" X 1" bar stock and welded them to the ends of the parts. I bead blasted the parts and gave them a coat of self-etching primer and a couple of coats of Kubota Gray. I used a couple of clevis pins to set the lengths that can be adjusted in 1/8" increments.
I 'll see how they hold up when pulling the utility trailer and box blade.

 

[DustyRusty]

You did a great job, and it is very professional looking. About 15 years ago, there was a tip on TBN that gave the part numbers, etc. from another Kubota tractor that had the adjustable bars on it as standard equipment. I purchased a pair, made a few modifications, and am still using them on my BX23S.

 

[07wingnut]

I did pretty well the same thing on my BX23, with just one major difference.

That hinged plate circled in red, is restrained from moving forward when the 3pth arms are forced inward by only that small pin circled in blue, which puts a the pressure on only one of the round bar stock that the plate hinges on. That could spell real trouble in bending that bar. The solution is to bolt a small piece of angle iron on the underside of the plate that contacts the round stock along its whole length. Both of the round bars under that plate will then resist forces caused by the inward movement of the 3pth arms.

 

[dlsmith]

I did pretty well the same thing on my BX23, with just one major difference.
That hinged plate circled in red, is restrained from moving forward when the 3pth arms are forced inward by only that small pin circled in blue, which puts a the pressure on only one of the round bar stock that the plate hinges on. That could spell real trouble in bending that bar. The solution is to bolt a small piece of angle iron on the underside of the plate that contacts the round stock along its whole length. Both of the round bars under that plate will then resist forces caused by the inward movement of the 3pth arms.

I was looking at that when I installed the bars. I wasn't impressed with that method of restraint. I was thinking of using a piece of tubing or bored out bar stock to replace the curved part of the plate and trimming that off and then welding it to the new tube.
Could also use a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" by 2" angle trimmed to fit against the pivot bar and bolted up to prevent any movement.
I haven't decided which method yet.