D-ring for the chassis front

[Showmedata]

I was looking at pulling a car out of the ditch on my road last week, and realized there's no good place on my LX to hook a chain. I could use the draw bar in the rear, but with the 3pt snow blower attached that's not very accessible. So I thought a D-ring on the nose was in order.

I bought the D-ring and loop at the farm store. Didn't have a scrap of steel plate big enough to cover all 4 holes in the chassis, so I welded up some scraps of 2-1/2 x 1/4" bar stock, then welded the D-ring loop to that.

A quick shot of clearcoat to limit rust and voila. Attached with 4x 3/8" grade 8 bolts (I could have gone bigger but neglected to measure the chassis holes before I was at the store buying hardware).

 

[woodman55]

A grade 8, 3/8 bolt has a proof load rating of 9300 lbs each. My guess is, something else will fail before the bolts do.

 

[jyoutz]

Nice job. It will make a good tie down for trailering. Be extremely careful pulling anything from the front of the tractor. The drawbar is the safe place to pull from.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Why does that make me think of this?

 

[Mark_BX25D]

The drawbar is the safe place to pull from.

How much side force can a drawbar handle?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Nice job. It will make a good tie down for trailering. Be extremely careful pulling anything from the front of the tractor. The drawbar is the safe place to pull from.

Most states follow Federal DOT laws, which require a minimum of 4 points of attachment to a load, so take note if someone wants to use it for a trailering.

 

[jyoutz]

Most states follow Federal DOT laws, which require a minimum of 4 points of attachment to a load, so take note if someone wants to use it for a trailering.

True

 

[jyoutz]

How much side force can a drawbar handle?

IDK, but they are designed to be the attachment point for pulling, and it is below the rear axle to reduce likelihood of wheelies.

 

[barts]

IDK, but they are designed to be the attachment point for pulling, and it is below the rear axle to reduce likelihood of wheelies.

The odds of doing a "stoppy" in reverse on the front axle is low, I think . I have a similar D-ring on my tractor, and use it rather than the chain hook on the loader bucket when I cannot pull in a straight line.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

The odds of doing a "stoppy" in reverse on the front axle is low, I think .

Yeah, I think I'd put it somewhere in the neighborhood of zero probability, and that might be putting it a bit too high.

 

[DustyRusty]

I have always been a fan of winching cars out of ditches, but your D ring looks to be quite robust. You just need a chain that is that robust to pull with.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Be really,REALLY careful about pulling 'cars out of ditches' with a chain to the front of your tractor !!!
When (not if..) the chain breaks you might not even get to say 'Oh Sh.. '
Used to run chain through an old tire to absorb some of the energy

 

[DustyRusty]

That is why I like winches and snatch blocks. You can control the amount of pull and stop when you see that the car isn't moving. Unfortunately, not everyone owns a winch so they have to do with what they have. On the road leading to my home, people slip off the side on a regular basis, and I never go to their rescue because my trailer is too small. When I had my truck I had an electric winch mounted to a steel plate that went into the trailer receiver, and it worked well.

 

[allis15]

Be really,REALLY careful about pulling 'cars out of ditches' with a chain to the front of your tractor !!!
When (not if..) the chain breaks you might not even get to say 'Oh Sh.. '
Used to run chain through an old tire to absorb some of the energy

I would 'very strongly' recommend removing that extra heavy duty D Ring on the front of your Tractor.

The serious problem is the pulling point of the D Ring is waaaayyy above the centre line of the front tires.

The harder the pull is, the more the tendency to lift the rear tires and thus give more traction to the front tires.

I don't think it would be long before you twist off the drive shaft to the front axle or break the front axle itself.

Look at the Drawbar of any Farm Tractor and you will notice that the pulling point is at or below the centre line of the rear tires.

It's that way for a reason. A hard pull forces the front end 'down'.

I believe your setup is a serious accident waiting to happen.

Look forward to others opinions.

Gary

 

[Showmedata]

A grade 8, 3/8 bolt has a proof load rating of 9300 lbs each. My guess is, something else will fail before the bolts do.

Probably my amateur welds (though they were beveled pretty deep so I think they're solid).

 

[Showmedata]

That is why I like winches and snatch blocks. You can control the amount of pull and stop when you see that the car isn't moving. Unfortunately, not everyone owns a winch so they have to do with what they have. On the road leading to my home, people slip off the side on a regular basis, and I never go to their rescue because my trailer is too small. When I had my truck I had an electric winch mounted to a steel plate that went into the trailer receiver, and it worked well.

I have a receiver-mounter electric winch sitting in my shop, but there's no good place to mount it on the tractor without removing the snowblower or loader. And I'd need to add a wiring harness, and maybe a bigger battery...

 

[barts]

I would 'very strongly' recommend removing that extra heavy duty D Ring on the front of your Tractor.
.....
Look forward to others opinions.

Gary

The typical weight distribution for MFWD tractors is 65:35 towards the rear. The wheelbase of these tractors is about 65", and they weigh about 2200 lbs. The D_ring looks like it's 8" or so above the front axle centerline, and the tires are 24" OD. If we imagine the front tires to be (magically) superglued to the ground and the drive shafts frozen, we can compute the amount of pull needed to lift the rear wheels of the tractor by summing the torques (moments) about the tire contact point:

2200 * (.65 * 65") = (24/2 + 8 ) x PULL on chain

2200 * .65 * 65/20 = 4648 lbs.

Since the pull needed on the line is more than 2x the weight of the tractor, the tires will slip long before the tractor lifts the rear wheels, and the D-ring is completely safe. If you're paranoid, carry some heavy implement on the 3pt; it will definitely help the pull, since the rear wheels will do most of the work, anyway.

- Bart

 

[Showmedata]

The typical weight distribution for MFWD tractors is 65:35 towards the rear. The wheelbase of these tractors is about 65", and they weigh about 2200 lbs. The D_ring looks like it's 8" or so above the front axle centerline, and the tires are 24" OD. If we imagine the front tires to be (magically) superglued to the ground and the drive shafts frozen, we can compute the amount of pull needed to lift the rear wheels of the tractor by summing the torques (moments) about the tire contact point:

2200 * (.65 * 65") = (24/2 + 8 ) x PULL on chain

2200 * .65 * 65/20 = 4648 lbs.

Since the pull needed on the line is more than 2x the weight of the tractor, the tires will slip long before the tractor lifts the rear wheels, and the D-ring is completely safe. If you're paranoid, carry some heavy implement on the 3pt; it will definitely help the pull, since the rear wheels will do most of the work, anyway.

- Bart

Nice math, Bart.

Add >600lbs ballast in the tires, plus the 494lbs snowblower on the 3PH (a heckuva long moment arm behind the front axle)... I'm not worried about lifting the rear.

 

[Smokeydog]

M59 front bumper, D-ring, hooks for tie down.

 

[Smokeydog]

M59