JU FabWorks B and L Tiedown Brackets

[GrizBota]

Well the UPS man brought my tiedown brackets from JU FabWorks today (8/26/23). I got the front and rear for my B and just the rear for my L.

I’ve already installed 5Eleven Designz front brackets for the L when I got the L’s grill guard back in April. I do like JU’s design for the L’s front bracket better (it’s continuous under the front grill guard, rather than two separate brackets). At the time I wasn’t aware of JU’s products. I learned about it here on OTT.

Cost was $89 a set, plus shipping. I did use the 5% GWT (GoodWorks Tractor) discount to essentially pay for 1/4 the shipping cost.

I ordered these on 7/8/23 (and my credit card was charged in full the same day). At the time the web site did advise me it would be 3 to 4 weeks until the B front brackets would be available. It ended up taking about 7 weeks to receive the parts. Unfortunately the vendor elected not to respond to my two status inquiries, but they did ship the same day as my second inquiry about a week ago.

The brackets arrived and are as advertised, with the two rear sets (B and L) being 3/8” in thickness and the front (B) being 5/16” in thickness. All of them having a nice shade of orange paint.

I am hopeful the front B brackets will fit, as advertised, in one of the three mounting positions to accommodate the mid mount mower mounting assembly. If not, I’ll probably just “adjust” the mower’s front bracket mounting handle on the right side to suit.

Below is an unboxing photo (I’m not cool enough to video it and put it on YouTube). There are two quarters in the photo for scale. The quarter on the plate standing edgewise is on the 5/16” thick front B bracket. The L’s rear brackets are left of center, the B’s rear brackets are right of center.

I’ll post a few more photos once I get them installed in a few days or weeks.

 

[GrizBota]

I installed the JU FabWorks tie-down brackets on the front and rear of the B2601 (with mid mount mower) and the rear of the L3830 today.

This is a picture of the rear tie-downs installed on the rear of the L3830. I elected to install them on the outside of the brackets that are a part of the ROPS and upside down relative to the photos on JU’s website. I did this because I believe the resulting angle of the chains relative to the tie-down (stake pockets) locations on the trailer will be more favorable. If not, it’s easy to remove the bolts and turn them around.

This is a picture of the rear tie-downs installed on the rear of the B2601.

This is a picture of the front tie-downs installed on the front of the B2601. There were fitment conflicts with both right and left brackets as I will discuss below.

As I mentioned, the tie-down brackets had fitment issues, largely due to the mid mount mower’s (MMM) front mount.

On the right side (as observed from the operator’s platform), the MMM front mounting release lever conflicts with the location of the tie-down bracket. There are two sets of holes in the tractor’s frame the tie-down brackets can potentially be mounted, upper and lower. Due to the MMM’s mounting bracket, the upper (vs lower) set of holes must be used (same conflict both right and left sides). The upper mounting holes also secure the grill guard to the tractor’s frame, so the tie-down brackets are mounted over the fastening location for the grill guard.

I anticipated the right side conflict with the MMM front mount release lever. I ended up bending the lever about 4 inches outward to clear the tie-down bracket. Below are three pictures of this aspect.

Stock location of the lever.

Relocated lever location, bent about 4 inches outward (clears the tire at full lock to the left by about 6 inches).

The MMM release lever clears the right tie-down by about 3/4 inch when pulled forward (note slotted hole in forward location).

The left side conflict is largely driven by having to install the tie-down in the upper set of frame holes (due to the conflict the lower frame holes have with the MMM front mount). The left tie-down bracket contacts the end of the exhaust pipe. I elected to clearance the exhaust pipe by filing a one-eight inch deep notch in the 8 o’clock position of the exhaust pipe. This conflict could have been alleviated if the tie-down brackets’ mounting holes (one round, one slotted) had been fabricated as mirror images to one another as opposed to being identical to one another. Had the front hole in the right tie-down been the slotted hole (vs round), or had both holes been slotted, the tie-down bracket could have been adjusted forward to avoid clearancing the exhaust pipe.

This is a picture of the MMM mount bracket the necessitates using the upper set of frame mounting holes (right side pictured, same conflict both sides).

The next two pictures are of the clearancing done to the exhaust pipe to accommodate the left tie-down bracket (slotted hole, not visible, is in the rear location).

Overall, the JU FabWorks tie-down brackets are as expected, other than the significance of conflict with the the B2601 MMM right side front mount release lever and the left side conflict with the exhaust pipe.

One thing I could have done differently with the B2601 front tie-down brackets is mount them to the set of holes behind (further from the front of the frame) the upper and lower sets of holes nearer the front of the tractor’s frame. This set of holes is where the MMM front mount is bolted to the frame. The fourth picture above shows these mounting holes in the frame (the two lower silver bolt heads). I believe the conflict with the MMM front mount release lever on the right side would have been similar. But the conflict with the exhaust pipe on the left side would have been resolved. I elected for the higher location mostly to have less hanging below the frame when the MMM is removed. Although that may be wishful thinking, as the MMM has brackets that remain on the tractor which reduce ground clearance regardless.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

They certainly look nice.

 

[06B3030]

I looked at the JU tie-downs for my tractor, but decided to go with a couple tow hooks. Serves the purpose, and a whole lot less money.

 

[GrizBota]

I looked at the JU tie-downs for my tractor, but decided to go with a couple tow hooks. Serves the purpose, and a whole lot less money.

View attachment 110464

That a neat, cost effective way of doing it. The tow hooks probably would have resulted in fewer fitment conflicts in the application on my B2601 with MMM.

I like the winch on the front. I’d like to think the winch line is not how the front is secured to the trailer.

 

[06B3030]

That a neat, cost effective way of doing it. The tow hooks probably would have resulted in fewer fitment conflicts in the application on my B2601 with MMM.

I like the winch on the front. I’d like to think the winch line is not how the front is secured to the trailer.

GOD NO!!!!!!! That's what the tow hooks are for. There's one on each side of the frame.

I sold my Jeep that had a winch where I used it to move equipment in and out of my basement. I decided to put a winch on the tractor. The equipment doesn't weigh more than 400-500 lbs. The winch pull it up, then I use the chain hooks on the bucket to lift it up.

 

[GrizBota]

Just an update, I’ve updated the photos in post 2 above. It took me a couple days to actually take the photos I intended to.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Just an update, I’ve updated the photos in post 2 above. It took me a couple days to actually take the photos I intended to.

Nicely done Griz.

How did you bend that lever? It looks pretty stout to me.

 

[mdhughes]

The back tow hooks would be nice, but I have a backhoe sub-frame that is bolted there.

 

[GrizBota]

Nicely done Griz.

How did you bend that lever? It looks pretty stout to me.

Thanks.

The MMM front bracket release lever is about 1/2 inch diameter round stock. I slipped a piece of 1-1/2 inch diameter water pipe over the lever about 8 to 10 inches and pulled on it. The pipe was about 30 inches long total. I slipped a rag in the end of the pipe to help reduce the marring of the paint. A bit of the lever and fulcrum dealeo.

 

[Downeaster]

I ordered them for the front and back of my tractor, and was blown away at the quality. I installed them last fall, and they are just great. No way anyone would be disappointed with these.