what happend to fast hitch

I will admit, the fast hitch on some of the smaller IH equipment does seem to work quite well, that being said...with the three point I can adjust my attachment points up, down, left, right, in, and out...that's more than you get with the fast hitch. And when it comes to hooking up big equipment, it isn't going to be me wrestling with it.

We may have to agree to disagree on this one. I appreciate the thoughts though.

Billy

• Fast Hitch

We have two Farmall 544's at the farm....one with a fast hitch, one with a 3 point. We have a three bottom plow for each tractor. I'll have two rounds done with the 3 point unit before that darned fast hitch has the plow off the ground.

I'm IH to the bone, but will never stand up for what they did to promote the fast hitch. Shame on you IH!

Billy

I will admit, I do like the 1 point version on the 130 and 140. At least a guy is only dealing with 1 point, and one can manhandle most of that equipment. I keep the forks and receivers well coated with graphite. Some of these guy can talk all they want about keeping hitch clean, but I've seen sand wedge them solid after a days work.

My 560 got so loose on side draft of the hitch, it was unsafe to use as a drawbar. At 5 years, I could push the drawbar sideways 6". Rebuilt all pins, holes and bushings. That only lasted a year and it was bad as ever. It was a bit like baling with pins out on swinging drawbar. I have had the PTO telescope shaft come apart on my manure spreader, great for the U joints.

Between the 2pt, and the 460, 560 disaster of the late 50's JD got market share and hasn't looked back.

The 2pt may have worked in other parts of the country, but not down here, the executives needed to be listen instead of being hard-headed.

And don't get him started on the "tele-depth" system, that was a joke.

I have a Fast Hitch on my Super C and it works well with Fast Hitch implements.

But-As some have stated below, 3 pt. hitch was already established when I-H came out with Fast Hitch. I-H should have developed their own version or paid $$$$$ for the rights to use a 3 pt. design. ( I don't know the legalities and financials of something like that.) Anyway, as nice as the Fast Hitch is for some tractors, I not only like three point better but I also think 3 pt. is a better design. And, it's compatible with most implements.

There's a company out there, Saginaw, that makes after-market 3 pts. for Farmalls, JD's, A-C's and others. They make a great product (I have one on my J-D A); I haven't noticed them offering any Fast Hitch conversions, for obvious reasons.

As I said these hitches were great on small tractors, the very first 1 point fast hitch I had on my Super A was built from one of the 560 hitch sockets. The other hitch socket was incorperated into quick attach for my skid loader, designed so I could hitch to any pull type, 3 point or 1point implement on the farm. Greatest vehicle ever for putting equipment away for winter storage. The skid steer would put my corn planter and grain drill through a door, without damage, and they were both 8" wider than the door. Try that with a tractor.

The lift cylinder from the 560 was used on a hydraulic spout control on a NH 890 forage harvester, at least with 4" bore one could reasonably hit the wagon. The 1.5" bore cylinder from that spout control was used for boom fold on a sprayer. With 1066 hydraulics behind it, that little 1.5" cylinder was going to wreck my harvester discharge spout. Now if you want what is left over, your welcome to come and get it. If I'm not home, it will all be in a bananna box at the end of my shop. The bananna box may be wet, but don't worry it will stand the weight of the broken spider gears from the 560 control valve.

Until recently I would agree with you on scrap not being worth the effort but down here in sunny south scrap metal prices have gone through the ceiling in last couple of years. Have heard reports of some types of scrap metal bringing $190 ton. There is large scrap metal dealer not far from me and every time I go by now trucks and trailers of every description are lined up on side of highway waiting to get on scales. Know some who are making auction circuit and buying impemplents that seell cheap for scrap.

I gave up running my old 86 Buick at Christmas, offered it to two different guys for the taking. It's still parked in my yard. I think they want me to pile it full of the steel I use for my building projects.

I'm with Hugh on this one.

They were just simply a "bad" idea. If IH had gone with a four-point lift like John Deere had during those patient-war years, they would probably still be in business today.

That fast hitch was doomed from the start because of its inherent lifting limitation.

By the time IH woke up and smelled the coffee, by the time they realized that the whole industry had then moved towards the 3-point standard, they had lost market share and was never able to catch back up even tho they were producing superior tractors.

In later years, when they finally did get on the 3-point bandwagon, all their faithful red farmers had to switch complete lines of machinery or buy their adaptor packages for each and every machine. This left kind of a bad taste in those collective farmers' mouths and they took their money elsewhere.

Very, very bad call on IH's part. Too darned bad too, because even to this day IH's draft sensing, telescoping 3-point hitches are second to none in "smart" design.

Allan

If however you go to the larger tractors, fast hitch was little more than junk. I had one on a 560D, by the time it was 5 year old the hitch was so loose, it wasn't safe to use on pull type PTO equipment. The fact it also served as the drawbar on pull type implements, made it somewhat like pulling a PTO driven baler with 2' piece of chain. One could rebuild the pins and holes, but that would only last about 1 year and you were rebuilding again. I cut my 560 fast hitch up for scrap before it was 10 years old. I ordered a new U and swinging drawbar from IH.

Now there were two good principles came out of Fast Hitch and were later applied to 3 point. Yes Harry Ferguson may have designed 3 point hitch but IH perfected it with lower link sencing for draft control, and the telescoping lower link, which make for easy hitching.

No need in belaboring the point, the snap coupler long dead and gone, but I have a neighbor still using his D21 and I think it a bit more than 50 horsepower...and it has a snap coupler set up. Seems to work fine for the last 40 years or so.

I think Fast hitch would still sell well if it was set up right.
Needs to perform well as a 3pt and a fast hitch.

Chalk a beautiful invention lost to foolish pride. 3-point caught on because the patent on it ran out first so other manufacturers could copy it legally without paying Ford/Ferguson.