M 3-point that looks factory

I hate the way the after market 3 points look and wanted something factory looking for my M. I looked at how Farmall put the Fast hitch on the tractors and it's nothing more than casting 3 mounting points on each side of the back of the tractor so I went to the boneyard and measured some hitches. Turns out there is one that is a perfect match if you have a mounting point. I made the mounting brackets and lower arms. The lower arms were copied from my 806. This hitch gives you down pressure also and all my hydraulics work off the belly pump. I have 1 control for the hitch and 1 for a remote. Works great. I have to make a better looking draw bar mount and add the turn buckles for the sway control but I have had this on the tractor for 3 years now and it has worked perfect. This tractor does all my light planting and cultivating Best machine ever built. Everything on it is rebuildable and most parts can still be got at your local case dealer
Here are some pics with one of the bean cutters I'm working on for it. This tractor is almost at the point for getting a complete paint job. Just a few more things need looked at first.

I would be very interested in a template for the side pieces too if you have one available.

I will pay you for your time and trouble to make one if you would.

Thanks for sharing this information and the photos.

Here are some more pics. I incorporated the sway control with the fender mount/spacer plate. It's heavy wall tube that is welded to the plate at the top and bolted at the bottom to clamp the axle casting. In some of the pics you can see the cross piece that ties both sides together where the arms mount to the bottom of the plates. The rear v shaped support on the drawbar is for weight carrying only. It was made to bolt into the bolt hole for the piece that kept it on the old drawbar support. When you make it be sure it is sized to hold the drawbar up and not contribute to the drawbar pull. The pin under the belly takes that stress as originally intended. I'm not sure how much down weight the castings will handle with this set-up but I don't know many pieces of equipment that you would hook to an M that would have a tongue weight that would be a problem. My planters, hay rake, ditcher and all the other things I have hooked with this set-up don't have high tongue weights. I don't bale with this tractor as my modified NH 320 balers are too large for this tractor. My NH 268 is sized right put I don't think it would be an issue either. I say all this since this is the only part of this set-up that I even remotely think could have an issue. When I get back home I'll take some more pics of the various areas of discussion so you have a complete picture how this integrates with the tractor. The hitch allows any wheel spacing and doesn't interfere with anything you would put on the tractor except the old cultivators that clamped parts to the axles. The picture with the bean cutters have the wheel spacing at 66 inches for 22 inch beans. I can still cultivate 30 inch corn without having to change spacing for the 22 inch beans.

Pete

Harold H

Harold H

Glenn F.

It doesn't look right to you because none of those old tractors had three-point hitches.

None of 'em until what? The 656? 666? Maybe?

Allan

None of 'em until what? The 656? 666? Maybe?

Allan

When they (Farmall) started putting hitches on their tractors starting with the 350 the only change was to have the 3 threaded dimples cast into the rear casting so you could bolt on the fast hitch. The M is about the same as the 350 and that's where the idea came from. It does look right because the hitch is in proportion to it's size now.

To answer some questions.

The draw bar is not altered from the factory position. If the draw bar pto distance from Farmall meets the asae standard the yes it is asae.
I have no idea if the hitch arms meet any standards for the pto relationship. I just know that I can kill weeds with my 3 point bush hog with no problem and it pulls a 6 row ditcher and cultivator with no problems. It also handles my 125 gallon JD 3 point sprayer. Safety was the issue when I put this on and it has been tested in field conditions with no problems.
The external cylinder is in the factory mounting position. I would not want to change it. When I mounted this no parts where modified in any way. I hate to take a collectors item and do that. The fast hitch can be removed and bolted right back on the tractor it fits.

Yes I have a perfect plywood template for this mod. I can trace it to cardboard for anyone that is interested. When you make the mounting plates the bolts where it bolts to the axle housing have to be replaced with longer ones. You also have to slightly bevel the outside radius of the ears where the bolts go to bolt it up so the plate will fit tight against the tractor housing.
The top link needs to have a full length piece of pipe to enclose the rock shaft so it won't move side to side. I haven't got around to it yet.

You can take a factory set of lower hitch arms and bolt them on if I remember right but they wanted alot of cash for them so I patterned a set by copying the ones on my 806. I figure they should be strong enough to handle anything an M can dish out and then some. The arms themselves are made from some solid hardened steel I got from Watsons welding that are used for cultivator shanks. Yes...red spray can paint that turns pink sucks but it does keep it from rusting until I get all the stuff done before the full paint job. I still need to go into the trans to replace a bearing thats going out. When you put it in road gear it's noticeable. Field speeds no problem yet.

Allan