Towing with a rear PTO fitted

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TheSmiths88

New Member
Posts
333
Location
West Wales
First ever post - greetings. I just bought a Series 3 88" SWB diesel to use as a tractor on a field I own. It's going to be pulling a pasture topper - (which to the uninitiated is the farming equivalent of a giant lawnmower) The topper is driven by a power take-off, usually on the back of a tractor. I'm in the process of fitting the PTO to the landy, which has the right spline/connection for the topper. BUT - the PTO final drive sits on the rear crossmember, right in the middle. Anyone got any thoughts on how/where I fit the towbar if I don't want to offset it to one side? I still need to tow (legally) with the vehicle, and the topper also needs a pin/pintle to tow it. I did a search on Google and came up with this http://www.acslink.aone.net.au/ncc/html/pto.htm
which shows how one chap has got round it - but I'm not in favour of offsetting the towing hitch like him. Help!!!!! Cheers!
 
Regarding PTO's and Towbars
I fitted a PTO to my '59 88" and use it for a variety of different jobs, mainly as a water pump, and to power a sawbench, I made my own towbar to fit along with the PTO and regularly tow a 16'*8' twin axle tipping trailer, (with up to 2000kgs), a smaller single axle trailer, and have on occasion, been on holiday towing a 14' sprite caravan, (Oh other motorists love me!!), If you, or anyone else is interested, I can send photos to show what I've done? if you e-mail me at [email protected] I'll send them on?
Basically what I've done is to make a 12mm thick mounting plate for the PTO/towbar, this was bolted in place with the standard four towbar mountings, an extra two 22mm bolts were fitted with 100mm dia. washers on the inside to spread the load, I also welded a flat bar along the back side of this plate and picked up on the three tapped holes on the bottom of the crossmember, I put a bead of silicone along the top to stop water from getting trapped between this plate and the crossmember to stop it rusting??
The towbar consists of two 20mm thick rectangular plates, with standard 22mm dia. 90mm centre bolt holes, and a piece of 50*50mm box section, slash cut to give the desired drop and step back to clear the PTO, I'm running 205 toyo's and have a 90mm drop and a 170mm offset, I find this perfect for all three trailers, I can even tow with the pulley fitted?
Sounds complicated, but if you see the photos there's nothing to it?
Hope this proves of interest
Ken.
Lockerbie.
 
Ken - you're a genius mate - thanks - that's EXACTLY the kinda photo I needed. 12mm plate eh? I can see a few cutting discs being frazzled at the expense of my neighbours' hearing! Haven't you found this limits your 'off-roading' clearance? I'm not going greenlaning in the Landy but my field is a long, long way from flat. The hitch looks ever so low? Perhaps I'll try and get hold of some extended shackle plates for the rear spring hangers.
 
I have a couple of towbar sections made up with the 50*50 box cut at different angles, this gives me the crude ability to change the height of the towball, to suit different trailers, remove the two bolts at the top and swap them over?
If I'm going "offroad" I remove the towbar section completely, 24mm spanner and socket live under passengers seat!
 
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