Rummy's John Deere Page Featuring 2-cylinder John Deere tractors native to the western-Piedmont of North Carolina

An M 3pt. Hitch Conversion, by Ron Rumberger

(click on thumbnails for a larger photo)

The first photo is a general view of the 3pt hitch with a 5 ft. bushhog attached. I used an overrunning clutch on the pto to avoid the "flywheel" action of the bushhog from sending me up a tree, into a ditch, or over a bank. The lift arms are standard 32" long lift arms that can be bought at any of the tractor or farm supply stores, and the top link is a generic top link, also available at these stores. None of the modifications I've made are irreversable, i.e. I did no welding, cutting, drilling, or grinding on any of the original M parts. The original drawbar, mounting brackets and bolts, lift chains and clevises, and belt pulley are in my barn, intact and ready to mount to restore the M to original condition.

The next 2 views primarily show the lift chains and the sway chains. I used a combination of clevis's, screw links, 1/4 chain, eyelets, and double-clevis's to connect the lift arms to the Touch-O-Matic arms, and to control the sway of the lift arms. The screw links are really good for making quick adjustments, but be sure to keep them wrench tight (I destroyed a couple of the "hand-tight" links when they loosened, came unscrewed, and straightened out while bushhogging). I would like to replace the lift chains with a solid link on one side, and an adjustable solid link on the other (adjustable via turnbuckle). This would constrain both lift arms to raise up in unison when the implement goes over a bump. Now, with chains, when the bushhog rear wheel goes over a bump, one lift arm raises while the other stays down, causing the bushhog to cock sideways. With solid links, when one lift arm raises, the other will raise also, due to the Touch-O-Matic arms being tied together. But all in all, it works pretty well as is, and the solid links will be a future improvement.

The next photo shows a front view of the drawbar bracket. This originally came off another Dubuque tractor, but I don't know what model. I got it at a tractor junkyard, and it's entirely a fabrication, as opposed to the common JD frame made of castings and fabrications. I originally made lift arm brackets from .5 x 2 flat stock with the 3/4 pins welded on. (See the "lift arm bracket drawing" below.) If you can come up with a drawbar bracket from a 40, 320, 420, 330, or 430, do so - it will make it much nicer, and also give you a drawbar mount. The drawbar itself is the same drawbar used on my '48 A.

The last 2 photos show the top link bracket. This mounts in place of the belt pulley. Unfortunately, with this bracket, you can't have both (belt pulley and 3pt hitch). However, changing between the belt pulley and the top link bracket takes about 10 minutes, so it's no problem for me. Some of you may find a way to have the belt pulley and 3pt hitch on at the same time, but I don't have a need for the belt pulley anyhow.

The 2 drawings below are of the top link bracket and the first version of the lift arm brackets (which I don't use anymore since I got the drawbar bracket with integral lift arm pins.) Top Link Bracket drawing Lift Arm Bracket drawing