My 3 Point Hitch Setup

Later CJs don’t have too many options anymore so I had to build my own 3 point hitch to groom my driveway every year.
Here is what I came up with

 

Thats pretty cool!

 

neet

 

We get a lot questions about adding/building 3-point lifts to Wranglers. Can you share more pictures and build details?

 

That's great! Did you start with a plow setup and adapt it to the rear?

 

Yep, I always use to have 2 or 3 spare lift mechanisms from when I was in the business of plowing snow. Now I only plow once or twice a year. So I put one of them in to use.

I started out with the basic Meyers E-47 lift frame for a CJ and measured the distance between the frame mounts.



A friend of mine was just starting a business making CJ bumpers so we collaborated on a design and came up with this:


There are two 2' receivers on it with the correct spacing. I put a 2'X2"X1/4" square tube in there and attached the lift frame
Here is a trial fit to show you what I mean:


I already had a 2" receiver mounted to the Jeep frame that was securely mounted to the frame rails. Even though this is an AFW frame, I wanted to put minimal load on the rear cross frame.



To this I attached the Meyers lower plow mount, or part of it at least.


Pin sizes are all 5/8" so I'm limiting it to Category 0 implements right now.
Might go to Cat 1 in the future.

I cut off the chain retainer off the top of the lift arm to attach the top link:



This actually works pretty good. I was surprised.

I made some lift arms out of some 1-1/2" square bar stock. These worked great but no play to attach anything else other than that blade with that 17" spacing:

They were 24" long and I did not get enough travel out of the adjustable top link.

So I made some 27": long with swivel mounts. Now the top link is too short..

I mounted the lift relay to the frame and connected it with 0 gauge welding cable. Routed it through the jeep. Added the solenoid wiring.


It uses the original switch to control lift, I'll be adding power angle to this also.


I might put a hydraulic piston in fo the top link so I can control the bite on my Box blade from the cab.


I'm adding some sway bars(?) to the lift arm to control the left and right sway on the blades.

If I had to do it again I would find an engine driven Hydraulic pump so I could replace the E-47 lift with a dual acting cylinder so I can have power lift and downforce.
Then I could add all the other goodies als like a Hydraulic motor for a post hole digger, Power angle and tilt.

If you need anymore details let me know.

 

That’s pretty slick.

 

i'm starting to realize that commercially available stuff isn't the only way to go. time to do stuff...

 

Very nice. I'm going to put a link to this thread on www.farmjeep.com
Thanks for sharing.

 

Part of the problem is that commercially available isn't available for early Jeeps. In the 60's and 70's there was a decently large aftermarket but that has, for the most part, gone away. The bottom line is that manufacturing aftermarket stuff for early Jeeps does nothing to enhance your bottom line. Hence even the exit of things like TeraLow for D18/20/300.

 

Learn by doing. Pick a project and make it work.

 

i'm at school right now tho, so my ambitious plans have to wait.

 

If you need anything else on this modification for your site, I'll be glad to share specs and pictures.

 

Wait, what? I can't get a TerraLow for the D300 anymore?

 

Great idea. PM sent.

 

Apologies for the sidetrack, but this was the rationale that I just gave to my wife yesterday in regards to us buying a rallytop hardtop for the jeep. It seems like a small operation, and who knows when the supply will dry up. It's like finding hen's teeth to find a similar acme top, and then its probably 40 years old at least.

 

Box blade in action



its 10 minutes long, You can get the idea after 1 min of watching. I forgot how to shorten the video. Sorry.

Any suggestions on how to make the blade work better in the dry?

Worked great right after it rained and the drive was all muddy, When dry it just jump around a lot but it did flatten the drive out.

 

What is the angle of the front cutting surface to the ground? Seems like it is tilted forward too far.

 

John,
Using a box blade to grade a drive is as much art as science. I think it looks good. I switched to a landplane because I'm just no good with a box blade. I spent a lot of time over on the TractorByNet forum and there are several good videos on maintaining a gravel drive.

I'm really impressed with your control of the 3-point. One of the major complaints of the Farm Jeep was that you couldn't really see the implement. Watching the video, you seem to be able to place the box blade in the exact same place and depth.

 

I'll try to get an angle measurement tonight.
I can tilt it back further.