Receiver hitch add-on

[GuglioLS]

Here is another dozer mod I thought would come in handy to move trailers around. I need to use the dozer and dump trailer combination to haul firewood, gravel or dirt. With this setup I'll be able to use the FEL on my tractor to load the dump trailer.

On the rear of the dozer there is a bracket and pin to attach a chain for towing. I removed the bracket so as to use the hole pattern to fabricate a receiver hitch.

Many of the dozer bolts are rather large, to remove them I use a 3/4" ratchet wrench in combination with large size metric sockets all from Harbor Freight of course



I found a chunk of 3/4" thick steel plate to weld on the receiver tube, drill holes, then bolt up to the dozer.

Larry

[GuglioLS]

After laying out a pattern on the steel plate that looked good for the dozer, I started the cuts.

The band saw is a 7"x12" capacity, horizontal / vertical unit from harbor freight, it even has a coolant pump. I bought it about a year ago on sale AND used a 20% discount coupon.



Larry

[GuglioLS]

A few angle cuts add some style to the bracket, those small cut-offs will be used as gussets to minimize waste.



Larry

[GuglioLS]

After drilling out the holes, the plate was counter bored to recess the washers. The plate is thicker than the bracket I took off so counter boaring was done to keep the OEM bolt length. I suppose I could have eliminated the washers, but it's fun to use my machine for this stuff, plus it looks cool.




Larry

[GuglioLS]

Here is the finished product after welding, priming and painting with matching Komatsu Dozer yellow:



Larry

[GuglioLS]

After installing the receiver hitch bracket I had to test it out. So I attached my 16' flatbed and moved it to a new location. It sure was easy to back up the dozer and align the hitch to the trailer tongue. All I have to do is look back and down and the hitch is right there in plain view. Not only that the way a dozer maneuvers makes it a breeze to connect.

Here are the two trailers I use -



I have to tap into the hydraulics on the dozer and add a valve to operate the dump trailer. That's my next project to figure out.

The fittings on the dozer are "Komatsu Metric", meaning they are their own proprietary style of fitting. Not standard metric so I have to find some fittings.


Larry

[GuglioLS]

The following story is more about wood gathering but involves the use of the Dozer and newly installed trailer reciver hitch. Since it's related to the new hitch I thought I would tell it here.

Yesterday Esther and I finished cutting firewood for the season. We decided to take the Dozer and home made dump trailer along with the ATV and it's little trailer up the new road. I wanted to test out the trailer hitch on the Dozer with the dump trailer to see how it handled up the road and through the woods in some tight spots. It did a fine job, I was able to navigate through some tight spots and turn the whole rig around to get facing back in the right direction.

We filled up the dump trailer with a little more than half a cord, and the ATV trailer with about 1/4 cord, so me made quite a haul for one trip up and down the hill for one day.

Here are a few photos showing all the wood we gathered for the day. Total amount for this season is five and a half cords all cut and stacked. We have been cutting wood and chipping branches on and off for the last few months. We are glad this is done,and are now ready to enjoy all the warmth by the fireside this coming winter.



Are you all ready for winter?

Larry

[GuglioLS]

After splitting and stacking the last log, then putting all the "toys" away, I got right to work on the chain grab hook for the new Dozer receiver hitch.

I found a chunk of 2" X 2" solid square bar stock in my scrap pile inventory. It looked like it would do the trick for welding on the grab hook. The bar was cut at an angle to have enough surface area to completely weld the hook all the way around. I used a little super glue on the hook to hold it's position while it was welded. Has anyone ever used super glue to hold an odd piece of metal prior to welding? It works quite nicely. Do the welds look OK?



Larry

[GuglioLS]

After welding the metal was allowed to cool off a bit, then the new grab hook got a coat of primer, then gloss black. After the paint dried, the hook was installed into the Dozer receiver hitch to see how it all fit together. A chain was attached to see how it was going to work. Notice the hook is at an angle, that helps to keep the chain locked into position.



Next is to try and tear out some trees with a chain to test the overall strength of the hook, receiver hitch and welds. I am hoping it will hold up to real life use.

Thanks for checking this out.


Larry

[GuglioLS]

OK update on the grab hook performance -
I told you Esther and I were done cutting wood for the season. Well we just could not help ourselves, so we went up the hill to scout around and see what we left behind near the trail. Plus I wanted to test out the grab hook on the dozer by pulling out a few dead trees close to the road.

Here are a few videos of how the Dozer grab hook connected to a 25' chain worked out:





After pulling out three trees, I inspected the receiver hitch & grab hook, no damage or any signs of twisted metal so it all held up nicely.

Larry

[GuglioLS]

Well now I know I can yank trees out easier than expected. Since adding on the receiver hitch, I've been planning on tapping into the dozer hydraulics so as to add a valve to operate the home made dump trailer.

I had a valve laying around doing nothing so it got installed on the rear of the dozer. I pulled off the dozer floor plate & the drivers seat to access the existing dozer valve and to route in two new hoses. I had the hoses made with Komatsu JIS 22 mm x 1.5 mm metric female on one end and 3/4" NPT pipe thread on the other. No messing around with adapters. I had all the fittings & quick connects to add the remote valve, so it all went together rather quickly:



Larry

[GuglioLS]

After installing the valve it was time to test it out by connecting the dump trailer. Then cycle it up & down a few times to check for proper operation:





Seems to be working OK & no leaks.

Larry

[GuglioLS]

The hairpin turn about halfway up the Road Rob & I constructed needed some fill dirt to cover up some bedrock outcroppings that will not budge. So it was time to put all this new stuff to work. Using the dozer and tractor, a large pile of dirt was made, then loaded into the dump trailer connected to the dozer:



The dump trailer held 5 overflowing FEL buckets worth of material.
I then hauled the dirt up the road and dumped it onto the area that needed to be built up. I made 8 trips, I need to make about 16 more and there will be enough material to make a very nice smooth and well banked hairpin turn in the trail.



After dumping the load, I turned the whole rig around then bladed smooth what was just dumped on my way back down for another load.

Larry

[GuglioLS]

You know those videos above of me ripping out those trees?
The last two weekends I pulled out at least a couple dozen more using my 30 year old 3/8 chain. Some of the trees were, well lets say did not budge!

Look what happened to my trusty old chain:



My poor chain, it don't look or work so good anymore

The last photo on the right is a comparison of the stretched out chain next to a normal one. I guess the dozer has a little more power than a 3/8 chain can handle.

Larry

[GuglioLS]

Pulling out some stubborn trees, the chain tore apart in several places (pic 1). I figured replacing the 3/8 with a 1/2" grade 70 should do the trick, pic 2 is a comparison of a new 1/2" grade 70 next to a new 3/8" grade 43. Looks like that 1/2 monster should hold up to some serious punishment, It better as it cost a small fortune. Of course the grab hook I used is 3/8" so I milled the slot out a little to accept the 1/2" links (pic 4 and 5) -



I'll get to try out the new chain this weekend.

Larry