OK, last fall I bought my first quad, an 02' Kodiak - can't figure out why I waited so long! Anyway, I would like to try plow and disc some plots with it but have run up against some walls. First off, I don't have a ton of cash to sink into something just to grow some tomatos and such. A Quadivator is above that price range. I found some cheap, maybe in more ways than $$, plows and such but they all require a sleeve hitch or 3 pt. hitch. I would like to stay away from either of these if possible. Any suggestions? Also, where would be the best place to find a sleeve hitch for a Yamaha Kodiak? I can't find them anywhere!

Thanks in advance!

 

BillDCat,

I can't answer all of your questions, but take a look at this if you want a heavy class 3 reciever hitch:
Hitch Hopper from Cabelas.com...

I ordered one last September and use it with a 2" ball and mount to move my trailers around. It took 5 minutes to install by removing the factory hitch and using the existing bolt holes.

 

I was in the same spot you are in. Call some used farm implement dealers and find a 3 to 5 foot of either spring toothed or spike toothed drag, or a spike harrow (looks like a piece of chain link fence with spikes sticking out the bottom). They come in sections and came be dragged with a cable or chain to your ball hitch. If you find a spring tooth, make sure it is depth adjustable. Spring tooth drags are very hard-if not impossible with an atv- to pull if they are not depth adjustable. I had to make alot of phone calls to find either one, but they are out there. You sometimes see them sitting at farms and salvage yards sometimes have them. I paid $80 for both- but I have friends who have gotten them for free from farmers who just wanted to get rid of them. Good luck. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Greetings,

Northern, Cabellas and Harbor Freight offer a variety of implements for ATVs. I've considered them but I am not so sure about the overall practicality of it. I have a flail mower and the realities of towing heaver (400lb) eauipment over rough ground have been a bit surprising. The hitch thing has been the biggest hassel but a drag with chain as suggested would be a good simple solution. A lynch pin has not worked well for me but a ball hitch is good -- if its right for the machine you are pulling, too much bounce and things won't go well.

I saw a machine that has a powered cultivator plus disk arrangement -- is that the quadivator? It looks like a good idea but I'm not willing to spend $800 to find out. I' be interested in anyone's experience with this.

I also considered a disk arrangement but I'm not sure they would cut through the turf. Northern has a much heavier looking model for around $150 but again, until I get the mower thing sorted out, I don't need to do anymore product tests.

I also find its hard to keep the speed steady while working a field. Unlike a tractor, the thumb throttle can't be set at a fixed point and I find myself creeping up in speed the whole time -- sometimes leading to unwanted occurances (like rolling the mower).

So if you can get some used drag harrow or such to get a feel with, it might be interesting -- be sure to report back. But I'd move slowly on any large purchase.

 

Also, if you don't have one, they make a ball hitch mount that includes a tow loop. This has been the best set up fo pulling logs, brush, etc without messing with the ball. Just a thought.

Oh yeah, one other thought, if you are going to do some towing, get a couple of bike mirrors and set them way out front on your racks. From that spot you get a good view of the action behind you. The ATV mirrors that mount on the handle bar won't do half as well.

 

I know on my King Quad there is a screw that I can adjust to limit the throttle movement. Of course in order to travel faster when not mowing you will have to re-adjust the screw. This might help tho while plowing.

Just a thought.

 

OK, well there is no such thing as a sleeve hitch for a quad! At least no that I can find.

So I ordered a sleeve hitch moldboard plow anyway. It was a $160 Brinly from Home Depot - a nice, study looking thing that I figured I could get to work somehow. To start off with, I simply put the pin throught the hole in the tongue and watched carefully to see what kind of stress it put on the tongue (IMO kodiak 02' have lame tongues) as I turned the ground over. It cut through the soil, which has a lot of clay, like butter. The problem that arrises is the the damn thing won't always stay up straight (due to the lack of a sleeve hitch on my quad)!! I don't think I want the stress to my tongue that would come with trying to make the mounting to the Quad more rigid. For now I need a second person to follow behind and nudge it when it starts to go off course. Luckily I'm starting off with a small test plot. However, I am planning a much more eloborate solution that will allow me to drag the plow without worrying about my quad - it may also allow for me to use two moldboards at once.

The throttle issue has come up but, like I said, I'm just doing a small test plot right now. I don't think it would be an issue if I didn't need to worry about the plow falling over and messing up my hitch tongue. I thought about the idea of adjusting the throttle limiter screw but I can't use a constant throttle over such bumpy ground. Maybe when I get some of my other issues worked out I will be able to use that technique.

Thanks for all the input!!

 

Last fall, I wanted to plow up an area for a food plot in my hunting area. I borrowed a rig a friend made by welding railroad spikes to a metal grate on one side with an axel and wheels welded to the other side for pulling down the road. Worked great except it kept getting clogged up with weeds and sticks. Kept having to turn it over and clean the trash out or it just acted like a big broom. It was a lot of hard work on a hot day.

This year I have looked in all of the atv catalogs and found disc's priced between $130.00 (plain jane) $600.00 (all kinds of fancy extras). I told a friend what I wanted and he told me to not buy anything for a month. He said he wanted to look around a little. He found a good used 8 disc rig sitting in a guys yard along the highway. He bought it for $40.00. We now have a disc for a $20.00 investment from each of us. We are going to convert it to a ball hitch and add an axel and wheels to one side for pulling it on the road.

Just call me a gentleman farmer.

Ted

I look forward to trying it out.

 

Greetings,

Please let us know how the disk works out for you. I have been tempted to get one but wasn't sure if it would cut through the turf layer. I know its not a plow, but I then I don't need to till all that deep.

Anyone else out there been able to prep a seed bed with a disk and no plow?

 

Well, I bought an 8 disc harrow from Home Depot for breaking up what I had plowed (check out www.brinly.com). Granted it didn't have the correct hitch (that shouldn't make any difference), but mine doesn't tear up turf very well from what I have seen. With two cement blocks on the back and the discs tilted to 20 degrees it barely chopped up the turf at all. Note: the one I have is a plain disc harrow working in high clay soil. The ones with teeth would probably do alot better at cutting up unplowed turf. Northern tool or Cabelas has one of those that doesn't require a damn sleeve hitch but it was pricey - around $400 I think. I would probably try and find a used ine like Dusty1 did before I spent any money on one. Anyway, my efforts have been mainly in the plowed soil - when it dries out a little I'll zig-zag that bugger back and forth through some turf and let you know what happens.

Now if it would quit raining I would be able to see how well the disc does on my plowed plot!!