pulling with a bobcat

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Woodchuck

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Jan 14, 2005
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Considering a bobcat for my ranch. Love the attachment selection etc.. Question?? Can you pull ie tow a trailer or a small disk with a bobcat, perferably a tracked one?
 

500K_773

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Mar 5, 2004
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342
Woodchuck
Welcome to the Bobcat Forum. My brother-in-law welded a reciever hitch to the back of his 873 to pull a trailer. It hangs down below where the door opens. If it drags through the ground on inclines, just clean out the dirt before inserting a reciever and ball. Personally, I was thinking of making a dolly with a trailer ball mounted to the top (example picture:http://www.ahoycaptain.com/shop/media/Trailex HD Trailer Dolly.JPG). I haven't decided to make a dedicated Bobtach for the dolly, or fork pockets. I have also seen and pintle hook with a hydraulically operated latch on the front of a Bobcat for moving many different trailers.
There are some manufactures that make 3-point attachment adapters for skidsteers. Skidsteer Solutions make one with a hydraulically operated PTO drive for 3-point tractor attachments http://www.skidsteersolutions.com/pages/9/. Bobcat even makes a Wolf disc with hydraulically adjustable disc direction. I cannot find it in the attachment section anymore, so I don't know if they discontinued it. Here's a link to a picture of it in a Worksaver issue http://www.bobcat.com/worksaver/03sp/disc_01.html. You may be able to get a good price on a used one from a rental center, especially if they discontinued making them.
 

500K_773

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Mar 5, 2004
Messages
342
Woodchuck
Welcome to the Bobcat Forum. My brother-in-law welded a reciever hitch to the back of his 873 to pull a trailer. It hangs down below where the door opens. If it drags through the ground on inclines, just clean out the dirt before inserting a reciever and ball. Personally, I was thinking of making a dolly with a trailer ball mounted to the top (example picture:http://www.ahoycaptain.com/shop/media/Trailex%20HD%20Trailer%20Dolly.JPG). I haven't decided to make a dedicated Bobtach for the dolly, or fork pockets. I have also seen and pintle hook with a hydraulically operated latch on the front of a Bobcat for moving many different trailers.
There are some manufactures that make 3-point attachment adapters for skidsteers. Skidsteer Solutions make one with a hydraulically operated PTO drive for 3-point tractor attachments http://www.skidsteersolutions.com/pages/9/. Bobcat even makes a Wolf disc with hydraulically adjustable disc direction. I cannot find it in the attachment section anymore, so I don't know if they discontinued it. Here's a link to a picture of it in a Worksaver issue http://www.bobcat.com/worksaver/03sp/disc_01.html. You may be able to get a good price on a used one from a rental center, especially if they discontinued making them.
Woodchuck,
I saw this trailer hitch solution on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26203&item=3867487149&rd=1). It would be easy enough to build yourself if you have access to a welder. Even pretty inexpensive to buy if you wanted.
 

Tigerotor77W

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Joined
Apr 29, 2004
Messages
268
5600, 2200, and 2100 are the best bets for pulling, but if you wanted to do so with a skid steer, yeah, take a look at 500's link.
 

StuZ

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Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Messages
133
5600, 2200, and 2100 are the best bets for pulling, but if you wanted to do so with a skid steer, yeah, take a look at 500's link.
If you are wanting to pull from the front, I would say to drill a hole in your bucket and mount the ball there, or in our case, drill a hole in 1 of the forks on a pallet fork, works great !! If you are wanting to pull from the rear, make a hitch that mounts where the outrigger brackets mount in back, if your Bobcat has them.
 

500K_773

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Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Messages
342
If you are wanting to pull from the front, I would say to drill a hole in your bucket and mount the ball there, or in our case, drill a hole in 1 of the forks on a pallet fork, works great !! If you are wanting to pull from the rear, make a hitch that mounts where the outrigger brackets mount in back, if your Bobcat has them.
If you are only using your machine at home or on your own ranch, drilling a hole in the fork would be OK. If you are using on a jobsite that may have a safety inspector, do not drill a hole in the fork. Any user installed holes in the forks automatically call for the equipment to be removed from service.
BobcatS250's recommendation of the Toolcat is right on course for a piece of equipment that would be great on a ranch or farm. Nice travel speed and ability to carry a passenger makes it a great machine on the farm. Not to mention the dumping cargo box and trailer hitch. Lift capacity of 1,500# isn't bad either. You can see the Toolcat at http://www.bobcat.com/products/twm/index.html.
 

Tazza

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Dec 7, 2004
Messages
16,829
If you are only using your machine at home or on your own ranch, drilling a hole in the fork would be OK. If you are using on a jobsite that may have a safety inspector, do not drill a hole in the fork. Any user installed holes in the forks automatically call for the equipment to be removed from service.
BobcatS250's recommendation of the Toolcat is right on course for a piece of equipment that would be great on a ranch or farm. Nice travel speed and ability to carry a passenger makes it a great machine on the farm. Not to mention the dumping cargo box and trailer hitch. Lift capacity of 1,500# isn't bad either. You can see the Toolcat at http://www.bobcat.com/products/twm/index.html.
I was told that pallet forks are hugh tensile steel, it would be a rather interesting job drilling a hole in one if it was. I have seen a 4 in 1 bucket with a pintle hook mounted to the inside of the bucket, this would be very handy when using chains or wire rope to drag items. My bobcat had a D shackle attached to my right hand lift arm, when a friend came over he said never drag anything from any 1 side, it can damage your pivot lins and bend the lift arms. Mounting a trailer hitch on the back could be a problem too, it will sit rite about shin height, i have been bitten more than once with the one i attached to my rider mower..... If you do decide to attach one to the back, i would bolt it on so that you can remove it if need be. just my 2c worth
 
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Woodchuck

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Joined
Jan 14, 2005
Messages
3
I was told that pallet forks are hugh tensile steel, it would be a rather interesting job drilling a hole in one if it was. I have seen a 4 in 1 bucket with a pintle hook mounted to the inside of the bucket, this would be very handy when using chains or wire rope to drag items. My bobcat had a D shackle attached to my right hand lift arm, when a friend came over he said never drag anything from any 1 side, it can damage your pivot lins and bend the lift arms. Mounting a trailer hitch on the back could be a problem too, it will sit rite about shin height, i have been bitten more than once with the one i attached to my rider mower..... If you do decide to attach one to the back, i would bolt it on so that you can remove it if need be. just my 2c worth
Thanks for the reply to one and all. I will post more later.
 

YellowDog

Active member
Joined
Oct 13, 2005
Messages
29
I took a bobcat 3pt hitch attach plate with the bobtach plate and welded a 2" receiver tube so I can switch out receivers if needed. Works good. Some guys attach a ball to a set of pallet forks so that they can remove it quickly if needed.
 

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