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 | Bob Jochims
Join Date: Posts: 1 
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2000-03-03 13403
Freedom Hitch now has a web page. Contact us through www.freedomhitch.com
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962 
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2000-03-03 13411
I recently received the video and literature on the Freedom Hitch, and I just can't afford it right now. Aaah, but sure wish I could! ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada 
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2000-03-03 13412
Bob, maybe I'm missing something in the info. I saw at your website, but here is how I see it. The tractor side is $195 (for Cat. 1) and then a further $195 per implement. Now as a landscaper who specializes in golf course construction the economics looks like this. Tractor plus only 6 implements (pulverizer, box blade, aerator, roller, tiller, and rake) I am looking at $1365 plus since this is US $ it is $2047.50 for me in Cdn. money, and I still have to get off to hook up the hyd. lines and/or pto drive shaft right? By my calculation it would be at LEAST 200 hrs. of saved time before I even came close to pay-back, never mind any savings....what am I missing? ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2000-03-03 13413
Bob, maybe I'm missing something in the info. I saw at your website, but here is how I see it. The tractor side is $195 (for Cat. 1) and then a further $195 per implement. Now as a landscaper who specializes in golf course construction the economics looks like this. Tractor plus only 6 implements (pulverizer, box blade, aerator, roller, tiller, and rake) I am looking at $1365 plus since this is US $ it is $2047.50 for me in Cdn. money, and I still have to get off to hook up the hyd. lines and/or pto drive shaft right? By my calculation it would be at LEAST 200 hrs. of saved time before I even came close to pay-back, never mind any savings....what am I missing? ....
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| Reginald W. Lamson
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-03 13447
Murf,i like your rates.down here you can't hire a tractor for under $50/hr.Iwent for it to save my back more than saving money,I seem to be getting older and fatter and never seem to park the implements in the right spot where i can line up with the 3pt without wrestling the darn thing.I got one each tractor and impsectionsfor xmas and had three more imp.sections delivered today.I have only played around a little with it so far,but like the way it self aligns once you get close.I will get back with a real opinion later when i get them all mounted and have used them doing real work. ....
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| Frank R Taylor
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-04 13458
Reginald, I'd be interested in your opinion once you have used it for a while. I refuse to admit that I'm getting older or fatter, it's just that these things get heavier and more awkward as I mature and it's like all these things ... I'm really interested in it for my wife. Yea ... right. ....
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| gerard
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 36 kentucky
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2000-03-04 13464
Landpride has a quick hitch system that looks like it is a single piece unit that attaches to your existing 3 pt hitch and allows "from the seat" attachment/detachment. I don't know the price but I've included the web page. Has anyone used this type of quick hitch? Not having to buy a sister piece for each implement is a big plus and this doesn't look like it should be too expensive a piece of equipment ....
Link:
Click Here
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| Jack in IL
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-04 13465
The concept is simple, but there is a "gotcha." Although there is a Standard for Cat I hitches for both the horizontal distance across center-to-center of the draft links and the vertical mast distance, that doesn't mean all Cat I implements are being made that way. What I found was a wide variation in widths and mast heights so that one coupler setting would not work for all implements. I had to redo the coupler for every implement I tried to use. There are also some implements that were too wide to fit in the quick coupler that I tried that was similar in concept to the one being sold be Landpride. I gave up and went the Freedom Hitch route. The part of the FH that attaches to the implement is adjustable so that it accomodates the variations in implement hitch geometry. After it is installed and bolted tight, you never touch it again. This problem of implement geometries not following the Standards doesn't seem to occur often in larger Cat II, III, and IV agricultural equipment. ....
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| turfman
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 midwest
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2000-03-04 13471
Hey Guys,
I have a couple of freedom hitches and I love them. The main thing I like about them is the Time saving and the safety, mostly the safety. When Hitching up on uneven ground or level ground you just back up,pick up and if necessary hook up the pto then go. The time savings do pay back but the safety from not having hired help pinch a finger off is really worth it to me. TRy one and you won't be disappointed. I have one on a rototiller and beat the crap out of it and it really takes the abuse. just my 2 cents ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2000-03-04 13473
Reg. our prices (including the exchange) are the same as yours, but I was talking about savings in labour (man hours). My calc.'s were that I would have to SAVE at least 200 hrs. of strictly 'hitching up' time before I even got my money back, never mind any savings. Considering how fast changing implements is, I think 200+ hrs. would be a LONG time. As for safety, 'hitching' is a ONE man job, then fingers are ALWAYS out of the way. It really is easy to hitch by yourself, lower the arms below pin level, back up until the closest pin lines up to the arm, lift the arm onto the pin, then back up &/or lift until the 2nd pin lines up. Oh well, each to they're own. ....
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| Jack in IL
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-04 13476
Sorry, but I forgot a point. In order for the claw-type quick coupler to engage, it is necessary to raise the hitch straight up to connect to the lower draft pins and the top pin. Some implements do not have completely open access under the top pin. Often there is a gusset or some other structural member welded in there to provide strength to the top portion of the mast. The only choice is to take a torch to it. ....
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| turfman
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 midwest
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2000-03-05 13486
Hey murf,
hitching is a one man job, and when the hired help does it, do you always expect a young man to make the right decision when unsupervised and in a hurry. you are right to each his own. i will always err to the side of safety. and i have been a landscaper for 50+ years and have all my fingers and so do all my past and present employees. whatever. ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2000-03-05 13488
Turfman, I am amazed at a few things here, if you have been a landscaper for 50+ years, then assuming you started at 20+/- years old, you are now 75+/- years old. Considering your aptitude for computers and VERY 'young' slang like "whatever", and the fact that you're still working at your age, well, I really hand it to you, you act more like someone in their 30's.....CONGRATULATIONS!! As for me, I've only been at it for about 20 years now, but being the NINTH generation to farm the same land, we have learned a BIT about equipment...like if someone is going to jam their finger with a 3pth arm, they'll do it on the drive shaft too...but then we don't put hasty youngsters on potentially deadly equipment. But, to each their own...... ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-03-05 13489
I'm amazed at some things here, too. Ya'll are looking for ways to save time and money and provide safety; all worthy goals of course, but I'd like to have the Freedom Hitch just to save energy; mine! I'll admit I'm getting older and lazier, and as Mark Twain supposedly said once about exercise, "I could never see any benefit in being tired." ....
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| Ross
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-05 13498
Murf has a bad attitude.And I've seen things done the hard way for generations,just becouse it has been done for 9 generations dose'nt mean it was ever right. ....
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| Roger L.
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 0
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2000-03-06 13502
Bird, did He really say that? Mark Twain sure does tickle me....which isn't the same as saying that what works for him would work for me.
The Freedom Hitch surely is a first class "nifty gadget". In my book, the clever design is reason enough to own one....But not for "ease and quickness of changing implements. I kind of look forward to changing implements..Don't you? After all, if I had wanted the tractoring done quickly and efficiently I'd have just hired someone to do it for me. What could be quicker and more efficient than that? As it is, changing tools gives me a chance to prevent the hammering of the diesel from becoming too much of a good thing. I can walk about, look around, stretch my muscles, and maybe wander awhile. "Quickly changing implements" sounds suspiciously like "get back to work" to me. Which is not the way I want to relate to a sunny day at all.
As for safety, it is true that If I don't pay attention I'll get a pinched finger. Not very often....just sometimes. It is hard to keep from feeling lucky when this happens, as is increasingly rare in today's high speed world for a lapse of attention to bring with it such a modest punishment......... Roger
....
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| Randy Eckard
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-06 13503
Roger,
I cant agree more. I use to work on a farm and wish I still did. Now I try to stretch out my tractoring time as long as the sun or my wife will allow.
Randy ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-03-06 13505
Very good, Roger! I like your message; just don't agree. If I could figure a way to get those implements to change themselves, I'll sit in the shade and watch. ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2000-03-06 13506
Ross, it's not bad attitude, it's REALITY, if your employer spent money on every 'nifty gadget' (sorry Roger) that came along, regardless of economics, I wonder how secure YOUR job would be? As for nine generations of wrong? We are an extremely large and successful operation, employing industry standard practices and equipment, or are you saying it's not just us doing it wrong, but every farmer in the world....since we all do it the same. Roger, while I agree it's a 'nifty gadget' I like the 'stretch the legs' theory better. ....
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| Bob Jochims
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-06 13515
In reply to Murf. Time is money. With the Freedom Hitch system implements change over time is reduced to seconds. Studies indicate the average equipment change time is 15 minutes and happens 4 times each day. That's one hour of lost production each day. 3-week payback of your investment. If your labor rate is $50.00 per hour, 1 hour of lost production time each day means that in only 3 weeks the change over time costs you $750.00. A four piece Freedom Hitch system costs only $780.00. Dedicated tractor no longer needed. With the Freedom Hitch system you can use that tractor and that additional person to work on another job. Or you can just sell it, reduce your operating costs and pocket the money. ....
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| turfman
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 midwest
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2000-03-07 13538
Murf,
Sorry for the tone. I am not as young as you think, I just think young. Your family has farmed 9 generations, which is truly admirable. Are you still exclusively using horses? I doubt that. Did you start working around the farm when you were 20+ years? I am from Iowa and I can’t think of a single family farm operation where the children don’t have to work until they are 20+/-. I started in this family business following my father around from the time I could walk. Now I am not counting the first 9 years I could walk as time in the business, but I am counting the rest. I have kids that are teen-agers, hence the newspeak. As for computer aptitude, the MBA helped with that. Regarding hasty youngsters on deadly equipment, that is assumption I take exception to, my safety record shows no lost time due to an accident in 50+ years. In a field where power equipment is used daily that is virtually unheard of.
....
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| turfman
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 midwest
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2000-03-07 13539
I am one of the most ardent proponents of this product. I chose it carefully after a few time and motion studies of my own. We timed an experienced (9+ years service, Jake) and an inexperienced (2 years, Jeff) at hooking up cat 1 implements on dirt. Jake took little more than 4 minutes to unhook a scarifier and rehook to a box scraper. Jeff took almost 8 minutes. With the Hitch it took Jake just less than 1 minute and Jeff just under 2 minutes (sorry Bob).
I took two seeding/grading projects that are typical to my operation and looked at the implements we used and how often we changed those. I bring to each job, aeravator, box scraper, scarifier, spreader, Brillion seeder. I stacked the implements on the trailer in the order that they normally come off, used them and parked them off the trailer in case we needed them again. At both jobs each comes off the trailer, that counts 4 changes. We then had instances where we needed to go back to each box scraper, aeravator, and scarifier twice, that is 6 more changes. I then have to reload the trailer, 4 more changes. That totals 14 changes at one jobsite. Since I don’t do seed/grade projects exclusively I need the tractor for other uses, and therefore I have to rededicate the tractor at the end of the project. When you add in that the trailer had to be loaded at the shop to go and unloaded when back you get 8 more changes. 22 changes for one job! That accounts for timesaving of 42 to 84 minutes at the site and 66 to 132 minutes total portal to portal. This time is not necessarily in one day, it may span 2 or 3. But even then it still makes sense. I generally charge out at $60/hr. on the tractor and do about 15 of these projects a year. And this does not include the other tractor work I do outside of the spring and fall seeding season. Now if I save 10, 20, or 30 hours per year I think that the math will justify the Freedom Hitch. Once again, I stress the safety inherent in this unit. Changing many times can be dangerous. With a Freedom Hitch there is no reason to get your fingers in the way and once the unit is on the tractor the PTO shaft or hydraulics are a snap. This is long and more than my usual 2 cents! ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2000-03-07 13546
Now that you explain it that way I can see what you are speaking about. Your times seem very close to ours, however there are some big differences between our operations. First we don't use a tractor to load and unload equipment, each of our tri-axle floats is equipped with a small knuckle-boom crane. Second, we also charge $60 (albeit Cdn. $) per hour, however the client is paying that not me, while we try to maximize the customers value, the bottom line is that the customer pays for change overs in the hourly rates. As for experience, I was referring to my time building golf courses FULL-TIME, I, as you started 'working' on the farm at a young age, and only left for university (P. Eng. & M.Sc. in Hort./Ag.). Our family is well known in the heavy horse industry, and breed top-ranked Belgians, at the age of 9 I was driving a team regularly (3 hrs a day) as part of our training program. This is not meant as an 'oh yeah', I just don't think that the expenditure of $1200 is justified to save 5? minutes per change-over, although to be fair we quite often have several tractors on the same job so they are more or less dedicated. But enough typing, it's too nice outside. Have a great day & best of luck. ....
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| Reginald W. Lamson
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-07 13547
OK,I got one mounted to the chipper with some fuss to get it aligned properly.It wasn't that bad but a helper would speed things along some.Only problem I had was that I had to lengthen the pto shaft. The hitch sets the impliment back about 5 in.Now it works fine.now a question,since the chipper is farther back and is heavy anyway, I'm wondering about about stress on hyd during transport.the tractor manual says to lock the 3pt hitch in the raised position and move the position control to down position,but it dosn't explain how to do it.Not asking for specifics because my brand is unmentionable on this board,but is this a comon practice,and if so how is it usually accomplished?Thanks! ....
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