Try a one-person hitch for tractors and wagons
A series of tip sheets on labor efficiency for nursery field work.
by Astrid Newenhouse, Marcia Miquelon, and Larry Chapman
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project
If you use tractors and wagons to move plants on your nursery, consider a one-person hitch that can save you time and reduce your risk for serious injury. You can cut the time you spend connecting tractors to wagons in half. Since you never leave your tractor seat, you will also reduce the chance that you or your helper will crush fingers while positioning the hitch pin, or risk getting caught between an unstable tractor and a heavy wagon. Without a one-person hitch, the tractor driver has to climb down from the seat to lift up the wagon pole or tongue, position it exactly around the drawbar, and drop the hitch pin in the corresponding holes. Sometimes workers use a jack or blocks to hold up the heavy wagon tongue, and often drivers recruit a helper to stand behind the tractor and do the hitching. If a tractor driver is very skilled, he or she can back up to the wagon precisely so a minimum of lifting and maneuvering is needed to hook up the tongue.
Benefits:
Efficient. You can hitch up a wagon in seconds with a one-person
hitch, since you don’t spend any time climbing down from the tractor,
positioning the wagon tongue, and climbing back up to the tractor seat
again. Since these hitches have either a bigger recieving end or a wider
opening on the wagon tongue than a regular hitch, it is easier and faster
to back a tractor into the optimal position for coupling. The ease and
simplicity of the one-person hitch means that nursery managers can make
use of a wider labor pool for tractor tasks. Even minimally skilled tractor
drivers can quickly hitch and unhitch wagons. If you normally use a helper
to lift the wagon tongue and drop in the hitch pin, the one-person hitching
system can free up that person.
Hitching with two; placing the pin.
One-person hitching systems are safer and quicker.
Profitable. Using one manufacturer’s design as an example, the parts for the Agri-Speed hitch cost $275 for the tractor and $175 for the wagon, which equals $450 for one tractor and one wagon. If you buy a system for 1 tractor and 4 wagons ($975), and labor is paid at $10/hour, it would take 98 hours of freed up labor to pay for the hitching system. Factor in the savings you gain by preventing time off work due to accidents, and the one-person hitch can pay for itself in short order. Less risk of serious injury. Each year, numerous agricultural workers suffer injuries in hitching accidents when heavy equipment crushes their fingers, or when they become pinned between the tractor and the wagon. Workers sometimes slip and fall while hitching or unhitching, and then risk being run over. Anyone who has ever backed up a tractor towards a person who is helping them hitch can see the inherent danger in this task. It’s a situation that is best avoided. Many factors combine to make the task risky and unpredictable, such as sloping or uneven ground, mud, slippery surfaces, uneven wagon loads, differences in tire inflation, clutch and brake performance, interference from noise, misunderstood communication between driver and helper, and the hectic pace of nursery work.
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Hitch
Safely! Check your owner’s manual for safe hitching points. Usually the drawbar is the safest place to hitch a wagon, since a tractor can flip over backwards if the load is hitched higher up such as from the seat bracket, axle, or 3-point lift arms. Dangling, loose chains can catch on a stump or rock and also cause a tractor to flip. |
