Receiver Hitch Beware

[bbnelson]

HEADS UP: Pioneer hitch receiver: I purchased a Bad Boy Ground Hog Max plow to work on a few small food plots on my property. The ground Hog is designed to fit most ATV 2" receivers and the downward pressure of both the operator and the ATV itself digs into and plows the soil. My hitch reciever on the Pioneer couldn't take the pressure in the photo below. I'm sure the excellent Honda engineers didn't have this in mind when they designed the receiver. I'm having it cut out and rewelded with more support. Don't get me wrong, both products are reputable. I really LOVE my Pioneer. Just didn't want to see any other Pioneer owners who may use the Ground Hog to experience what I did!

 

[Admin]

 

[ohanacreek]

Ouch, I guess it was not designed with an upwards force in mind.
Thanks for the heads up I was planing on borrowing the Kolpin version from a neighbor and work my field.

 

[slowdryrider]

Nasty never gave the upwards pressure a thought.I sure will now.Thanks for sharing.

 

[SkyPup]

I may weld some quarter inch steel reinforcements around the receiver after seeing this, thanks for posting.

 

[wilest1]

I may weld some quarter inch steel reinforcements around the receiver after seeing this, thanks for posting.

I wish I would have saw this post earlier! Had the same thing happen, though not as bad, using the ground hog max on my 700-4. I am looking for suggestions on how to reinforce this.

 

[Hondasxs]

I would run angle bar all the way across connecting to the main frame on each side.

Maybe @bbnelson can post a pic of his solution!

 

[wilest1]

I would run angle bar all the way across connecting to the main frame on each side.

Maybe @bbnelson can post a pic of his solution!

Thanks! That is exactly what I did. First though I might have prevented this if I would have installed the reinforcement kit provided by groundhog, but I thought it was for only small recievers. I attached that first by citing the plastic price below the receiver which gave me access to the two holes on the receiver.

 

[Hondasxs]

Yep, that should do it..

 

[scott]

Shoot i might just do something like that anyways use my hitch a lot not for the plow tho.

 

[JACKAL]

@wilest1 Nice mod!

 

[deltaduk]

Had the same thing happen to mine yesterday. Gonna take the plastic skid plate off underneath that section. Replace it with 1/4" flat steel. Weld receiver to it. Then weld to the 2 lateral frame pieces Or this sounds good in theory. Here are pics of the damage. Will post repairs when they are done

 

[bobbyhill]

Welcome to the Forum @deltaduk !! Were you using the same Ground Hog Attachment?

 

[deltaduk]

Yes I was. The metal for the receiver was pretty much made by Mickey Mouse I think. I'll post some pics tomorrow of what someone fabricated for me.

 

[classichonda]

Yes I was. The metal for the receiver was pretty much made by Mickey Mouse I think. I'll post some pics tomorrow of what someone fabricated for me.

That would be the Mickey Mouse plant in Mainland China. Talk about cheaping out. Are there other areas on the frame made with this quality of material?

 

[joeymt33]

To "cheap out" would be to purposefully or knowingly make it weak. Maybe it was an over-site? Or maybe it's a trailer hitch and not a plow hitch. That would also be an over sight, Honda should have strengthened it more to handle plows. I just don't think they purposefully made it weaker to increase profits which would be a "cheap out" in my definition.

Joe

 

[classichonda]

To "cheap out" would be to purposefully or knowingly make it weak. Maybe it was an over-site? Or maybe it's a trailer hitch and not a plow hitch. That would also be an over sight, Honda should have strengthened it more to handle plows. I just don't think they purposefully made it weaker to increase profits which would be a "cheap out" in my definition.

Joe

Someone had to decide how thick the metal should be. They didn't put thin metal on to cost them more money and lower profits.

 

[bobbyhill]

I am sure that the forces of the Ground hog Teller or plow have not been measured with the Pioneer and are doubtfully in limits for the tongue weight.

 

[joeymt33]

Yeah, it seems like they designed a "trailer hitch" and didn't think about other uses like plows.

I've used my hitch for other vehicle extractions, pulling logs and obviously trailers with no problems. I appreciate the OP giving us a warning to stay away from the plows or modify the hitch first.

 

[ohanacreek]

Yeah, it seems like they designed a "trailer hitch" and didn't think about other uses like plows.

I've used my hitch for other vehicle extractions, pulling logs and obviously trailers with no problems. I appreciate the OP giving us a warning to stay away from the plows or modify the hitch first.

Would agree I have pulled and snatched several hundred pines trees with mine and never had an issue. (Along with pulling trailers and recovering other brand SxSs. I think the over sight was not predicting that people would use the plows on the machine. It puts forces on the hitch in a direction it's not intended to have them.

And anyone who's ever used a tractor knows that dirt can tear up steel quickly with the forces you're able to suddenly put on a machine.

 

[deltaduk]

Tongue weight on the sticker says 150#. That is pretty "Mickey mouse" in my opinion. Yes the disc does put a lot of pressure in a upward motion. But ain't gonna argue bout it. Here is what we fabricated last nite. Took of the plastic skid plate beneath the receiver. Replaced it with 1/4" steel plate. Used plasma cutter to cut out holes for fluid change out. Then welded 3/8" angle iron to the 1/4" plate. Got new receiver from TSC. Welded it to top off angle iron. Got 2 3/8" bolts going thru the end of frame tubes. Then replaced the 6 M 60 (bout 1/2" in length) with 6 that are 2" long. Took it off last nite. Put bout 3 coats of good paint on it for rust protection. Here are pics. Will post more when I install it back on this evening