Motorizing raising / lowering Claas Xerion hitch

[TechnicFan68]

Hello everybody. I am in the process of building my own tractor. It's taken a long time, and I'm not even close to finish. One of the things I've been struggling with, is to motorize the raising and lowering of the rear hitch.

I've copied/stolen the design from the 42054 Claas Xerion, so I hope someone has already done this conversion, and are willing to share how they did it.

Here is a picture of the hitch design, in case you've forgotten how it is implemented in the Xerion.

 

[Maaboo the Witch]

I'm not sure if anyone has actually managed to motorize the 42054 hitch, but here's a video you might find helpful. It features a different solution.

 

[2GodBDGlory]

A lot will depend on how much room you have inside the tractor, and where, but the simplest solution, in my opinion, would be to get rid of the bevel gears on the linear actuator and then use a universal joint instead to get the drive axle longitudinally mounted, where you could then easily add a motor.

[Maaboo the Witch]

5 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

A lot will depend on how much room you have inside the tractor, and where, but the simplest solution, in my opinion, would be to get rid of the bevel gears on the linear actuator and then use a universal joint instead to get the drive axle longitudinally mounted, where you could then easily add a motor.

Yeah. With the manual axle out of the way, you could use these pins on either side of the input end of the actuator to attach it to the beams.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Maaboo35

[TechnicFan68]

You want to flip the LA? That won't work, it will collide with the red colored liftarms in the following image (liftarms moved back to be able to show the picture).

The problem with the hitch is that the LA is backwards of what is customary  (the hitch attaches to the tractor at the black liftarms).

 

58 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

I'm not sure if anyone has actually managed to motorize the 42054 hitch, but here's a video you might find helpful. It features a different solution.

 

I do have pneumatics implemented in the tractor, but I feel that pneumatics are not suitable in this situation. Pneumatics are either fully closed or fully extended, and they are bad at holding a fixed position over time...

[Stuartn]

35 minutes ago, TechnicFan68 said:

You want to flip the LA? That won't work, it will collide with the red colored liftarms in the following image (liftarms moved back to be able to show the picture).

The problem with the hitch is that the LA is backwards of what is customary  (the hitch attaches to the tractor at the black liftarms).

I think they mean leave the LA as it was, but rather than use the gears, instead use this piece, attaching it to the rear of the linear actuator

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=62520c01#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

 

[TechnicFan68]

39 minutes ago, Stuartn said:

I think they mean leave the LA as it was, but rather than use the gears, instead use this piece, attaching it to the rear of the linear actuator

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=62520c01#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

 

That won't work because the bottom of the LA is the point furthest away from the tractor. The hitch is attached to the rest of the tractor with the black liftarms in the first picture.

So it would look something like this:

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by TechnicFan68
wrong url deleted

[Jurss]

Then turn it around technically.

If that doesn't help, build Your own mechanism. We also don't know how it really will attach to main frame of Your tractor.

[Maaboo the Witch]

13 hours ago, TechnicFan68 said:

That won't work because the bottom of the LA is the point furthest away from the tractor. The hitch is attached to the rest of the tractor with the black liftarms in the first picture.

So it would look something like this:

No, you're going in the wrong direction. Plus you don't need so many U-joints. One or two should suffice. Like @Jurss says, a little more info on your overall design would help.

[Gray Gear]

What's the point of copying such a simple construction? I think it would be better and easier to just start from 0. That way you might also start to understand what you are doing, instead of aking us to modify an existing design without providing any additional information...

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Gray Gear

[TechnicFan68]

Ok, here is a more complete picture of the lower back half of my tractor. Black liftarms have been repainted in sand for increased visibility. I thought the 42054 Claas Xerion was such a popular set that I didn't need to explain it any further. IMO the only way to motorize this, is to replace the LA with something else. But I have not found a solution. The closest I came was this, but there's simply too much slack to be usable.

 

Lower back half of my tractor:

 @Gray Gear  I used this design so I can use existing Xerion attachments without any modifications.

[Maaboo the Witch]

I honestly think using a different design would help. Plus you can always integrate a PTO and similar structure so the attachments used with the Xerion will still work.

[1963maniac]

20 hours ago, TechnicFan68 said:

 

Using this idea, could you mount the LA higher on the back of the tractor and then use a universal joint to spin it? What I mean is the LA is mounted at a completely different angle; the brown axle end is higher than the opposite end.  

[TechnicFan68]

18 minutes ago, 1963maniac said:

Using this idea, could you mount the LA higher on the back of the tractor and then use a universal joint to spin it? What I mean is the LA is mounted at a completely different angle; the brown axle end is higher than the opposite end.  

I'm not sure I understand what you're meaning. Anyway I've come up with this solution, I just need to rearrange everything else (again).

 

 

The orange parts are "Liftarm Thin 1 x 5 - Axle Holes (11478)", and of course in Light Bluish Gray in my actual build. Haven't actually decided which LA to use, but I think the small one has too short range here.

[Maaboo the Witch]

54 minutes ago, TechnicFan68 said:

I'm not sure I understand what you're meaning. Anyway I've come up with this solution, I just need to rearrange everything else (again).

This means that the actuator will be situated off-centre. Remember that you'll have to find a way of powering it as well - are you hooking it up to a motor directly, or using a gearbox?

[TechnicFan68]

4 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

This means that the actuator will be situated off-centre. Remember that you'll have to find a way of powering it as well - are you hooking it up to a motor directly, or using a gearbox?

It depends on what you mean by gearbox. The motor I will be using is a PF-M, so I probably need to gear it down some...  But a gearbox with selectable output speeds or multiple functions is not in the plans.

And the LA may actually be moved way over to one side, time will tell.

I'm just happy I'm moving forward again...

[Maaboo the Witch]

5 minutes ago, TechnicFan68 said:

I'm just happy I'm moving forward again...

That's the spirit! Keep trying. 

[Gray Gear]

10 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

Keep trying. 

Yes. And maybe next time start trying before opening a new thread...

And if you do need help there is a special thread "Generic building help topic", it is pinned too. Please use it.

[TechnicFan68]

5 minutes ago, Gray Gear said:

Yes. And maybe next time start trying before opening a new thread...

And if you do need help there is a special thread "Generic building help topic", it is pinned too. Please use it.

Don't worry. With that kind of tone in here, I won't be posting anything more at all... 

[Maaboo the Witch]

1 minute ago, TechnicFan68 said:

Don't worry. With that kind of tone in here, I won't be posting anything more at all... 

Don't be discouraged. You might want to try the generic help topic if you need any further pointers. Maybe try and get a little further first though.

[Jundis]

9 hours ago, TechnicFan68 said:

Don't worry. With that kind of tone in here, I won't be posting anything more at all... 

The reason for @Gray Gear comments were not meant rude, even if the choice of words were rather harsh ;-)

The thing is, that Lego Technic should represent real mechanism the best way with the given pieces. Just google "three-point hitch" or even the german word "dreipunkt-kraftheber" and search for pics and try to understand the mechanism. There are multiple solutions, many can be done with Lego parts.

Then compare them to the needed attachement points for the 42054's mechanism. If you have more troubles, just post em here.

 Happy building :-)