How to attach my garden cart to my lawn tractor ?

[Cusser]

I'm trying to attach a garden cart I have to my Craftsman LT1000 lawn tractor; there must be a way, and I cannot Google anything because I don't know what it might be called. I have a Harbor Freight garden cartView attachment 60891which has a handle 1.5 inches span but the holes for the handle are horizontal.
View attachment 60892

My LT1000 lawn tractor has a 5/8 inch vertical hole for attaching stuff like a 5/8 inch hitch pin on its rear plate, like at the point of the "triangle".
View attachment 60893
So is there an adapter to do this that I can just purchase? Or do I need to get 1.5 inch square tubing and drill appropriate holes to make my own adapter? Thanks, and I'm open to all ideas.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Two D shackles

 

[Cusser]

Two D shackles

I'm not sure that I understand. D shackles to what? One D shackle between the two horizontal holes on the cart handle? And then the other through the vertical hole on the lawn tractor plate? I'm trying to understand....

 

[bertsmobile1]

Remove the handle at the pivot point
Replace the bolt with a D shackle so yo have a horizontal ring
Slip a D shackle through the mower tow hole and you have a vertical ring so they will connect like two links in a chain
There are some longer U shaped D shackles
All depends just how close to the mower you want the cart
You could use a bolt on crane hook and fit that to the more & just drop the existing handle over it
Most come with safety latches so once the handle is in position it can not slide foreward & pop off .

If the cart handle pivot point is lower than the tractor hole then you could remove the handle and get a grade 9 bolt to go through it plus a sleeve ( bit of galvanised water pipe ) cut to fit between the slot so when you tighten the bolt you don't crush them in
For the mower you get a long bolt a couple of washers & wing nut plus some more water pipe
Washers on bolt pipe on bolt put it up through the cart through the tractor hole then tighten it with the wing nut so you don't need tools to remove it .

 

[StarTech]

Duct tape.....Just Kidding.

 

[StarTech]

Actually you need make a new tongue for the cart. with an "U" end so it can be attached to the mower. This way you can the handle for later use if desired.

 

[Cusser]

Remove the handle at the pivot point
Replace the bolt with a D shackle so you have a horizontal ring
Slip a D shackle through the mower tow hole and you have a vertical ring so they will connect like two links in a chain
There are some longer U shaped D shackles
All depends just how close to the mower you want the cart

If the cart handle pivot point is lower than the tractor hole then you could remove the handle and get a grade 9 bolt to go through it plus a sleeve ( bit of galvanised water pipe ) cut to fit between the slot so when you tighten the bolt you don't crush them in
For the mower you get a long bolt a couple of washers & wing nut plus some more water pipe
Washers on bolt pipe on bolt put it up through the cart through the tractor hole then tighten it with the wing nut so you don't need tools to remove it .

Thanks, I have a much better idea now of what to do. The tractor plate hole and the pivot point for the graden cart handle are both about the same height, 8 to 8.5 inches off the ground.

 

[7394]

Cusser-
Just add a cheap tow-ball hitch like I have pictured here on mine, that's how I pull our wagon & etc. Handle slips right over the ball.. I did same on my Craftsman decades ago as well.

 

[Cusser]

Cusser-
Just add a cheap tow-ball hitch like I have pictured here on mine, that's how I pull our wagon & etc. Handle slips right over the ball.. I did same on my Craftsman decades ago as well.

View attachment 60898

Actually, I do have a 5/8 inch long bolt I tried on the lawn tractor to try using for our drag harrow for the horse arena (but the lawn tractor didn't have enough power to pull that through the soft sand). For that, I just looped its ball over the top of that bolt. Thanks for the tip ! I'll figure out something, maybe just loop the garden card handle over that !!!

Another idea I had was to make the garden cart handle a "quick disconnect" and use a piece of 3/4" steel pipe as a quick-connect transition tot he lawn tractor.

Thanks all, for the ideas !!!

 

[7394]