Quick-attach mechanism for attaching a blade to an off-road vehicle
A quick-attach system for attaching and detaching the rearward ends of the push tubes of a blade, a materials handling structure, or other devices to the underside of an off-road vehicle such as an ATV or UTV. The system includes a mounting plate secured to the underside of the vehicle and which has a pair of mounting pins positioned therebelow. A quick-attach mechanism is provided at the rearward end of each of the push tubes and a spring-loaded latching lever thereon automatically performing the attaching function to associated mounting pin. The latching lever may be manually moved to an unlatched position to permit the quick-attach mechanism to be disconnected from the mounting pin.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a quick-attach system for an off-road vehicle, such as an ATV, UTV or the like, and more particularly to a quick-attach system for an off-road vehicle such as an ATV or UTV to enable a blade and push tube assembly to be quickly and easily connected to or detached from a mounting plate previously secured to the underside of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Off-road vehicles such as ATVs and UTVs frequently have a blade assembly removably attached thereto to enable dirt or snow to be plowed. The blade assembly normally includes a pair of rearwardly extending push tubes which extend beneath the vehicle and which are pivotally connected to a mounting bracket secured to the underside of the vehicle. Normally, the rearward ends of the push tubes have a plate secured thereto which has one or more mounting holes therein which must register with mounting holes in the mounting bracket to enable the push tubes to be pivotally secured to the mounting bracket. Presently, the attachment of the push tubes to the mounting bracket and the disconnection therefrom is time-consuming and is difficult due to the requirement that the pin holes in the plates of the push tubes and the mounting bracket must be precisely aligned in order to insert a pin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA quick-attach system is described which enables the rearward ends of the push tubes of blade assemblies to be quickly and easily attached to and detached from a mounting bracket secured to the underside of a off-road vehicle such as an ATV or UTV. The quick-attach system of this invention may be either retrofitted onto existing push tubes of blade systems or may be incorporated into the rearward ends of push tubes at the time of manufacturing the same.
In the system disclosed herein, a mounting bracket is secured to the underside of the vehicle and has a pair of laterally spaced and horizontally extending mounting pins positioned below the bottom surface of the mounting plate. A quick-attach assembly is provided on the rearward end of each of the push tubes and includes an upwardly presented recess which is adapted to receive the associated mounting pin on the mounting bracket. A ramp communicates with the recess to facilitate the movement of the quick-attach mechanism upwardly into mating engagement with the mounting pin. A locking latch or lever is pivotally mounted on the quick-attach mechanism and includes a forwardly extending nose portion which is positioning over the mounting pin when the mounting pin is received in the recess. The design of the nose, recess and ramp is such that upward movement of the quick-attach mechanism with respect to the mounting pin during the attachment process enables the mounting pin to slightly move the latching lever from its latched position to its unlatched position so that the mounting pin may be received in the recess. As soon as the mounting pin is received in the recess, the spring-loaded locking lever or latch moves to its locked position. Each of the quick-attach mechanisms may be disconnected from the associated mounting pin by moving the latch to its unlocked position which permits the quick-attach mechanism to be moved downwardly with respect to the mounting pin to disconnect the quick-attach mechanism from the mounting pin.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved quick-attach mechanism for quickly and easily attaching and detaching the rearward ends of push tubes of a blade assembly to a mounting bracket previously secured to the underside of the vehicle.
A further object of the invention is to provide a quick-attach assembly which enables mounting pins to be received thereby without manual movement of the associated locking or latching levers.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a quick-attach mechanism which is secured to the rearward ends of push tubes and which includes structure thereon which aids in aligning the quick-attach mechanism with the associated mounting pin.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a quick-attach system of the type described which may be mounted on previously manufactured push tubes or which may be incorporated into the rearward ends of the push tubes at the time of manufacture thereof.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
The numeral 10 refers generally to an off-road vehicle such as an ATV or UTV, which may be two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. ATV 10 includes a forward end 12, a rearward end 14, a right side 16, and a left side 18. The numeral 20 refers generally to a blade assembly which is secured to the ATV. The blade assembly 20 also includes means for pivoting the blade 22 of the blade assembly 20 about a vertical axis and includes conventional means for raising and lowering the blade 22 with respect to the vehicle 10.
The conventional blade assembly 20 normally includes a pair of rearwardly extending push tubes which will be identified as a right push tube 24 and a left push tube 26. In the conventional blade assemblies, the push tubes are pivotally secured to the frame of the ATV or to the rear hitch of the ATV through suitable connections. Normally, a plate 28 is secured to and extends between the push tubes 24 and 26 for strengthening purposes. In the conventional blade assemblies such as distributed by the assignee of this invention, the rearward ends of the push tubes 24 and 26 have mounting plates 30 and 32 secured thereto by welding or the like. The conventional mounting plates for push tubes 24 and 26 are illustrated in
With respect to
The upper end of plate 38 has a pin or bolt receiving recess 68 formed therein. The upper end of plate 38 also has an inclined ramp surface 70 formed therein, the lower end of which communicates with recess 68, as seen in
When installed, plate 92 will be generally horizontally disposed. For purposes of description, plate 92 will be described as having a forward end 94, rearward end 96, right side 98 and left side 100. A pair or ears or brackets 102 and 104 are welded to the bottom surface of plate 92 adjacent the rearward end 96 at the right side of the plate 92. A horizontally disposed pin 106 extends therebetween which is spaced below the bottom surface of plate 92. Pin 106 may be a clevis pin or the like maintained in the ears 102 and 104 by one or more cotter pins. A pair of ears or brackets 108 and 110 are welded to the bottom surface of plate 92 adjacent the rearward end 96 at the left side of the plate 92 and have a horizontally disposed pin 112 extending therebetween which is spaced below the bottom surface of plate 92. Pin 112 may be a clevis pin or the like maintained in the ears 108 and 110 by one or more cotter pins. Although
As stated,
With respect to the retrofit embodiment of
When it is desired to remove the blade structure 20 from the vehicle, the latch 76 is unlatched by simply pressing downwardly on the protrusion 90 so that the latch 76 is moved to the broken line position illustrated in
The standard quick-attach mechanisms of
Although a blade structure is shown and described, the forward ends of the push tubes may possibly be secured to other structures such as materials handling devices as well as a mower deck or the like.
Thus it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.
Claims
1. In combination:
- an off-road vehicle having a forward end, a rearward end, a right side, a left side, and an underside;
- a mounting bracket secured to said underside of said vehicle between said rearward and forward ends thereof;
- said mounting bracket having horizontally disposed first and second mounting pin portions positioned thereon;
- a blade mounting frame having rearward and forward ends;
- said blade mounting frame including first and second elongated push tubes having rearward and forward ends;
- a first quick-attach mechanism secured to said rearward end of said first push tube;
- a second quick-attach mechanism secured to said rearward end of said second push tube;
- said first and second quick-attach mechanisms being adapted to be selectively pivotally secured to said first and second mounting pin portions, respectively;
- and a structure operatively secured to said forward ends of said first and second push tubes;
- said first and second quick-attach mechanisms permitting said mounting frame to be removed from said vehicle during times of other uses.
2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said structure which is operatively secured to said push tubes comprises a materials handling structure.
3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said structure comprises a blade structure.
4. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said first and second quick-attach mechanisms have an upwardly presented mounting pin recess formed therein for receiving the associated mounting pin portion therein, and a latch member pivotally movable about a horizontal axis which is movable between latched and unlatched positions; said latch member extending over the associated mounting pin portion in the mounting pin recess thereof which is in its said latched position to maintain the pivotal connection of said quick-attach mechanism with the associated mounting pin portion.
5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said latch member of each of said quick-attach mechanisms are spring-loaded to yieldably urge said latch member towards its said latched position.
6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said latch member of each of said quick-attach mechanisms is normally in its said latch position but automatically moves to its unlatched position due to the engagement of the associated mounting pin portion therewith as said quick-attach mechanism is attached to the associated mounting pin portion.
7. The combination of claim 1 wherein each of said rearward ends of said push tubes have a mounting plate secured thereto and wherein the associated quick-attach mechanism is removably secured to said mounting plate.
8. The combination of claim 7 wherein the said associated quick-attach mechanism is bolted onto said mounting plate.
9. The combination of claim 7 wherein the said associated quick-attach mechanism is clamped onto said mounting plate.
10. A mounting means for quickly attaching a structure to an off-road vehicle having a forward end, a rearward end, a right side, a left side and an underside, comprising:
- a mounting bracket adapted to be secured to the underside of the vehicle between the rearward and forward ends thereof;
- said mounting bracket having laterally spaced-apart and horizontally disposed first and second elongated mounting pin portions positioned thereon;
- a mounting frame having rearward and forward ends;
- said mounting frame including first and second elongated push tubes having rearward and forward ends;
- a first quick-attach mechanism secured to said rearward end of said first push tube;
- a second quick-attach mechanism secured to said rearward end of said second push tube;
- said first and second quick-attach mechanisms being adapted to be selectively pivotally secured to said first and second mounting pin portions, respectively;
- said forward ends of said first and second push tubes adapted to have the structure operatively secured thereto;
- said first and second quick-attach mechanisms permitting said mounting frame to be removed from the vehicle during times of other uses.
11. The mounting means of claim 10 wherein each of said first and second quick-attach mechanisms have an upwardly presented mounting pin recess formed therein for receiving the associated mounting pin portion therein, and a latch member pivotally movable about a horizontal axis which is movable between latched and unlatched positions; said latch member extending over the associated mounting pin portion in the mounting pin recess thereof which is in its said latched position to maintain the pivotal connection of said quick-attach mechanism with the associated mounting pin portion.
12. The mounting means of claim 11 wherein said latch member of each of said quick-attach mechanisms are spring-loaded to yieldably urge said latch member towards its said latched position.
13. The mounting means of claim 12 wherein said latch member of each of said quick-attach mechanisms is normally in its said latch position but automatically moves to its unlatched position due to the engagement of the associated mounting pin therewith as said quick-attach mechanism is attached to the associated mounting pin.
14. The mounting means of claim 10 wherein each of said rearward ends of said push tubes have a mounting plate secured thereto and wherein the associated quick-attach mechanism is removably secured to said mounting plate.
15. The mounting means of claim 14 wherein the said associated quick-attach mechanism is bolted onto said mounting plate.
16. The mounting means of claim 14 wherein the said associated quick-attach mechanism is clamped onto said mounting plate.
17. The mounting means of claim 10 wherein said structure comprises a materials handling structure.
18. The mounting means of claim 10 wherein said structure comprises a blade structure.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 22, 2007
Publication Date: Jul 24, 2008
Inventors: Alan D. Bailey (Spirit Lake, IA), Randy J. Kempf (Greeenwood, IN)
Application Number: 11/656,240
International Classification: E02F 3/96 (20060101);