Manufacturing and assembly issues were solved by changing the centre plate from a complex single plate with six bends to three simple separate plates with single bends. This meant that the bent plates no longer had to match the profile plates perfectly, improving accuracy on assembly, and decreasing preparation work. Effective plate tabbing was employed to reduce the need for expensive jigging. The ease of welding was also considered, allowing sufficient space and cutouts for the welder to work effectively.

A stress analysis was carried out to verify the structural integrity of the design, with additional gussets and stiffeners added as a result (Figure 2).

The final solution is a simple, cost-effective design, and may be modified easily to fit a range of excavator brands of a given size. Motovated Design & Analysis provided a complete set of true plate profiles, bending, weldment and machining drawings for manufacture.

The key advantage of the new quick hitch design is that the same plate profiles may be used for each different excavator model, and modified in the welding and machining stages, resulting in significant dollar savings in the overall cost of the machine.