This is interesting. If it is a topic that has come up here before I missed the discussion. My first tractor with a loader (Kubota B7500) had the QD hydraulic connections right at the joystick. I never mow with the FEL on, so one of the things I looked for when searching for my current tractor (L3200) was a handy QD fitting location. Some of the tractors I looked at had them under the platform and a used MF had one that would be really difficult to reach. Since the only FEL's I was familiar with were off or on in less than a minute, I pictured the QD location to be the biggest area of concern.
That was until we took the FEL off of the Montana 3840(?) at work. We have it around to help with snow removal in the winter, some light bush hogging and general FEL use. We wanted to do some mowing where the length of the tractor / fel / bush hog was a problem. Based on my only experience with FEL's I figured it was no big deal to remove the Montana's FEL for a few weeks till we got the weeds and brush under control. I was wrong. What I thought would take a few minutes turned into an ordeal that required hammers, drift punches and a cheering section from the Tool Shop. This was on a concrete floor.
On my Kubotas, if the FEL had the front wheels off the ground, the big pins slid in and out of the frame like a precision instrument. There was no looking for a sweet spot. If the wheels are off the ground, you're good. Not so with the Montana. If I recall correctly, the right pin was free enough to drive out with a little FEL down pressure. It's probably going to be a bear to get back on in a week or two.
As a side note, the Montana is a handy thing to have around, but the purchase was a mistake. My predecessor and another guy who thought he knew all about tractors made the deal and it was delivered not long after I accepted the position as Facilities Mgr. One guy briefed me on the tractor, telling me this was the first one and we would be getting more of them. They were going to have quick attach forks and be used for moving materials on our jobsites. I told him the tractor wouldn't be capable of doing what they thought and asked where they got the idea it would be. I forget what he said the FEL capacity was from their "research", but asked if he was sure they were looking at the correct end of the tractor. Sure enough, the "lift capacity" they were quoting was for the 3PH.
After delivery and having the tires filled with dense foam, we had a little demonstration. With the RPM's up I attempted to pick something we would typically move on a jobsite. As the load came up, so did one rear tire. At that point, the Montana became a toy in our arsenal at the shop. No more was mentioned about replacing our Gradall 544D telehandlers with little green tractors.
