Pin-on attachments (< 300 lbs) for SCUT's - how difficult is it?

[newbury]

Many of us small tractor owners seem to suffer from grapple-envy. With lift capacities of 700 lbs or less adding 100lbs for a SSQA (skid steer quick attach) take a chunk out of our power. Plus adding a plate to our old bucket makes it worse.

I've only swapped a cylinder on my M4700 FEL, and I anticipated that was going to be a pain. It wasn't. The pin slid right out and back in easier than wiping up the grease from filling the zerks.

If all I have to do is (disregarding the hydraulics) CAREFULLY rest the bucket in a custom built wood carrier, take out 4 pins, roll the bucket away, roll the grapple over, wiggle it a bit and hook up the pins it seems very do-able. Especially if I'm looking at a grapple slimmed down to 255lbs and doing it on a nice concrete floor..

I'm not thinking it would be a QUICK swap out, but then when I first swapped my 48" box blade (uneven ground, sunk in a bit) it was a ROYAL pain to get it back on.

I anticipate if I was swapping a grapple for a bucket, or vice-versa, I would put in many hours of use over a period of days if not months before I had to swap back.

So for those of you who swap pin-on attachments on SCUT's how difficult (or easy) is it? Do you have any videos?

 

[k0ua]

Well if you are liable to leave the on for a long period of time, then it would not be so bad, and park them on something would make it even easier. Of course one thing going for you with SCUTS is that everything is smaller so you can "manhandle" things easier to get the pins lines up. Another thing that might help is to make up a "marlinspike" out of oak or something to help in lining up holes. Basically a tapered punch. It might not be bad at all with that.

 

[Farmer495]

If you've got a level concrete surface, no big worries, takes time.

One loader we have is pin on, had the bucket off ONCE and it was a pain, but didn't do it on concrete. Loader itself is PIN ON not QA, and it's on and off several times a year (arms and bucket) Easy to do if you are set up, but still not something to do in a hurry.

 

[Xfaxman]

This pin on bucket is 42" wide. On a dolly on concrete it doesn't take long to swap. I hook the curl cylinders first and use them to rock the arm holes close enough to use a big tapered punch to line up the arm holes, for the pins to go in.

The 48" box blade is heaver, but also easy to pin on.

 

[Everhard]

I swap my bucket for a frame I made up to hang my forks from - back and forth. (Tractor is a Kioti Ck20) I've found it isn't too big a deal to deal with it on uneven ground.
What I do is pin on the arms of the loader first - do the side of what you're pinning on that's lower first. that way you can adjust the arms up to get the second arm pinned on. Normally I won't even get the pin all the way thru - that allows a bit extra movement to get the next one lined up.
Then once both arm's are pinned on the rest is easy - I lift the arms up and then move the bucket roll cylinders so that those pins are close to in the right area and rock the bucket by hand as needed - when it's in the air it's easy enough to move by hand.
I can pin my bucket back on in a matter of a few minutes. Ya not as fast as an ssqa. But I don't have to swap back and forth multiple times in a day and the advantage of both the weight savings and the better lift capacity - ssqa will move the bucket further away increasing the leverage which also decreases your lift capacity. So for me I don't think I'll go to an ssqa... Not that I haven't thought of it. Lol.
Sorry no videos.

E.

 

[zmansmac]

Newbury, I know what you mean about the issue of a SSQA on a small tractor. I have a B7500 and ran into your problem some time ago when I made a snow plow mount that attaches in place of my bucket. But a few years back I made my own simple quick attach as others have also. They are much lighter than a SSQA but the only downside is that any attachments other than the bucket you want to use will require the same channel type mount as your bucket. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about you can see mine here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/244457-did-i-go-overboard-quick.html?highlight=. You can find others if you search the Customization and Build it Yourself categories. I don't have a grapple, but I do have my bucket, a snow plow, forks and a 3 point quick hitch that I can quickly put on my loader arms regardless if its on a level surface or not.

 

[joefromga]

Get a shop to fab you one out of aluminium. Probably would only weigh 20lbs.

 

[BAP]

Check out this pin type quick coupler. I have a similar one made by Kubota on my B2920. Works great and easy to change attachments. All you do is leave the top pins in your attachment, then remove the bottom pins to take the attachment off and put back in to hook it on.
QA System - Fits LA304 & LA364 Loaders | Earth & Turf Attachments

 

[msb1766]

I bought a quick attach for my tractor from here:TACH-N-GO QUICK ATTACH
I have a Cub Cadet/Yanmar Sc2450 subcompact tractor. The quick attach weights less than 50 lbs, works great I have the forks from them also.
Their forks will also work on the 3 point hitch.
I wmailed them the other day about there grapples will post any info that I get from them.

 

[oldballs]

I had a B2660 with a pin-on pallet fork attachment. It took some time to switch from bucket to forks, but was worth the effort for certain jobs. The real disappointment is that I sold the 2660 and bought a B2620, and now the pin-on pallet forks won't fit the FEL design. That's a $740 mistake that's setting around in the way now. If'n I was a welder/mechanic, I could possibly redesign the fork articulations, but that ain't the case. It helped to make some wooden dowels to fit and line up the holes.