Good JD - to - skid steer adapter?

[Xfaxman]

I prefer the JD bucket/forks hookup design. Easy to pick up either from the tractor seat, then just slip the hitch pins to secure on each side.

I turned down the skidsteer hitch attachment when the dealer offered because it weighed more and I still would have to get off to latch it.
Besides that, there are not any attachments from a skidsteer lineup that I'd want or need on my FEL.. can't think of a single one..

I'll keep the Deere proprietary FEL design.. I like it.

What JD attachments do you have?

 

[Musdalen]

What SS attachments do you have? If like me, you have none, then ....

 

[Xfaxman]

What SS attachments do you have?

Bobcat shows 109 different attachments for skid steers.

So you can get one to do just about anything you need to do.

 

[Musdalen]

Bobcat shows 109 different attachments for skid steers.

So you can get one to do just about anything you need to do.

People try to sell that line a lot. But in the end, it's not what's available that matters to 99.9% of the tractor buyers. It's what they need/want to do? Most of us are happy as clams with just the stuff that Frontier makes to fit JD, never mind all the other implement companies. So, we can generally get one for just about anything we want to do. And without some of the complications of SSQA (loss of effective lift capacity, for instance).

 

[kennyd]

Bobcat shows 109 different attachments for skid steers.

With all due respect, that means nothing to this discussion.
Compact tractors can't run or use 98% or more of that 109 number. Whether it's because they are to heavy or lack the minimum required hydraulic flow, if you can't effectively use it then it doesn't matter if it's available or not.

 

[beenthere]

kennyd
:thumbsup:

 

[Wagtail]

With all due respect, that means nothing to this discussion.
Compact tractors can't run or use 98% or more of that 109 number. Whether it's because they are to heavy or lack the minimum required hydraulic flow, if you can't effectively use it then it doesn't matter if it's available or not.

Yep. On top of that, a FEL is a tractor attachment itself, which is designed to lift and carry. (The fact that "we" tend to abuse the heck out of them is beside the point) Scooping dirt or grappling wood is still 'lift and carry'. Digging isn't its purpose.

A Skid Steer is purposefully and specifically designed for what it does with its front end, hence the multitude of attachments.

[Note: I'm not writing this to tell you "how to suck eggs", but for those 'new to tractors' members.]

 

[whis]

they will never change their's

 

[Colgate2004]

Hi all,

Many good pieces of advice and feedback here. Many thanks for that.
I was just at my dealer again today (and finally officially put the deposit down on my 3025E!!... turns out he's selling so many of them there are three people waiting for them in front of me in line; I should have my machine in 3-5 weeks though, so yay!) and I brought up the SSQA. He said some of the same things many of the folks here have:
- it weighs more, so that limits the usable capacity of the loader;
- is pushes the attachments further out on the arms, further limiting usable loader capacity;
- it is a PITA to change out for the stock JD attachment mechanism, so essentially you're throwing away the bucket that comes with the tractor;
- there are fairly cheap weld-on plates you can buy for whatever SSQA implements you want to convert them to JDQA, so if you're only doing a couple SSQA implements, it's easy to just adapt them to the JDQA.

I have my eye on two skidsteer attachments specifically: one of the Tomahawk stump buckets and a grapple. So if it's just those two, it seems like it would be easier, cheaper, and all-around better to just weld on the adapter plate to convert those two to JDQA.

Always curious to hear what folks more experienced than me (which is just about everybody :thumbsup have to say, so if there's any more feedback, I'm all ears!

 

[Musdalen]

You do know that you can get a JDQA grapple from several manufacturers?

I'm no all that experienced, but I wouldn't want to sacrifice any weight capacity with my grapple.