</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Nice lookin job, but I can not beleive that you did all that to save a few bucks. Now when you want to use the FEL look what you got to change and unbolt. You could have had a better set up if you would have put a QA on the FEL, bucket and plow. It would then require only to throw 2 levers and uncouple 2 hoses. I had the same set up that you have but had a blower and a plow. It was about 2hrs min. just to change over to the FEL. But as long as you are happen with it and don't need the Fel in the winter you are all set. )</font>
I'm not sure why you would say that, but I can hook/unhook my loader in less than 1 min so no big deal there. Pulling the (2) main quick pins (which I likely will replace with a single long quick pin) and the lift cylinder pin for the plow is even faster. Admittedly, it takes a bit of jiggling to get the main pins on the plow frame installed, but not a lot of time. When it's on the dolly, I can drive right into it and small adjustments are pretty simple.
And 2hrs?! Gad, that must be due to the blower because last night I unhhooked the plow and it's hoses, moved the tractor and detached the FEL and hoses, then reattached plow and it's plumbing... all in a tic longer than 4 mins. I timed it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Actually, I did think about Q/A for my loader arms and passed to go the route of the subframe. Why?
- I wanted the plow back closer to the tractor to help prevent side slip with the plow angled into heavy snow, and
- there is a possibility this plow may be a stop gap measure on the way to a front mount blower (which is not in the checkbook right now). One look at the burning bushes that line both sides of our 600'+ driveway makes plowing a PITA --see pic-- so I may need the subframe anyways, and
- my out of pocket on the project is less than $900. IMHO, I got a heck of a lot better plow than the oem setup for much, much le$$. How much would the Q/A hardware cost for everything?
- figured if I decide to let someone else do the plowing or even throw a plow on my P/U some day, I could sell the subframe with male quick hitch and the plow for at least what I have in it, and
- I needed a decent project bigger than an ashtray for my very first welding-related project!
So, with that in mind, this setup is simple, quick and easy enough for me. I can live with it! And, when I get it sandblasted and painted up purty, you will be really jealous! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif