PineRidge,
Not taking anything away from your ingenuity, but the chute on my JD blower operates off of a hydraulically operated cylinder that actuates a cable by its action that is wrapped around the chute. It requires two couplers and since I use it on the front of my tractor, it uses the side-to-side detents on the loader joystick. If anyone is interested, I can post some pics. That said, this has got to be one of the handiest things to have while blowing snow. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif