Thanks! I crawled around under it yesterday and at least figured out how it attaches. It does have a subframe that looks to have two large pins welded between the subframe. One hooks into a u shaped receiver bracket in the rear and the front one swings up into another double u shaped receiver about mid way under the tractor. The front is held in place with two pins. My guess is you extend out the boom,pull the pins, lower the stabilizers push down a bit with the bucket to tilt the front of the frame out of the bracket, pull forward until the rear pin is clear,lift the bucket and boom, rest the bucket on the ground, shut off the tractor, let the pressure off the cylinders, detach the power beyond,re-hook the three point power by switching the hydraulic couplings, make sure all is clear, then drive away?
Pretty close.
Pulling the two pins in front is the hard part. I lower the stabilizers and the bucket to take the weight off the pins, then pull them. It can be a bit of back and forth, leveling, etc. until you get the weight and pressure on those pins balanced to the point you can pull them out. Sometimes I use a persuader.
Once the front pins are out, I use the dipper arm and bucket cylinders to get the subframe tilted down in front a bit, not a lot. Too much will put a bind on the U-shaped rear carrier. Then I drive forward about 10 inches to disengage the backhoe from that rear carrier below the drawbar. Set the parking brake to avoid tearing your hydraulic lines.
Once clear of that, I raise the stabilizers and bucket to allow the subframe to rest flat on the floor. You could put blocking under if you want like a 4x4. You should be able to completely raise and lock the stabilizers, but not the dipper arm. I like to put a scrap of plywood or osb under the bucket because there will be some scraping of the floor when you remount the backhoe.
When the backhoe is down the way you like it, turn off the engine and disconnect the two hydraulic lines, one at the rear of the tractor, the other is below the FEL joystick area. The front hose, after disconnecting it from the backhoe, must be connected to a hose that is hanging free from the FEL joystick valve assembly. Until you do this, the 3pt lift arms will not have hydraulic supply.
Remounting is the reverse pretty much. Get close enough to the backhoe to reconnect the hydraulics, I raise my 3pt lift arms all the way before disconnecting the hydraulic lines. Use the bucket and stabilizers to get the subframe high enough to back into the rear carrier with the front of the subframe tilted down a bit to make sure you have clearance under the tractor and don't break something.
Once you are in the rear carrier, use the backhoe bucket, stabilizers and swing arms to level and line up the subframe with the front pin holes. Insert the pins, use the persuader as needed but don't get carried away. Sometimes it goes easy and sometimes you have to mess with the alignment by twitching the backhoe controls. The front of the subframe pivots in the opposite direction of the swing arm movement.
