Trust me that my DK-40 is no garage queen. I use it to the max in most everything I do. I found out very early with my first Dk-35 the problems roots can cause. I had been digging perk test holes and was coming out of the area when one of my QDs located under the right side floorboard was knocked apart by a root that caught the female coupling and rendered the hyd line useless. I went to slow down and found that the tractor was not following my 'instructions'and I had to slam on the brake pedal to keep from running over the site tech who was stupidly walking right in front of the tractor- oblivious to his near fate. It was not a fun experience and that's not the only time that QD has been knocked apart enough to render tractor operational control mostly non-existent.
From reading all the posts here it seems the UHMW 'puck' board, possibly combined with some strategically specked expanded metal could render a lightweight and strong undercarriage protection shield for all our tractors, especially in crucial damage points like HST filter area and QDs locations to name a few. If someone with the 'mapping' skills necessary to draw up a template for a particular layout were to manage to crank one out it could be reproduced in quantity and made worthwhile to manufacture and sell for enough $ to cover costs to get out to TBN members and others over time as word spread here. JMHO.
