Why SSQA?

AKfish · Feb 13, 2017

Wagtail said:
Yet I have had no problem finding attachments to fit my JDQA and the price is the same. Neither have my friends with CASE tractors found it difficult to purchase/acquire Euro Global QA attachments for his. And the CASE tractors are daily working tractors, not a small-property 'once a week' rig like mine. When I do work my tractor (especially during haying season = 8+hours for a week or more) the JDQA attached bale spears have never given me a problem, come loose or broken a pin. Solid attachment in my experience.

If the OP wants, he can get an SSQA adaptor to fit his JDQA for the odd speciality attachment he may want to rent (in his area).

Honestly though, just how many attachments does a person need for their FEL? A bucket (regular or 4in1), pallet forks or bale spikes (mine is a combination... swap the spikes for the forks) and perhaps a grapple.

Everything depends... On your particular situation. (Please read the enclosed instructions, carefully. Your results may vary....)

I have 3 JD tractors and have converted all of them to SSQA. So, at any time; with any of the tractors I can use the root grapple, the round bale spears, the pallet forks, the snow bucket (1 yd), HD bucket with cutting edge or the DIY loader mount trailer hitch.

So, my 5000 series tractor is able to share attachments and vice versa with the construction 110TLB tractor and the 4720.

IMO - the SSQA has saved me money (and shed space) by reducing the total number of loader attachments to handle the different chores around my farm.

That said, I can certainly appreciate someone with only 1 tractor or limited work requirements switching over to SSQA would be an unnecessary expense and maybe just complicating a simple equation.

astrohip · Feb 14, 2017

Musdalen said:
The grapple - that is one sexy, attractive, t-rex of toy. I can see why folks might want one. Maybe even me. I wonder if JD even makes one. I suspect I'd have to add a couple more hydraulic lines up front to run it.

I'm late to this thread, and you already answered yourself. But to confirm, I have a JD4105, and I bought a JD grapple when I bought the tractor. I can switch between bucket & grapple in about 5 minutes. I did have them add an extra set of hydraulics up front, so I can do the true three-way of a grapple.

It sounds like our uses are similar, and I am more than happy with the JDQA system.

BTW, I could use a set of forks on rare occasion. Do y'all find it easier to use a true FEL fork attachment, or just bucket clamp-on forks? My loads are 300-500 pounds max, just moving stuff on & off my pallet racks.

k0ua · Feb 14, 2017

BTW, I could use a set of forks on rare occasion. Do y'all find it easier to use a true FEL fork attachment, or just bucket clamp-on forks? My loads are 300-500 pounds max, just moving stuff on & off my pallet racks.

I have had both, and can tell you the dedicated forks are better for a couple of reasons, one you can see better without a bucket in the way, and you can lift more without a bucket on and with the forks stuck way out there in front of the bucket.. BUT, not to say that bucket forks can't be useful. But if you have much "forking" to do, and can justify them for how ever much use you can put them to, then the dedicated forks are better.

Wagtail · Feb 14, 2017

astrohip said:
BTW, I could use a set of forks on rare occasion. Do y'all find it easier to use a true FEL fork attachment, or just bucket clamp-on forks? My loads are 300-500 pounds max, just moving stuff on & off my pallet racks.

Dedicated forks are better, both because as K0ua stated and balance/lifting-capacity.

I've said that I have a combination pallet-fork/bale-spike attachment. Personally, the spikes are what I use the most and they rarely come off but all I have to do is un-pin and slide the steel bars back, lift off the spike assembly, and then slide the forks (individually) onto the steel bars. Then slide the bars into the holes and pin.