Mounted snowblower

Removed the front loader from my tractor today and mounted the snowblower instead.

Removing the loader wasn’t too hard:

1. I positioned the backhoe dolly such that the wide end lay under the loader stand when it is in the support position
2. Lowered the bucket until the stand was touching the crossbar of the dolly
3. Tilted the bucket down (move lever left) to raise the front wheels slightly off the ground, which removes the pressure from the pins
4. Pulled the pins and stored them in their holders
5. Tilted the bucket back (move lever right) which lifts the boom anchors out of their sockets
6. Turned the engine off, wobble the level to dispel the hydraulic pressure, disconnect the hoses, rollled the loader away.

   

To mount the snowblower,

1. I mounted the quick hitch onto the front of the tractor and connected the hoses¹⁾Hose #1 goes towards the cab, #4 at the opposite end.
2. Wheeled the snowblower on its dolly into place
3. Raised the hitch so as to line it up with the socket of the snowblower on the dolly, and connected the two,²⁾This involves a bit of fidgeting as the clearance is not great and the dolly angle causes a bit of pressure. then connected the hydraulics³⁾Hose #2 goes next to hose #1 and hose #3 goes into the remaining position.

   

4. Connected the drive shaft from the snowblower to the hitch⁴⁾This is a real nuisance; there’s very little clearance to get hands in there, and getting the collet to snap once the shaft has been pushed in is a pain. I wasn’t able to do it with my rubberized gloves on.

   

   

5. Connected the drive shaft from the hitch to the mid-PTO.⁵⁾Another nuisance; again, snapping the collet into a lock is hard even though there is some room to manoeuvre and everything is well-greased.

   

I’m getting better at it, but the whole business still takes longer than it should.