Snowblower hoses attach to tractor from back to front as follows:
- White
- Blue
- Red
- Yellow
Category: Tractor
Tilling
It was a nice day today (18C), so I removed the snowblower from the tractor, mounted the front loader, removed the backhoe, mounted the tiller, and then tilled the part of the triangular plot south of our driveway to the extent it didn’t have parsnips and garlic growing.
I didn’t experience too much difficulty with the implements this time, and I remembered to remove the drive shaft, too!
Transplanting volunteer garlic
There were 53 volunteer garlic plants, so I dug them up and moved them to the area between the parsnips and the garlic (see the featured image); I planted 15 of the bigger bulbs singly, and the rest in clumps.
First potato planting
In the evening, I remembered that I had wanted to plant some Golden Gems (mini Yukon Gold potatoes) as we’d had some which had sprouted. As it was getting late, I only planted 6 in a N/S row between the driveway and the beginning of the two columns of garlic seen in the photo above.
When we have another nice day, I’ll plant more 🙂
Removed the front loader from my tractor today and mounted the snowblower instead.
Removing the loader wasn’t too hard:
- I positioned the backhoe dolly such that the wide end lay under the loader stand when it is in the support position
- Lowered the bucket until the stand was touching the crossbar of the dolly
- Tilted the bucket down (move lever left) to raise the front wheels slightly off the ground, which removes the pressure from the pins
- Pulled the pins and stored them in their holders
- Tilted the bucket back (move lever right) which lifts the boom anchors out of their sockets
- Turned the engine off, wobble the level to dispel the hydraulic pressure, disconnect the hoses, rollled the loader away.
The loader sitting on its dolly and the snowblower dolly
To mount the snowblower,
- 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.
- Wheeled the snowblower on its dolly into place
- 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.
The snowblower quick hitch - 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.
Close-up of the drive shaft connection between quick hitch and snowblower 
Close-up of the tiny awkward space for the hands to connect the shafts - 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.
Drive shaft to mid-PTO connection
I’m getting better at it, but the whole business still takes longer than it should.
Notes
| ↑1 | Hose #1 goes towards the cab, #4 at the opposite end. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | This involves a bit of fidgeting as the clearance is not great and the dolly angle causes a bit of pressure. |
| ↑3 | Hose #2 goes next to hose #1 and hose #3 goes into the remaining position. |
| ↑4 | 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 | Another nuisance; again, snapping the collet into a lock is hard even though there is some room to manoeuvre and everything is well-greased. |