My quick hitch journey, start to finish.

[B737]

Strap in, this isn't going to be short.

Last august I was completing a simple project where I needed box blade, landscape rake, and tiller. All inside of about 3 hours of eachother. It was 97° that day, and instead of enjoying the project, my brain was thinking about the slog of switching attachments. A buzz kill.

I reached out to a friend of mine and asked him if he had a QH and if it was worth it? He responded by asking me if I was dropped on my head as a child.

The next day I set out to my local dealer and picked up a QH10 (fixed top hook). I asked my buddy… Have you ever adjusted the top hook? His response: "moved it once". I threw the QH in the truck and headed home.

I got home eager to see what all the fuss was about. I hoped on the machine and proceeded to; hook up & drop the box blade. Hook up & drop, the landscape rake. Hook up & drop the brush hog. All inside 5 minutes, and without leaving my seat! I knew this was worth spending time with.

Compatibility with attachments and shafts:
LP Box Blade:
LP Landscape Rake:
Turf Time Turf Compaction Roller:
LP Tiller RTA1258 : PTO shaft
LP Brush Hog RCF2060: PTO shaft
Woodland Mills Stump Grinder WG24: PTO shaft

Chinesium Betstco Flail Mower: PTO shaft
Canadian Agrimetal BW1600 leaf blower: PTO shaft (marginal)
Canadian Lynx / Pronovost snow blower: PTO shaft

So I had some work to do…

PTO shafts:
I removed all the shields and remeasured every shaft. Some of them had as little as 2” of overlap now. I searched for a local driveshaft shop. I dropped off 4 shafts to the shop. They removed the shaft stock from couplings and slip clutches to replace with new stock cut to the correct length. I had the shafts back in about a week for about $25 each. Now 3 PTO shields were too short. I went on amazon and purchased “universal PTO shield”, these worked like a charm. Note: the PTO shafts couldn’t be lengthened until each hitch was sorted out.

Hitches:
Leaf blower BW-1600:
pretty straight forward. I installed longer 6.25” lower pins and welded in a 1” steel bar stock into the existing frame

Flail Mower FH-EFGC125:
Top link needed a ‘quick hitch adapter’.
For the lower links, I moved the pins up higher on its frame, and leaned its frame back slightly. Drilled new holes and relocated another bolt the frame needed. Raising the pins allowed the hitch to ride higher giving the PTO shaft more room between it and the horizontal part of the QH frame.

Lynx 52 Snowblower:
Lower pins: Installed 7/8” DOM tubing that were the right length to grab the hitch. I drilled them for a lynch pin and a hitch pin clip for retention.
The top link, I welded two 1/4” thick steel end plates to the frame and drilled them to accept toplink pin and 1” bushing.

And that's it. Yes it was some work and fiddling around, but it really wasn’t that bad. It has completely changed my approach to doing projects and using the machine. Not getting off the machine to drop off and hook anything up is a game changer. I don't give attachment changes a second thought. If it has a PTO shaft, I hop off and connect it, takes a minute. My only regret was not buying the QH10 as my very first accessory.

 

[dirtydeed]

Awesome write up Kevin. I just placed my order for the Speeco E Hitch last week. Hope it works out ok. I believe that the only issue I'll have is with the same chinesium flail mower. I even think my old "8-N" rear blade will fit (based on some crude measurements).

I was planning on just finding the right PTO extender to be used with flail and stump grinder. I figured I'd just need one about 4" in length to make up the increased distance of the quick hitch?

I'm not sure how much time it will really save since I keep all my stuff on roller dollies in the garage...but maybe in the field it will help. We'll see.

 

[B737]

You are going to love it. Maybe you won't love the process of dialing everything in, but it's a one time investment of a little of your time, then live happily ever after.

The short PTO shafts are the ones I had the most trouble with. Removing 4" from an already short shaft made them way too short. Esp on a high load item like a tiller & stump grinder. But it's real easy to fix that side of the problem locally without needing an extender or new complete shaft assembly w couplings. I was happy when the driveshaft shop told me "they do it all the time" and even had the shaft stock on their shelves already. The leaf blower and snowblower I still had at least 1/3rd overlap of the total span and those are low enough load I felt they would be fine.

I will admit the flail was a PITA. On the lower link, the top hole where I moved the pin there is already a bolt in it. That is the hole I widened to accept the 7/8" pin. Then relocated that bolt. When you tackle it, I will send you some close up pictures. Im sure there is a more creative way to go about adapting the Betstco but that's the best I could come up with.

do you have a driveshaft shop nearby?

this was the top link adapter I used for the flail

 

[S-G-R]

Great writeup. I had a QH before I got rear implements I haven't had the good fortune of finding anything used so everything I have so far has come from the Kubota dealer and the only thing not QH compatible is my broadcast spreader but I only use it a couple times a year

 

[mcmxi]

@B737, I'd also like to say well done on all of the modifications/upgrades and also on the excellent write up. I had a QH05 on my BX25D for the five years I owned it and knew that I'd buy a QH10 when I bought the MX back in February. Add top-n-tilt to the QH and you'll never go back.

I have yet to find a single implement that won't hook up to the QH10 and that includes an EA box blade and land leveler, a Land Pride rotary cutter (RCR1884), Land Pride rear blade (RB3796), Land Pride snow blower (SB1574), Herd 750 seeder, a 50 gallon sprayer, and even a King Kutter receiver.

A friend bought an Erskine rear pull snow blower from a seller on Craigslist a few weeks after I bought my snow blower and unfortunately it won't mate up to his QH10 on the back of his L4060. I suggested that he run it without the QH10 this winter and that I can modify the Erskine with new steel and holes once spring rolls around.

 

[mdhughes]

Awesome write up Kevin. I just placed my order for the Speeco E Hitch last week. Hope it works out ok. I believe that the only issue I'll have is with the same chinesium flail mower. I even think my old "8-N" rear blade will fit (based on some crude measurements).

I was planning on just finding the right PTO extender to be used with flail and stump grinder. I figured I'd just need one about 4" in length to make up the increased distance of the quick hitch?

I'm not sure how much time it will really save since I keep all my stuff on roller dollies in the garage...but maybe in the field it will help. We'll see.

I have a SpeeCo E Hitch, I really like the fact that you don't have to use bushings on the lower pins.

I use a PTO extender with my tiller and chipper. I paid $39 for it off eBay. Extends the PTO 4 1/2" and is rated for tractors up to 75 HP.

 

[NHSleddog]

Fantastic write up.

One tip for some of you needing to "extend" your PTO shafts. On two of mine that were shear pin, I bought a PTO slip clutch and added that instead. It adds about 6" in length and it adds a clutch which is much better than the shear pin. You should have plenty to trim to perfection.

All I can say to you guys that are not sure about the QH. It isn't magic to start, some stuff (even stated QH compatible) just needs to be modified. NEVER adjust the QH, adapt the attachment ONE TIME and then never again.

 

[RalphVa]

Wow! Quite a few implements and changes. Just hooked up the Woods box blade yesterday to the new B2601 using the HF QH. Left the U adaptor on needed for the back blade but will have to mount the top hook back to more fully use the box blade.

Connected bottom lift arms (on QH) to Woods was no problem at all. Turned out the top link fully retracted with U adaptor on it was just right to put the top pin through the holes.