Convert your pin attach to universal mount (SSQA).

[Jaygyver]

Wait until you find out about forks that adjust hydraulically. But a SSQA front end loader is basically a necessity.

Yup, when I was going to recycle my old forklift I was going to keep the fork shift pad (both left or right only on mine) but it probably weighed #200+ lbs (3/4" steel plates) and I would have had to do a LOT of grinding and welding to get it to work. I did keep the forks and just bought the ssqa forklift plate for the tractor and they fit great.

To each their own. Having tried both, I will never own a tractor without a SSQA.

I cheaped out and bought my tractor with a pin mount bucket figuring I wouldn;t have occasion to switch much. After grumbling about it for years, I finally decided to switch. My wife gave me the tractor side of the SSQA attachment for Christmas. I debated having the "ears" cut off my bucket and a SSQA plate welded on. Ended up just buying a new SSQA bucket and selling the old one.

If I'm not messing with hydraulic connections, I can easily make a swap in under a minute. Hooking up the hydraulics when swapping in my grapple doesn't add much time.

I do a lot of swapping in the winter, switching between my forestry grapple (getting logging done when the ground is frozen) and the bucket (for scraping ice off the driveway and other general purpose work). Messing with a pin-on swap in the really cold weather was a pain in the butt. Even in the summer, the convenience of the quick swap makes it so much easier to get jobs done efficiently.

I'm in the same boat as far as the old JD having pins still. I never thought about just getting a ssqa bucket for it. I might do that then later on cut the pin brackets off the old one then retro the ssqa plate. I do like the OEM JD bucket tho as it has like a 1/2 inch rounded steel bar under the bottom edge which has saved me over the years scraping our shared road of leaves and needles. Just in the 4 years or so of having the LS and Land Pride hyd 4-1 OEM buckets the edges have gotten sharp enough to probably cut my steaks with. Probably have to get a couple of cutting edges for them just for that reason.

The wife likes the hydro LS but the smaller JD wins out most of the time so it would be great to be able to use the forks on the JD when she needs to move stuff.

 

[4Liberty]

Yup, when I was going to recycle my old forklift I was going to keep the fork shift pad (both left or right only on mine) but it probably weighed #200+ lbs (3/4" steel plates) and I would have had to do a LOT of grinding and welding to get it to work. I did keep the forks and just bought the ssqa forklift plate for the tractor and they fit great.


I'm in the same boat as far as the old JD having pins still. I never thought about just getting a ssqa bucket for it. I might do that then later on cut the pin brackets off the old one then retro the ssqa plate. I do like the OEM JD bucket tho as it has like a 1/2 inch rounded steel bar under the bottom edge which has saved me over the years scraping our shared road of leaves and needles. Just in the 4 years or so of having the LS and Land Pride hyd 4-1 OEM buckets the edges have gotten sharp enough to probably cut my steaks with. Probably have to get a couple of cutting edges for them just for that reason.

The wife likes the hydro LS but the smaller JD wins out most of the time so it would be great to be able to use the forks on the JD when she needs to move stuff.

I thought fitting and welding the plate on the bucket was much easier than fabricating the lever brackets. Be even easier if the bucket is flat where the plate has to go.