aighead
Senior Member
Good info, thanks Dave!
Nice to hear from someone who has experience with them. I hope they make it easier for aighead to hook implements up. Look forward to hearing how he likes them. I was thinking they are too expensive because I've seen quick hitches under $200 in Canada and figured the Pats couplers would be about $400 in Canada. What I need is a robot to hook and unhook implements. Some 3 pt. arms telescope in and out 2 or 3 inches which would make hooking up easier.I've used quick hitches for years and love them. Well worth the investment. The downside, is you have to make all your implements fit the quick hitch you have, or else it doesn't work.
As for the PATS system, it works too. My father in law put them on his 30hp sub compact and is happy he did. He grew up farming so changing implements wasn't new to him, he was just looking for a quicker way to get more done in a day. He works a ton during the week and has limited time on weekends to cram as much in as possible. I'm pretty sure he had to tweak his 3 pt arms with a grinder to make his fit as well. Afterwards, he's been pretty happy with them. Makes it easy to drop his 3pt counterweight, grab the bush hog, then later, drop the bush hog for the grader blade, then put that away and grab his counter weight again. No muss, no fuss.
Looking at your pic. of the mower and some online, I'd guess the rotating lower attachment points are to let the mower follow undulating ground but the left and right should rotate the same. I'd also guess the leveling crank on the right (passenger side) may be turned down and that's why it goes lower. With a mower you normally want them level from side to side. Online it looks like there is a pin behind the rotating attachment point that that prevents it from dropping too far. If the lifting arms are level when lowered but only the left side rotates or rotates lower than the right side drill a hole in the frame to put a bolt to stop it from rotating down so far. You could put a little spacer on the bolt or a couple thick washers. Another option would be to weld a little piece of round bar on the frame to do the same thing. If I'm mistaken can you post pics. of the left and right attachment points on the mower?I got them hooked up yesterday and they seem to work well! My issue currently is that the lynch pin on the mower deck rotates up and down on a pivot and the down angle is lower than the arm on the driver's side goes. I'll either have to figure out how to raise it while backing up or deal with it. It was still much, much easier to get off the tractor and lift the pin into the adapter thing. I haven't tried hooking up the blade yet but that should work well, I think. All in all I think I'll be pretty happy with the set up.