Carter EZ hitch on the Legacy

I've agonized over this inexpensive add-on for several years now. I liked the Pats easy-change but was very concerned over adding 3-4" to the hitch as far as capacity is concerned. I recently got the Carter after wrestling with the 3-pt logsplitter. Holy mackerel, that thing is heavy. Got the hooks and the spreader bar. The bar is a necessity as far as I am concerned for hooking up to some implements but it doesn't work with the weight box. I'll fix that soon enough. The sheer joy of backing up to the splitter and lifting it up leaves me speechless. It's that good. It also makes me want to punch the original inventor of the hitch balls in the balls. It should have been a hook from the start.

On a related note, if I were going to buy a new rig today, I would go with the new JD 1026 mainly because of the auto-connect. Drive up and over the mower deck, and it latched on - including the PTO! Check out the vids on their site That is just amazing! The Legacy loader is just as easy as the JD, but deck is quite difficult. Getting the front pins in, and also stretching to attach the PTO shaft is not easy even when it goes well. It works on the rear attachments too.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Legacy and it's done everything I need but wrestling the heavy attachments is only going to get harder for me as I get older.

Well, if the Legacy ever wears out, I'll be going green. Sadly (happily) that does not seem to be in the cards....