I had land pride as well third party implements. Land pride was easy only because the Kubota dealer person was there to help me. He came down as a favour on a Saturday. And he did it easily only because he was stronger than I.

Re: landpride: The pin to get the shaft to the spline is done blind and with strength. The quick hitch makes it easier to align it while reversing. It’s smarter and still very impractical.

The spader was tricker. I had to remove the quick hitch and tried to keep guessing the right alignment by playing around with the turnbuckle. (Also made me realize what a great investment the quick hitch was..)

And finally after I got it done, I couldn’t get it running even though the PTO was rotating. And I couldn’t figure out how get to the spader gearbox. And I gave up at that point.

Good point wrt taking the weight off the shaft..a height adjustable weight bearing device would do the trick. So simple but it didn’t strike me! Thanks!