QA42 snow thrower doesn't want to stay attached to Cub 1450

[mjs2011]

I have a newly acquired Cub Cadet 1450 with a QA42 snow thrower attachment.

In the earlier stages of the winter after I first bought it, I discovered that the snowthrower wanted to disconnect from the tractor on the left hand side, which is the side without the lift rod. This happened mainly when I would back up with the snow thrower still on the ground. The reversing action had the tendency to pull the snow thrower away from the frame. So to remedy that, I used a ratchet strap to keep the left side of the snow thrower frame mount tight against the frame, and no longer back up with the thrower down on the ground; I make sure to lift the thrower up everytime I back up.

Now, with the ratchet strap on the left side, the right hand side (side with the lift arm) now seems to want to disconnect from the frame. This is especially prevalent when I am blowing snow that is deep and taking less than half of the snow thrower's width swath at a time. This side load on the front of the snow thrower seems to cause it to twist and pull the right hand side off the frame mount.

Now, looking at the frame attachement on the Tractor, I do have the spring loaded locking bar, and the bar does stay in position, but the bar itself seems to be spaced incorrectly from the pins on the snow thrower attachment. Its sort of hard to describe, so I've attached a few pictures. The last picture shows the gap between the pin on the snow thrower and the spring bar on the tractor frame. Basically, there is nothing keeping the snow thrower from sliding back off the front of the tractor but rearward force when driving the snowthrower forward. backing up or torquing the snow thrower side to side allows it to detach.

Does anyone else have issues with their snow thrower staying attached, and if so, how did you remedy it? I'm open to trying some things to keep the snow thrower on and prevent ruing belts.