baanista
New member
I have been meaning to ask about something Terry told me when I was in Tazewell back in September. He said that the secret to going up hills was using a light touch on the treadle. The hydraulic wheel motors have their maximum torque at the slowest speed, so the slower you go, the steeper the hill you can go up.
According to Terry, you need to think of the treadle as a speed control rather than a power control. Power is set by the engine throttle on the dash while the treadle controls how fast you go forward or backward.
The problem is that we are all conditioned to equate mashing the pedal with getting more power. But on the PowerTrac, mashing the pedal means give me speed and screw the torque! Thereby leaving PT operators at the bottom of a hill they could have otherwise climbed.
I don't pretend to understand the hydraulics of why it works this way. Since I didn't learn this until after I had demoed the 425, I didn't get a chance to test it out. I hadn't seen this mentioned on the board while I have been following it. Is the secret to getting your PT up a hill or to move a heavy load a light toe on the treadle? Any feedback from the field on this?
Thanks,
David
According to Terry, you need to think of the treadle as a speed control rather than a power control. Power is set by the engine throttle on the dash while the treadle controls how fast you go forward or backward.
The problem is that we are all conditioned to equate mashing the pedal with getting more power. But on the PowerTrac, mashing the pedal means give me speed and screw the torque! Thereby leaving PT operators at the bottom of a hill they could have otherwise climbed.
I don't pretend to understand the hydraulics of why it works this way. Since I didn't learn this until after I had demoed the 425, I didn't get a chance to test it out. I hadn't seen this mentioned on the board while I have been following it. Is the secret to getting your PT up a hill or to move a heavy load a light toe on the treadle? Any feedback from the field on this?
Thanks,
David