scarg
Bronze Member
I've finally finished the project including using makeshift PVC gas tank i assembled in haste due to approaching storms earlier this year. It is secure and completely functional mounted to the back of the cage and holds 5+ gallons with clear sight tube for fuel level amount but not a permanent long term component in my view because it still looks like a sixth or seventh grade science project that was done without supervision. But it works.
The new Kawasaki engine runs awesome and starts easily even when at ~zero degrees F. The tiny atv/garden tractor battery i was using for fun finally gave out at ~zero degrees F in the wind for a few hours and i put in a $150 super no leak any position 3 year charge holding thing with about 900 ca or 720 cca or something like that. Anyway - it starts good now.
With agressive V-bar tire chains and extra weight from new engine and related components it will actually plow snow with the blade angled and will actually push snow without forcing the whole tractor sideways and has enough power to keep moving forward through snow i could not even begin to move before - with the 422 motor and same chains on it - it would simply want to stall. That was if i could get it started in the winter....
Now I can pick up wood in the 4in1 bucket without the engine wanting to stall even from a big pile I can penetrate through the wood pile lift up everything above it - not just rub up against it and whine like the 422 would do. I am extremely impressed with the increase in power especially low end torque and i don't think it has enough power to break itself (at least mechanically) it just now has enough power to do what i actually purchased it for. (well more on breaking itself in a completely different manner later).
Are you still with me???... bear with me as I take you on a wonderous journey of nearly 3.5 years to March 2004 (i think it was March) -
For the tractor and all implements in 2004 i spent to the penny $15,000 delivered to my door. I don't know how it worked out to that exact number to the penny but it did and i always thought that was a bit odd.
I have $1,900. invested in new Kawasaki FD791 liquid cooled digital fuel injected engine delivered to my door.
Designed and had parts manufactured and everything fits perfect - hundreds of hours through many nights till 8am etc.... - $$ Priceless $$ Let's forget about that whole project. I can not bear to think about it now without getting a bit weepy.
I "had" to purchase a new zero turn $3,000 mower because the 22hp PT did not have enough power to mow my lawn.
That's about $20,000 by my math minimum spent PT related.
Okay - now new modified and shiny with all sorts of sex appeal, torque and easy starting etc....I have reached the summit.......and then the Sherpa replied to him you are only halfway there big boss..........
So enticing was this marvelous new PT-429 that my wife wanted to try to plow with it about a week to ten days ago. (She has driven it a couple times moving firewood and horse stall cleaning since the kawasaki 29HP mod and she noticed a huge difference and she is by no means "into" engines - so that was good to hear from her it was a major major improvement). She is familiar with the tractor enough so i said ok for the plowing - please just stay on the level stuff, keep it angled like this with x amount of gap between the blade in float mode with the wheels on the snow and keep your seat belt on or you WILL DIE of internal bleeding WHEN you hit a buried rock or ice with the blade etc.....just the basics related to snow plowing as the only visible difference from the cockpit is that there is no longer a choke lever due to the fuel injected engine.
My wife happily plowed around the flat area between the house and the barn about 300-400 foot long stretch etc... for a hour or so.....then she puts throttle at idle (the engine idles real nice) and carefully dismounts so she can throw a few more pieces of red oak in the outdoor woodstove which heats (radiant) the floors of the dog boarding kennel. PTO switch was turned to the ON position by mistake during the dismount (I am guessing that this is when it occurred).
I assume the unit ran in this state with the PTO ON with NO PTO implement attached for a minute or so as the damage was being done before she noticed something was not sounding quite right with the machine - i was in the house at the time and (remember the machine is so quite now that) i could not hear it running. By all accounts there was no change in the engine rpm or tone when the inevitable occured.
My wife came to me in the house and said it is making a loud screeching noise.
I always told her when in doubt leave the machine where it is and come and get me even it you think it will destroy itself burn up etc.....Just get away from it and get me. If you can't get me call this person or this person etc... but do not attempt to fix or put yourself in danger.
She did the right thing becuase the noise was very loud and if i was her is would have run away also - no piece of equipment is worth asking someone to step outside their comfort zone and put themselves in danger.
Note to PT (it would be kinda neat if there was an interlock on the PTO pump that would sense the presence or lack of pressure prior unleashing the fury of 5w-30 motor oil through the 3/4" hoses) I know it would probable raise the cost of the unit and all......... I know not to do it and i am sure most people know not to do it and it probably even says is fire engine yellow not to do it right next to the switch. But I would expect that my wife was not the first or last person to do it.
Moving forward now---
I sprinted outside to my wonderous piece of machinery and immediately noticed that the pto switch was on - this was not good to see for me.
Bottom line - what broke?
1 - could be the high volume or low volume pump (assembled together see previous images from PT 429 posts) Easy to remove now that there is nothing in the way you can actually see all of it now and access it without breaking any of your hand or wrist bones.
2 - I called Terry and PT and he said new pump is over $2,000 ball park or they can rebuild it for much less or-
3 - Could be as simple as the key sheared on crank shaft / the spider coupling twisted / sheared off, key on shaft sheared, straight spline from PTO pump to pump side coupling half stripped out teeth etc....Note - when viewed from the front of the tractor looking backwards the whole pump appears to have been torqued a couple degrees CCW. Not alot but you can tell that it rotated the whole pump assembly in the same direction as the crankshaft spins however slightly. It is only (and rightly so) held in place by the spool piece between the pump flange and the engine flange.
4- Motor still runs as if nothing happened and it has about 7 hours on it now.
5 - 1 more hour to change the oil !!!
6 - I confirmed that-nothing hydraulic related works when the engine is running. No up/down quick connect does not work unit will not move and when moving levers there is no change in engine tone or rpm so whatever came apart came completely appart and now somewhere behind those 6 bolts that i will never remove something bad but not subtle has occured.
I don't know - I don't care - I want it out of my life - this happened more than a week ago and my decision to get it out of my life it is not a rash decision. I have reached the point where i simply cannot work on this piece of equipment anymore. My application for this piece of machinery is not commercial by any stretch of the imagination. It has failed me many many times and regardless of why this is the last time.
With this machine since 2004 the typical use has been to -
1. feed horses hay with it - using the forks
2. pick up wood and clean horse stalls and moved top soil and some snow pushing - with the 4 in 1 bucket
3. occasionally once or twice a year - bush hog one field maybe 6-8 acres or so. Remember i had to buy an actual lawn mower because PT 22hp could not do it even mow my lawn because the hyd oil would get hot and would loose power. Now the monster radiator fan does double duty and moves a much larger volume of air in an almost violent manner. There is no doubt that there is a fan underneath the top cage. You can feel the air being moved with your fingers from outside the cage and not just a little bit.
4. have used the - stump grinder to dig electical wire trenches twice
5. have used the - backhoe to bury 3 pets may they rest in piece
6. have used the - Box blade to finish grade / move top soil after the installation of inground pool and also to push some snow and once to repair dirt driveway to repectable state pothole fill and other small tasks.
7. have used the - snow plow a few times and only with success after the installation of agressive vee bar chains on all 4 tires and the 29hp liquid cooled digital fuel injected kawasaki FD791
8. have used - 48" wide spring rake horse manure backwards in horse pasture to pull back in corners and for food plot prep.
The unit is about 3 years old with approx 460 hours on the original equipment and 7 hours on new engine.
As is - Is anyone in the forum interested in continuing the saga of the PT- 429?
If nobody wants it I am not agaist lifting it up approximately 115.2" above the ground and carrying it deep into the woods with a new JD CT322 in about 6-8 weeks.
It's been a lot of fun but i have to move on now.
Love,
Steve
The new Kawasaki engine runs awesome and starts easily even when at ~zero degrees F. The tiny atv/garden tractor battery i was using for fun finally gave out at ~zero degrees F in the wind for a few hours and i put in a $150 super no leak any position 3 year charge holding thing with about 900 ca or 720 cca or something like that. Anyway - it starts good now.
With agressive V-bar tire chains and extra weight from new engine and related components it will actually plow snow with the blade angled and will actually push snow without forcing the whole tractor sideways and has enough power to keep moving forward through snow i could not even begin to move before - with the 422 motor and same chains on it - it would simply want to stall. That was if i could get it started in the winter....
Now I can pick up wood in the 4in1 bucket without the engine wanting to stall even from a big pile I can penetrate through the wood pile lift up everything above it - not just rub up against it and whine like the 422 would do. I am extremely impressed with the increase in power especially low end torque and i don't think it has enough power to break itself (at least mechanically) it just now has enough power to do what i actually purchased it for. (well more on breaking itself in a completely different manner later).
Are you still with me???... bear with me as I take you on a wonderous journey of nearly 3.5 years to March 2004 (i think it was March) -
For the tractor and all implements in 2004 i spent to the penny $15,000 delivered to my door. I don't know how it worked out to that exact number to the penny but it did and i always thought that was a bit odd.
I have $1,900. invested in new Kawasaki FD791 liquid cooled digital fuel injected engine delivered to my door.
Designed and had parts manufactured and everything fits perfect - hundreds of hours through many nights till 8am etc.... - $$ Priceless $$ Let's forget about that whole project. I can not bear to think about it now without getting a bit weepy.
I "had" to purchase a new zero turn $3,000 mower because the 22hp PT did not have enough power to mow my lawn.
That's about $20,000 by my math minimum spent PT related.
Okay - now new modified and shiny with all sorts of sex appeal, torque and easy starting etc....I have reached the summit.......and then the Sherpa replied to him you are only halfway there big boss..........
So enticing was this marvelous new PT-429 that my wife wanted to try to plow with it about a week to ten days ago. (She has driven it a couple times moving firewood and horse stall cleaning since the kawasaki 29HP mod and she noticed a huge difference and she is by no means "into" engines - so that was good to hear from her it was a major major improvement). She is familiar with the tractor enough so i said ok for the plowing - please just stay on the level stuff, keep it angled like this with x amount of gap between the blade in float mode with the wheels on the snow and keep your seat belt on or you WILL DIE of internal bleeding WHEN you hit a buried rock or ice with the blade etc.....just the basics related to snow plowing as the only visible difference from the cockpit is that there is no longer a choke lever due to the fuel injected engine.
My wife happily plowed around the flat area between the house and the barn about 300-400 foot long stretch etc... for a hour or so.....then she puts throttle at idle (the engine idles real nice) and carefully dismounts so she can throw a few more pieces of red oak in the outdoor woodstove which heats (radiant) the floors of the dog boarding kennel. PTO switch was turned to the ON position by mistake during the dismount (I am guessing that this is when it occurred).
I assume the unit ran in this state with the PTO ON with NO PTO implement attached for a minute or so as the damage was being done before she noticed something was not sounding quite right with the machine - i was in the house at the time and (remember the machine is so quite now that) i could not hear it running. By all accounts there was no change in the engine rpm or tone when the inevitable occured.
My wife came to me in the house and said it is making a loud screeching noise.
I always told her when in doubt leave the machine where it is and come and get me even it you think it will destroy itself burn up etc.....Just get away from it and get me. If you can't get me call this person or this person etc... but do not attempt to fix or put yourself in danger.
She did the right thing becuase the noise was very loud and if i was her is would have run away also - no piece of equipment is worth asking someone to step outside their comfort zone and put themselves in danger.
Note to PT (it would be kinda neat if there was an interlock on the PTO pump that would sense the presence or lack of pressure prior unleashing the fury of 5w-30 motor oil through the 3/4" hoses) I know it would probable raise the cost of the unit and all......... I know not to do it and i am sure most people know not to do it and it probably even says is fire engine yellow not to do it right next to the switch. But I would expect that my wife was not the first or last person to do it.
Moving forward now---
I sprinted outside to my wonderous piece of machinery and immediately noticed that the pto switch was on - this was not good to see for me.
Bottom line - what broke?
1 - could be the high volume or low volume pump (assembled together see previous images from PT 429 posts) Easy to remove now that there is nothing in the way you can actually see all of it now and access it without breaking any of your hand or wrist bones.
2 - I called Terry and PT and he said new pump is over $2,000 ball park or they can rebuild it for much less or-
3 - Could be as simple as the key sheared on crank shaft / the spider coupling twisted / sheared off, key on shaft sheared, straight spline from PTO pump to pump side coupling half stripped out teeth etc....Note - when viewed from the front of the tractor looking backwards the whole pump appears to have been torqued a couple degrees CCW. Not alot but you can tell that it rotated the whole pump assembly in the same direction as the crankshaft spins however slightly. It is only (and rightly so) held in place by the spool piece between the pump flange and the engine flange.
4- Motor still runs as if nothing happened and it has about 7 hours on it now.
5 - 1 more hour to change the oil !!!
6 - I confirmed that-nothing hydraulic related works when the engine is running. No up/down quick connect does not work unit will not move and when moving levers there is no change in engine tone or rpm so whatever came apart came completely appart and now somewhere behind those 6 bolts that i will never remove something bad but not subtle has occured.
I don't know - I don't care - I want it out of my life - this happened more than a week ago and my decision to get it out of my life it is not a rash decision. I have reached the point where i simply cannot work on this piece of equipment anymore. My application for this piece of machinery is not commercial by any stretch of the imagination. It has failed me many many times and regardless of why this is the last time.
With this machine since 2004 the typical use has been to -
1. feed horses hay with it - using the forks
2. pick up wood and clean horse stalls and moved top soil and some snow pushing - with the 4 in 1 bucket
3. occasionally once or twice a year - bush hog one field maybe 6-8 acres or so. Remember i had to buy an actual lawn mower because PT 22hp could not do it even mow my lawn because the hyd oil would get hot and would loose power. Now the monster radiator fan does double duty and moves a much larger volume of air in an almost violent manner. There is no doubt that there is a fan underneath the top cage. You can feel the air being moved with your fingers from outside the cage and not just a little bit.
4. have used the - stump grinder to dig electical wire trenches twice
5. have used the - backhoe to bury 3 pets may they rest in piece
6. have used the - Box blade to finish grade / move top soil after the installation of inground pool and also to push some snow and once to repair dirt driveway to repectable state pothole fill and other small tasks.
7. have used the - snow plow a few times and only with success after the installation of agressive vee bar chains on all 4 tires and the 29hp liquid cooled digital fuel injected kawasaki FD791
8. have used - 48" wide spring rake horse manure backwards in horse pasture to pull back in corners and for food plot prep.
The unit is about 3 years old with approx 460 hours on the original equipment and 7 hours on new engine.
As is - Is anyone in the forum interested in continuing the saga of the PT- 429?
If nobody wants it I am not agaist lifting it up approximately 115.2" above the ground and carrying it deep into the woods with a new JD CT322 in about 6-8 weeks.
It's been a lot of fun but i have to move on now.
Love,
Steve
