tazewell visit & pt425

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello pt guys,

On my first post a few weeks ago I expressed concern about the light weight of the pt425 when used for digging to correct erosion problems. I was at the pt factory monday of this week and had a chance to try digging with the pt425. I was barely able to scratch the dirt in the test area with the small bucket (no teeth) before the turf tires began to spin. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed. Sean got a grapple bucket with teeth for me to try but it was no better.
I just figured that traction and weight go together. Then the other pt fellow, Terry, said it was a matter of technique. He got in the pt425 and had a hole a foot and half deep in no time at all. He said that at trade shows he "buries" the pt425 in about an hour ( i.e., the hole is so deep the pt425 is below ground level.) The digging demonstration convinced me that the pt425 can dig, if you know how. Now, I also have about 200 yards of gravel drive to maintain, so the next thing I tried was smoothing some of the "gravel" (golf ball size chunks of stone) in the test area. Again, I mostly got wheel spin instead of grading the gravel. So now I'm concerned that that 1300 lbs is too light to get traction on gravel to do grading. Here's the question: Have any of you used the 400 series for grading gravel drives? If so, what implement did you use? Blade, bucket, box blade, etc. Was traction a problem? Thanks in advance for any info you can give.- ken in ms

 

[MossRoad]

I've used it to spread crushed limestone. That is pretty loose material, not packed down at all. I used the large bucket to spread it, then angled the bucket up and used the rear of the bottom of the large bucket to smooth it out.

I also used the large bucket to spread about 90 tons of moon dust, which is granulated limestone( I just found out how much I moved tonight in a conversation with the ballpark manager ). I didn't have any problems. You might want to check into their box blade. I don't know if it has scarifier teeth, but that would help to loosen it, then re-distribute it.

You mentioned that the one you tested had turf tires. Most of the folks here have opted for the bar tread instead of turfs and seem quite happy with the results in the traction and lawn departments.

I have turfs and they do slip when digging, but I expected that. I tend to angle the bucket into the soil and work the joystick left and right as I step on the forward pedal. This makes the blade cut into soil. I then proceed to tip the bucket back so that the blade is more parrallel to the ground as I get under the first chunck of sod. Once this initial chunk is out, I have no problems scooping under the rest of the sod and it goes very fast.

 

[Carpenter]

Ken, Like Mossroad, I've used my 425 to grade unpacked gravel. I have the boxblade and it does have teeth that can be flipped down. I think it might be a little light for a really hard packed roadway. It seems to me that I remember someone posting that they had mounted a larger heavier boxscraper on their PT; you might search some of the back posts and see if you can find it.

 

[duane]

Ken,

Can you describe the technique used by Power Trac.

With regards to traction, the Power Trac is excellent. One of my pet peeves has always been traction on a garden and compact utility tractor. The engine always had plenty of horsepower, but you could not put it to the ground. I have the PT422 with bar tires, and I can put all of the engine power to the ground.

Duane

 

[Sedgewood]

<font color=red>It seems to me that I remember someone posting that they had mounted a larger heavier boxscraper on their PT; you might search some of the back posts and see if you can find it.</font color=red>

That would be me I guess. To quote my own post:

"I bought a Bush Hog SBX720 6 ft box blade and had the dealer weld a quick attach plate on. The plate is a nearly perfect fit inside the "A" of the 3ph frame making a simple weld up. I have a bigger PT1845 and it works great except that at about 600 lbs its a bit light for ripping in float - I'll probably add 2-300 lbs of ballast. I thought at first that it was going to be too big but its definitely not. It's very useful to have the blade a foot or so wider than the track of the tractor for grading edges while keeping the tractor on level ground. So in general bigger is better and definitely heavier is better (within of course the arms ability to pick it up)"

My PT1845 weighs about 3000 lbs and traction has not been a problem at all. More weight on the blade for ripping would help keep it from bouncing so much while ripping the hard stuff but so far I haven't added any - I just make multiple passes.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello again pt guys,

Thanks for the input on traction. I plan to get the bar tires, so hopefully, I will get the traction I need. It looks like it makes sense to get the box blade, although Terry at power-trac said the small bucket would do what I needed to do.

What has been your experiences on ordering individual items like a box blade? Does it make more sense to get everything you might need when the machine is shipped or to order implements as the need arises? Terry mentioned piggy backing on other people's shipments. Has anyone done that? Obviously, I want to minimize shipping costs on something like a box blade that costs only $400.

Duane, its kind of hard to describe what Terry did in digging a hole so quickly because it was a very fluid, coordinated motion where alot seemed to be happening at once. First of all, he had the front wheels in the air. The bucket seemed to make kind of a scooping motion as he drove forward. That is, the angle of attack went from vertical to horizontal as he went forward. Also he talked about using the foot pedals to wiggle the bucket left and right. I think he said (as Mossroad did) you could also wiggle the bucket with the joy stick. The bucket had no teeth, but Terry had no problem penetrating some pretty packed down dirt. I think if you are really interested, you should give Terry a call. I think he would be happy to give you all the details of his digging technique. I am going to do that myself when I get my machine.

Thanks again pt guys. It is neat to have so much info available so quickly. It really relieves alot of my anxiety about putting out some big bucks (for me!) on my first tractor purchase. ken in ms

 

[MossRoad]

I opted to purchase as many attachments as possible at the time I purchased the tractor. Shipping to South Bend, Indiana was only about $500.00, and that was about what I saved in sales tax, so it was like getting free shipping /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Duane,

I just realized that I said Terry at power trac used the foot pedals to wiggle the bucket. You guys must think that I am nuts or something. I meant to say he used the steering wheel to wiggle the bucket as he drove forward. Sorry for the goof. I suppose you either realized what I meant or thought I was crazy. ken in ms

 

[duane]

Ken,

I understood what you meant. I took my PT422 outside to dig some new flower beds for my wife. I started with the small bucket angled down with the front tires off of the ground and used the steering wheel to wiggle the bucket back and forth. At the same time, I drove forward and curled the bucket up. Dug like a champ. Thanks for the technique hints.

Duane

 

[pajoube]

Ken or other PT owners - I have a hill that I want to cut walking paths on. As the PT would be on an angle, would you be placing heavy demand on the quick attach plate while cutting along the hill?
I hope I am saying this correctly. You would have the inside edge of the bucket doing the cutting, would this be hard on the plate? The normal FEL has arms on each side to take the pressure but the PT has only the center plate.
PJ