Wheel Trencher

[MossRoad]

I bent my PT425 forks severely several times prying on stuff that was burried in the ground. This is how I do it, in case anyone else wants to bend their's, too....

Find the burried object.
Point your forks straight down and push into the soil as close as you can to the burried object.
If the front of the PT comes off the ground, use the joystick to wiggle the dump/curl function side-to-side as fast as you can.
This creates a vibrating motion that will dig the forks straight into the ground fairly quickly.
As the forks bury themselves, keep applying downpressure, too.
Before you know it, the forks are completely burried up to the quick attach plate.
Now for the bending of the forks....
Apply curl motion to the forks until the rear of the PT425 comes off the ground.
You can tell when the rear is off the ground when you notice the back half of the machine is now next to your right or left shoulder.
Repeatedly dump and curl the forks while slamming the rear of the unit off and on the ground.
Eventually the forks will bend, but you won't get to see the fruits of your labor until you extract them from the ground.
Then you can be proud of your work. Take pictures and post them here for all to admire.
Regards,
MossRoad

 

[ScoopCzar]

I bent my PT425 forks severely several times prying on stuff that was burried in the ground. This is how I do it, in case anyone else wants to bend their's, too....

Find the burried object.
Point your forks straight down and push into the soil as close as you can to the burried object.
If the front of the PT comes off the ground, use the joystick to wiggle the dump/curl function side-to-side as fast as you can.
This creates a vibrating motion that will dig the forks straight into the ground fairly quickly.
As the forks bury themselves, keep applying downpressure, too.
Before you know it, the forks are completely burried up to the quick attach plate.
Now for the bending of the forks....
Apply curl motion to the forks until the rear of the PT425 comes off the ground.
You can tell when the rear is off the ground when you notice the back half of the machine is now next to your right or left shoulder.
Repeatedly dump and curl the forks while slamming the rear of the unit off and on the ground.
Eventually the forks will bend, but you won't get to see the fruits of your labor until you extract them from the ground.
Then you can be proud of your work. Take pictures and post them here for all to admire.
Regards,
MossRoad

Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial. Newbies like me need all the good training we can get.

:laughing:

 

[J_J]

The teeth on my stump grinder are welded on.

I would recommend to get the stump grinder with the bolt on teeth.

You can dig a trench with it.

I also have the chain trencher and it can dig a 4 or 6 in trench.

 

[ponytug]

I have the chain trencher as well, and it has been great for a number of projects. Besides the obvious, I have also used it to rapidly cut road ramps and make terraces, which it is great at.
I would make two comments:

1. The PT is articulated: this makes straight lines in tough soil a challenge
2. The teeth are for soil removal: tree roots and larger rocks are not ideal.

The "normal" trenchers benefit from a rigid frame and steering wheels a distance from the trencher, or tracks. Trencher chains made by others have carbide tip pointed teeth that can easily cut through roots and grind through rock.

I have a clay soil and a gravelly sub-soil, so it works for me.

All the best,

Peter

P.S. I have never dared to put my forks all the way into the ground- when I have used the forks for roots, I put them next to each other, and pry out roots one root at a time, using just the tips. It takes awhile to work around a whole stump, but in the end, it all comes out.

 

[ScoopCzar]

Since the PT trencher teeth are replaceable, has anyone ever replaced them with third-party carbide tipped teeth?

 

[BobRip]

Since the PT trencher teeth are replaceable, has anyone ever replaced them with third-party carbide tipped teeth?

The as delivered ones ar carbide.

 

[ScoopCzar]

The as delivered ones ar carbide.

I was referring to the teeth on the chain trencher that Peter was discussing with my question. The teeth that come on the wheel trencher have carbide teeth but the teeth that come on the chain trencher (the one that digs 3 ft down) are not carbide, right?

 

[BobRip]

I was referring to the teeth on the chain trencher that Peter was discussing with my question. The teeth that come on the wheel trencher have carbide teeth but the teeth that come on the chain trencher (the one that digs 3 ft down) are not carbide, right?

Right. Sorry for my error. I have only sharpened my chain trencher once and probably have dug about 2000 feet of trench. I don't think I need carbide for my purposes.

 

[J_J]

They make carbide teeth chain for trenchers, but Power-Trac will not provide specs on their chain in order to match.

If you know the rise and fall angle of the sprocket and spacing, you might be able to order an after market carbide chain.

There is no reason that you can not braze carbide teeth to the chain trencher.

 

[ponytug]

I'm with J.J. I would braze on replacement teeth, if you want to go to the carbide tree root/rock eating type. I would anticipate that the trenching speed and dirt clearing efficiency might suffer.

The PT chain is a little non-standard, so if you do go to carbide teeth, expect to look around for chain. Terry also helpfully pointed out that if you replace the chain due to wear, you will need to replace the sprockets as well. Just a heads up.

I have done quite a bit of trenching and the wear is negligible in the sandy/gravelly subsoil here.

All the best,

Peter