I have approximately 400 hours on the 2445 and 300 hours on the 1430. They get used fairly often, but will be put to the test this season due to my company expanding. The machines will no longer have just 3 operators, we now will have 7, so we will see how durable they are.
As far as problems go, I do go through a lot of hoses. We replace blown hoses with extra heavy braided hoses. Power Trac does not use a heavy enough hose for all ot the straining work that is found on the commercial end. Other than that, I have had an issue with some silicone that was left in both the hydraulic tank and fuel tank that clogged up the filter and hoses, but Terry did walk us throught this and it was not too big of a deal. We have also beefed up the backhoe attachment. I have peeled one bucket right off of its brackets and sheared off the dipper arm pin. Power Trac has since changed the design of their backhoe by repositioning the pins in order to better distribute side to side torque on the backhoe. The only real complaint on the attachments is the tires that they use on them. The little air filled, light duty tires just do not cut it. We are replacing them with foam filled tires. Overall, I am pleased and always watching the factories progress on new designs. Next year I may trade up to the newer models in order to get away from cable adjustments. Talk to you all later, and thank you for the welcome!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif