Doin' the PT Pucker

[Sedgewood]

Doin\' the PT Pucker

Whoooo-hoooo did I ever get a ride today! I was out cleaning ditches with the PT1845 and small bucket, doing a real nice Gradeall lookalike, making good time scooping years of buildup of debris and soil and sod from a section of soggy wet ditch. I'd dig & roll as I'd advance into the ditch and end up with a heaping bucket of dripping muck, with the front wheels of the tractor in the ooze in the bottom of the ditch. Then I'd ease back out, turning the wheel as I go to set up for a run down the drive to the spot where I was dropping this stuff off. Its going along really well, nice rhythm, no traction problems, when here I am with a big bucketful, front wheels climbing the ditch edge, I'm turning the wheel to the left and all of a sudden I'm being pitched to the right. The left rear is a foot off the ground and I'm diving for the clutch! I must say that didn't help much - it only made things go awry faster seeing that forty years of "clutch" is now "reverse"! Major pucker while I'm getting my mind in gear far enough to just let go of all controls. Phew! So here I sit, left wheel WAY up in the air, right wheel must have been on the ground cause the thing didn't move to fall forward or back. And me trying in great haste to decide what control to do what with. I ended up lowering the bucket and straightening the wheel. Now where is that laundry detergent anyway?

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

Its a weird feeling, ain't it?

I've noticed that when the rear tires are attmepting to come off of the ground, I hardly feel it. It is just a sort of tipping forward feeling. I look to the right and there is no rear end. It always seems to be over on my left side by then. Usually, I just let off the pedal slowly, drop the bucket slowly and turn the wheel and the thing settles down on all four as soon as it straightens out. I then re-adjust my load. It has taught me the importance of keeping the bucket as low to the ground as possible at all times, especially when working on even slight slopes. It is amazing how the center of gravity can change so drastically in such a short time.

Great experience to learn from(especially since you didn't get injured). Were you wearing your seat belt?

 

[davesisk]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

I was carrying retaining wall blocks into the back yard today from a pallet in the front driveway. About 10 will fit in the bucket, and they weigh about 50 lbs each (500 lbs total). Several times, I've had the back end leave the ground when going down a slight slope in the backyard and turning at the same time. It is quite a strange feeling. I also tried to lift one end of the full pallet (to put some landscape timbers under it so I could push it a few feet out of the way), and I realized I was lifting the backend of the machine.

Mine's an old 1418, and I think it's rated to lift only about 500 lbs. I'm just curious about something though. I've heard stories of folks breaking small compact tractors that have a front-loader and backhoe in half. Is there any possibility of breaking one of the Power-tracs in half? I'd imagine that one of the bolts that hold to the two halves together would probably go first (rather than some welded part of the hinge mechanism) right?

Regards,
Dave

 

[bubenberg]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

DID YOU WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!?!?!?

what you guys experienced and surveyed qualifies you right away to join the power trac test pilot cadre for your respective region. we are now selecting advanced placement candidates for total flips ...salto mortale etc.

another selection will be held this fall for " top gun" training in the hills of tazwell va, since my term as this years top gun will come to an end in november.

i am tired to flip over all by my self.

 

[Sedgewood]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

MossRoad <font color=green>Its a weird feeling, ain't it?</font color=green> Indeed it is. And completely unexpected. Until this little trip I've had no feeling of it ever getting light in the rear, including the many times I've had the bucket full right to the top moving rocks and during the previous hour or so cleaning ditches. I had no idea the small 9 cu ft bucket could lift the rear of this puppy. I've stalled the hydraulics many times digging and lifting and never had any sense of lightness in the rear. In fact I've been rather disappointed at times with the limited breakout, almost to the point of wishing I'd gone with the 1465. Guess I'd better rethink that!

As kind of an aside here I discovered that lift and tilt don't work at all if the steering is at full lock - it took a while to figure that out. I thought something was amiss but its just a quirk of the hydraulic circuitry I guess.

davesisk <font color=red>Is there any possibility of breaking one of the Power-tracs in half?</font color=red> Somehow I doubt it though the question has never entered my mind. As light as these things are it seems unlikely to me.

bubenberg <font color=green>DID YOU WEAR YOUR SEAT BELT!?!?!?</font color=green> Seatbelt? We don't need no steenkin' seatbelt. ....... do we?

 

[PTRich]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

The steering only applies hydralic pressure as you turn the wheel, after it is turned and the tractor stops turnin the pressure stops. Perhaps it was the heat of the moment?
PTRich

 

[kcook]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

You guys are doing a great job for all of us future owners of Power Trac's. We will know most of the little things that are different with our regular tractors.

KCook

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

I've found that steering issue a few times as well. I find that if I go full throttle with heavy loads, it does not seem to occur as often. Also, I try to not get into situations where the machine is turned fully to one side or the other when loading, as this puts the center of gravity closer to the load, making the chances of tipping forward greater. I always try to approach the object as straight on as possible.

Well, this has become an effective operators discussion, hasn't it? Its nice to hear that the PTs of all sizes have the same tendancies, just on a different scale.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

I've also noticed it is much safer to go backwards with a heavy load. Going forward, if you tip, the bucket digs in and stops the tractor. Going backward, if you tip, the bucket just acts like a skid plate and you don't stop so abruptly.

Another thing that can be deceiving is the material that you are working with. I can move full buckets of #8 limestone around all day at half throttle. But full buckets of "moon dust", which is granulated limestone, takes full throttle and you can't heap it up. It packs in so tight, it might as well be cement.

I like your retaining block test. The next time I do something like that, I'll weigh one, then start piling them on to see just how much the machine can take before becoming light on the rear tires.

I think the stories of tractors breaking in half have been exagerated, although there might be a picture here somewhere, I've never seen one. I have heard ( and that means this is a rumor ) that if you have a backhoe on a conventional tractor, with NO SUBFRAME, the hydraulic forces that the backhoe can exert can damage the rear case castings of the tractor by putting too much pressure on them. I don't think the PT will break in half, although I wouldn't intentionally keep overloading the bucket.

Wouldn't it be nice to have enough money to beat one to death just to see how much it could take /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif? You could put massive counter weights on the rear and keep loading the bucket until something gave. I wonder if Power Trac had to do anything like that to determine the ratings of the machine, or if they figured it out with engineering, but never actually tested it, or if they just took a SWAG at it! I imagine, with insurance liabilities, they had to test it somehow. Does anybody know?

 

[Reds]

Re: Doin\' the PT Pucker

Had that same feeling yesterday while using the posthole digger. If you put downward pressure on the attachment too fast, you'll find yourself up in the air while the tractor is pivioting at the center. The tractor raised up and tilted to the right which caused more downward pressure since my hand was on the joystick. Yaahoo!