Just discovered Power Trac and have a couple questions

[MossRoad]

Well, the PT180 is $361 per HP and the 422 is $409 per HP, and the 425 is $528 per HP.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a post I made back in 2001 where I justified the cost of the 425 to myself...

Re: Power Trac PT425 Quick Change Challenge
The 418 and 422 use Robbins engines and have 18 and 22 HP respectively. The 425 uses the Kohler Command 25HP engine.

The 418 does not have a hydraulic oil cooler and fan, the 422 and 425 do.

The 418 and 422 do not come standard with ROPS. The 425 does.

Price difference:
$6000.00 for PT418
$7000.00 for PT422, 4 more HP and hydraulic oil cooler.
$8000.00 for PT425, 7 more HP, Kohler Engine and hydraulic oil cooler ROPS and canopy.

Every one that I talked to are happy with the Robbins engine except one landscaper, who said that his 18HP died at 300 hours. Did not tell me why it died. I've always been partial to Kohler and there are several good places around here to get them serviced under warranty if needed. I looked at it this way. The gain in HP between the 18 and 25HP units is over 33%. The price difference is also a gain of 33%. So I am paying the exact same amount for each HP and I get the ROPS, canopy and hydraulic oil cooler free!( is this great math or what?)

 

[MossRoad]

I bumped a 13 year old thread up on the 422 VS the 425. There's some good discussion in there for you, and they talk about the 418 as well (discontinued and now there's a 180, but the subject matter is still relevant).

 

[m5040]

I own a PT180 and PT1430. I got the 180 because it did what I needed to do for the best price. The major differences between 180-422 that will most affect you are the 422 has a aux hyd circut and oil cooler (I added a oil cooler to my 180 for cheap$ and will probably add a aux hyd circuit in the future). I would rent a stump grinder, but if you really want to buy one, I would think the tractor working it's hardest and standing still cutting a stump would definitely need a cooler!
Without the aux hyd you can't work attachments like grapples, angle snow plows-blow chutes, mini front hoe, tree pullers and shears etc. This alone is kind of a big deal if it is going to be your only tractor and you want to do everything with it.
Some people make adapters to use skid steer attachments (that size would be Dingo type), this opens the choices of all the things you can do.

The only reason I bought my 180 was to do a LOT of brush hog type work in tight spaces with hours of back and forth. My Steiner 430MAX really sucked at it for the price as it couldn't do rough terrain and the attachment only goes up about a foot, I needed to cut around rocks that were higher then that. (The PTs can raise up 4+' and lower down on brush that can't be pushed over).
The PT design for mowing AND rough brush cutting is the best made, bar none.
The 180s job was brush mowing and afterward it could help out around the farm with the large material bucket and fork attachment. It was so comfortable to use, easy on and off, great visibility of the attachment (I can see the bucket cutting edge from the seat to get under rocks etc, no guesswork it you loaded the bucket) that I bought my 2nd PT (1430).
The 422 and up can do more for the above reasons, so that is a good reason to spend the extra $ (unless you have mechanical ability and can modify yourself, then its the HP and lift cap).
Good luck

 

[agjones]

Here's a post I made back in 2001 where I justified the cost of the 425 to myself...

I'm dying to know what you decided? ;-)

 

[MossRoad]

:laughing:

 

[GregS]

Absolutely. You will be disappointed in the mowing performance of the PT180. And there is a significant difference in other capabilities (such as lift capacity and height).

And if you need to do rough field mowing, the PT422 will barely cut it.

In terms of speed, unless you are on slopes, the PT isn't going to come close to matching the speed (and cut quality) of a zero turn mower. The PT is a swiss army knife. It does a lot of the things, just not all of them well.

I had a zero turn, and blew out one of the transmissions after about 5 years. It would have been $1600 to replace, so I ended up getting the garden tractor. That was my first zero turn, and because I felt it left me down, I won't be getting another. I know it could have been a fluke, but I felt that an expensive zero turn should have lasted me longer than 5 years.

No rough field mowing, I do let the bottom half get longer than inside the fence line, but it's certainly not pasture length.

My guess is that while the PT180 does the job, it's main job is to get people in the door so they can be up sold to the 422 or higher.

I got my tractor, she got her car. :laughing:

Nice.
And dang, I just noticed your post count. Wow, when do you have time to use your tractor???

Ok, it's obvious that most people feel that the pt180 won't cut it for a main tractor. I'll knock that out of my list.

I know I'd consider it a tractor, but in the strictest sense of things, would the PT be considered a tractor? Or is it a mini loader?

 

[MossRoad]

More like a tool platform.

 

[GregS]

BTW, the price difference is WAY more than it was when you did your justification. The 425 is now more than 2x the price of the 180. HP has remained the same. Would you have made the same decision today based on today's numbers?

 

[MossRoad]

It excels at things like loader work, forklift, snow plowing, mowing, brush clearing, post hole digging, etc.... where a traditional tractor excels at things like pulling. Dirt plow, box blade with rippers, etc...

One of the main reasons for that is gearing. A traditional tractor has low-med-hi ranges ( some only have low-hi), and can gear down to pull better. The PT has only one range, which is geared toward the loader-type work. It'll run circles around a traditional tractor of the same weight in those tasks, but bury a plow or rippers in the dirt and it stops, while the traditional tractor will pull it right along.

I find that I don't need to do pulling tasks very often. Therefore, the articulated one-range loader works better for me than my traditional tractor did.

I mow my 1 acre of grass weekly. Haul mulch in the spring. Firewood whenever I get a chance. Plow the driveway if it snows. Brush cut a couple miles of trails on our remote property a few times a year. Stuff like that.

Every so often a larger project comes up, like my current garage addition, so I used it to excavate the new pad area and haul the spoils across the yard to the woods, then used it to bring in 8 tons of limestone off of my trailer for a base. Friday I used it to haul 12 bags of cement at a time to my mixer to do the footing piers. Very handy.

I used to maintain a little league park. We had 3 diamonds and used it to build a 4th. Hauled 60 tons of moon dust around the park. Maintained a 5th diamond at my wife's church. Brush cut friend's properties in exchange for cold beverages.

It's just a darn handy tool.

The quick attach is what makes it so handy, and is why I take a lot of implements when I go to our remote property. I may be brush cutting a trail and come across a fallen tree, so I'll whip back over to the trailer, drop the cutter, pick up the forks and chainsaw, run back and remove the blockage, run back and get the brush cutter and continue. Then I might pop on a bucket and bring some of the wood up closer, or level out the dirt mounds where the county dredges the ditch every few years.

You can change a non-powered implement from one to the other and be on your way in 15 seconds without getting off the seat. Powered implements requires a set of the hand brake, three steps to the front, swap a couple hose quick connects, and your off, so add another 30 seconds for those.

Just a real pleasure to use the thing and all of the implements as often as I choose to change them. I used to dread changing 3pt implements, and no way would I do it multiple times per hour. With a conventional tractor, you kind of have to plan out your tasks more thoroughly to avoid implement changes. If I ever would for some reason get another conventional tractor, I'd be sure to get a skid steer quick attach system for the loader and some easy change hitch on the rear.