PT400 Series Operating Tips: Towing Implements

[MossRoad]

PT400 Series Operating Tips: Towing Implements

Post any tips you have on towing implements behind the PT400 series tractors here.

 

[MossRoad]

When towing cheap plastic fertilizer spreaders behind your PT400 series tractors that have the exhaust pointing straight back out of the center of the engine compartment, it is advisable to use a heat shield of some sort or you may (will) melt the plastic handles.

 

[toy]

When towing cheap plastic fertilizer spreaders behind your PT400 series tractors that have the exhaust pointing straight back out of the center of the engine compartment, it is advisable to use a heat shield of some sort or you may (will) melt the plastic handles.

Now just exactly how do you know this? .......Never mind my imagination just kicked in, How bad was it?

 

[MossRoad]

Now just exactly how do you know this? .......Never mind my imagination just kicked in, How bad was it?

I have a Scott's tow behind spreader for lawn tractors. Everything was going fine until, about 3/4 way through my yard I saw no material being spread. Investigation reveals there is a barrel shaped device that you turn to adjust the opening of the spreader. By turning it you lengthen or shorten a steel cable. However, that barrel shaped device is made out of plastic. At the top of it, there is a metal pin (long pop rivet) that goes through a metal lever. You pull the lever, it pulls the pin, which pulls the device, which pulls the cable.

The exhaust heated up the metal lever, which heated up the metal pin, which melted the holes in the plastic device. As soon as the plastic pulled around the metal pin, it fused itself back together and cooled back down. It was solid enough that I could use an old nail to reconnect it to the lever and keep going.

However, I put an old metal slow moving vehicle sign between the exhaust and the lever to redirect the exhaust around the spreader handle.

 

[ponytug]

We can hope it wasn't ammonium nitrate...

Do you have brands to recommend?

All the best,

Peter

 

[woodlandfarms]

To me it is an art to backup a pt with a trailer (tow behind implement) Not one I understand.... I am the king of jackknife with a trailer...

 

[KentT]

To me it is an art to backup a pt with a trailer (tow behind implement) Not one I understand.... I am the king of jackknife with a trailer...

LOL -- after trying it only once, I don't even try it anymore -- I make sure to only go into situations where I can pull through...

 

[ponytug]

One of my first jobs involved parallel parking double hay trailers, in reverse. (Breathe deeply, think about it, and try again...) Later in life, it made parking 40' single trailers a breeze. (Oh and don't forget what soft ground will do to a trailer when backing up...)

It is funny how these things go, I find estimating where the tip of the LMB will be when backing up in tight situations surprisingly challenging. It seems so simple, and yet...

All the best,

Peter

 

[KentT]

I can back a trailer with my truck or other garden tractors OK, if I go slow. I'll admit that even though I grew up on a farm and learned to drive on an old 8N, I NEVER was able to back a 4-wheel farm wagon with a steerable tongue. If pulling through wouldn't work, I'd simply get off the tractor and let someone else deal with it, if necessary...

My problem with trying to back the PT with my 7-foot dump trailer behind it is that any steering movement is magnified incredibly -- much more so than in a normal front-wheel steer scenario. Because the PT has to articulate to steer, it really wiggles its rear which seem to make jack-knifing inevitable for me...

 

[Marks481]

I usually pull a lawn sweeper behind my PT422 when cutting the lawn. Does a great job of picking up clippings (generally have to empty every 1/4 acre or so). So I have got pretty good at backing up with a trailer attached (and teh mower out front).

I need about 5 more Hp for this combination... on flat land.

 

[MossRoad]

We can hope it wasn't ammonium nitrate...

Do you have brands to recommend?

All the best,

Peter

No, it wasn't this time. I was putting down 12-12-12. I rarely use 45-0-0 anymore as all it does is make the grass grow REALLY REALLY FAST!!!

 

[MossRoad]

As for backing up trailers with the PT, I find it pretty easy. I just imagine my view to be from the hitch pin looking at the trailer. Then it is a piece of cake.

I mow with my Brinley sweeper most of the time, so it is like driving a snake around the trees, fences, flowerbeds, etc.

 

[Marks481]

so it is like driving a snake around the trees, fences, flowerbeds, etc.

It is pretty amazing how well my sweeper tracks the PT. I mow in and out of trees, cutting right to the edge, and the sweeper (same width as the PT wheels) follows right in its tracks.

The sweeper is one of the best $150 investments I have made in lawn cutting. Because there is no way I am raking or leafblowing 3/4 acre of grass.

It does definitely consume some of the available horsepower, as I have to slow down in heavy grass to keep the mower's blade speed up. Another 5 Hp would really help. Maybe a chain drive to the sweeper rotor instead of direct drive from its wheels?

 

[Carpenter]

The only thing I've pulled behind my 425 is an 8' chain harrow which obviously can't be backed up.

 

[SpringHollow]

I find it fairly easy to back up my trailer with it - I have to do it a fair amount in the woods. I just pretend the front of the tractor is not there and turn the back end the way in needs to go - pretty much what MR does.

 

[smartguyz]

I tow a number of items:

1) Brinly Hardy (Sp?) rotary spreader from Home Depot
2) Brinly lawn rake
3) Brinly aerator

All three items work really well. In fact, I put the lawn rake (the kind with spring loaded tines) on for every mowing. It does a great job of pulling thatch and dead grass out of the lawn and the more I use it, the better the health of the lawn appears to be.

I agree that the articulating nature of the steering amplifies the movements of the steering compared to a regular lawn tractor. You need to be very careful, but I have found it tolerable. I try to mow very very slowly, at high speed, and as a such, I don't pick up clippings. In fact, if I mow slowly enough, the clipping are so fine that they really aren't noticeable. The lawn rake pulls a lot more dead grass up, so sometimes I take the lawn rake off after moving and go over the lawn ONE MORE TIME with just the finish mower. I have not picked up any clippings since 2003 when I purchased the PowerTrac. The lawn looks fine and appears healthy.

The only thing I think I miss is a decent tow-behind dump trailer. I had a plastic dump trailer, but it was really pretty cheezy, and I sold it with the Deere 318 a few years back. Need something else, but usually the large material bucket will be a tolerable substitute for most purposes.

-Rob