50 Hour PT Service

pajoube · Jul 12, 2002

A number of you were very close to your 50 hour service. Would appreciate any feedback concerning how this went with updates and observations.
PJ

MossRoad · Jul 12, 2002

50 hour service went really well. I changed the hydraulic filter and bled the system with no problems. I also changed the engine oil(although not required at that time) to Mobil1. Everything appears tight and in good working order so far. Gave it a bath with simple green. Noticed some paint problems on the tractor just to the inside of the front wheels. The paint has little pin head sized dots and it appears to be light rust where the paint has the dot in it. Don't know if it is from bad paint prep at the factory or if it is from rocks slowly chipping away at the paint. When I get the time, I will pull the wheels off and inspect it, as I can only see a little behind the tire right now. Either way, It will be an easy repair, as it is a flat surface of heavy steel. Can you say "grinder wheel" followed by clean, prime and paint /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. I'll document as I go, but don't wait around. I have lots to do until the end of August. Still want to get my upper lights, reverse lights and a few minor mods done as well.

marrt · Jul 12, 2002

MR,

I have some lights to mount as well. Are you intending to run the wires on the inside or outside of the ROPS bars? I find myself resting a hand on the ROPS bars frequently (don’t have arm rests like you) and it would be nice to not have any wires in the way. Also, it would look better cosmetically if the wires were out of sight. However, it may not be easy to feed them inside the ROPS.

MossRoad · Jul 12, 2002

Here's a diagram of what I plan on doing electrically.

I'm going to tack weld small brackets under the canopy for headlights, flashers, a 12v aux outlet and a 4 switch box. Also, I'll tack weld some tubing up one side of the ROPS and run mulit-conductor cable inside that from a fuse block under the dash up to the switch box. I'll probably tack some more tubing under the canopy between the light locations to put the wires in as well. I found some 7 conductor wire. I only need 5 going up, so I'll have two spares. I might use one for a ground, if needed.

bubenberg · Jul 12, 2002

thanks mr, handed the diagram over to my engineering department for execution, procurement and installlation. the only thing i have not hired anyone in these departments. so this fall before leaf season we will (i) do it ....thanks again
hr

MossRoad · Jul 12, 2002

the only thing i have not hired anyone in these department. so this fall before leaf season we will (i) do it

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

MossRoad · Jul 13, 2002

Paul,
I updated my on-going review at my website. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://pt425.godollei.net> Click here to get to my homepage</A> and go to the review page.

Carpenter · Jul 13, 2002

PJ, I did mine a while back, it was fairly simple. I think MR covered it pretty well in another post. The tight quarters make "wrenching" and cleaning up the unavoidable spills a bit hard. I was a little concerned about bleeding the hydraulics, but it was very simple. You can probably do the whole thing in less than an hour. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

pajoube · Jul 14, 2002

MossRoad,
Well done on your home page. This is one site that I give out on a regular basis.
PJ

MossRoad · Jul 14, 2002

Now that I've done it once, the next time I do 50 HR I will lay down some very absorbant paper towels in the bottom of the engine compartment before removing any filters. Should make cleanup a breeze.

Scott_F · Jul 15, 2002

Noticed some paint problems on the tractor just to the inside of the front wheels

MR and others,
Check the top of your ROPS too. I noticed this weekend that the paint has bubbled and chipped away on top of the canopy above where the weld beads hold it to the roll over structure. Does anyone know what type of black paint PT uses?

Scott

MossRoad · Jul 15, 2002

Sherwin Williams machine black and machine green. There is a post here somewhere about the actual part number. Also, someone mentioned that John Deere green is pretty close for the green.

marrt · Jul 15, 2002

Scott, I noticed this on my PT as well. Its like they welded the top on after it was painted. I don’t this is actually what happened or it would be much worse. Anyway, mine was already repaired when I got the tractor.

PT told me that any Flat Black would work. This isn't entirely true as there are certainly differences, but, hey, its a tractor. I found that Rustolium John Deere Green works. I would stick with Rustolium if you can find it. Don't know if the other "John Deere Green" formulations will match. For whats its worth, my Sherwin Williams only sold Machine Green by the gallon and I had to wait to get that.

wasabi · Jul 15, 2002

A number of you were very close to your 50 hour service...Would appreciate any feedback concerning how this went with updates and observations. PJ 

Paul,

I've tried to keep it a secret, but I guess you somehow found out! Yes, it is true, I now have almost reached the 50 hours of service mark /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif, although so far I only have about a fourth of that amount of time actually operating!

I just ordered a rebuild kit from PT for the main hydraulic cylinder on the backhoe and will tackle that soon, so I may become the first to reach 100 hours of service (I would argue that bubenberg's hours don't all count cause his is in commercial service, so to be expected). Despite the excessive grease monkey time, I'm an enthusiastic PT owner and hope soon to be able to report more favorable "operating" results in detail.

Sedgewood · Jul 16, 2002

wasabi: so I may become the first to reach 100 hours of service

Beatcha to it. I did my 100 hour service July 4 on the 1845 and the meter now reads in the mid 130s. But then I may be disqualified as about 30-40 hours of that is commercial time.

wasabi · Jul 16, 2002

In re-reading it, my lame attempt at humor was too subtle to have been clear....I was actually referring to the number of hours I have spent "servicing" our machine rather than elapsed "operating" hours.

I bought my machine used with about 950 hours on the meter, so I'm beyond the 50, 100, 500, etc., marks and also long out of warranty. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif...

I only wish I had as many operating hours as you guys, and although I'm pleased with the value I purchased and I fully expected to do some maintenance work, I'm ready to get on with it...

Carpenter · Jul 16, 2002

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr>

Now that I've done it once, the next time I do 50 HR I will lay down some very absorbant paper towels in the bottom of the engine compartment before removing any filters. Should make cleanup a breeze.

<hr></blockquote>

MR, That's exactly what I did. I put a bunch of paper towels under the hyd. filter and it helped considerably. Trying to catch the oil from the horizontal oil filter was a little more challenging.

deadstick · Jul 17, 2002

Just did mine an hour ago.....

The first thing I recommend is that you print out Mossroad's 50hr service description. This is the exact step by step procedure on how to do it. Without this I would have been lost. The factory doc is a little sparse in respect to this. Thanks Mossroad. From his description I also realized I needed some sort of bleeder hose which apparantly I did not get when I first received the PT....

The only gotchas for me were:

1) When fitting the new filter back on with it full of oil, it's a tight fit to get it in there. I ended up spilling a little oil on the outside which made it as splippery as soap. Well it slipped out of my hands and spilt half the oil back out. Don't remove the paper towels until you are completely finished. The second try was more successful /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

2) The cap where you attach the bleeder hose was so tight the actual fitting it screwed onto also came loose. I had to squeeze another wrench in their so I could get leverage to take the cap off without removing the whole fitting....

All and all it was quite simple even for a mechanically challenged person like me. Don't forget to read Mossroad's service description...

MossRoad · Jul 18, 2002

Your welcome. Glad it helped someone besides me /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

For anyone that's interested, <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=powertrac&Number=159739&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=> Click here for the link to that 50 hour service description </A>