Changes in plans on the PT Purchase

[jfischer]

As all may know that were following a thread I had going about how to convert a treadle to hand control, and me looking at the purchase of a 12 year old 1430, that has all changed now.

The person I was going to buy the 1430 from decided after the last few snows we had here, he was not sure how he would be able to dig out without it, so has decided to keep it, and I told him even though I wanted it and all the attachments, I thought that was a good idea.

I called down and talked to Terry about converting a 425 (as that was all I could afford now) with a few attachments to start things off. He was not sure at first, but gave me a call back, and said they could do such for me. I basically wanted the hand control on the left side, and still keep the foot treadle for others to use it.

I go down on Monday to Tazwell to take a look at the factory, talk to them, and get a real look at the machines, as I have never seen one in person, just lots of videos, and pictures of people and their machines on here and on the net.

Read all this forum from the beginning, and did say that I learned a bit, so hopefully we will have a guy that is usually in a wheelchair be on a new machine in a week or so.

I have always had John Deere's since 1972, and still have a 318, but it might be going up for sale after I get the new machine.

I have a Hustler Zero Turn I cut the grass and leaves with, so will keep it, as I don't think you can beat the speed of them for doing the cutting of my acre lot.

Attachments I have planned now are the 4 in 1 bucket, the large material bucket, a snow blade,cutting edge and wheel kit for it, and the forks to pick a few things up. Think I will pick a blank mounting plate up also, and a hydraulic filter. That is about all I can afford now.

I mainly want the machine for cleaning up snow in the winter, I live 1/4 mile off the main road on a private gravel road, and I do all around my house so I can get down to my walk in basement, and around another road that goes to my external garage, and a few of the neighbors driveways, so they can get out. I have some ditches around the sides of my lot I want to keep cleaned out, and think I should be able to back drag them, and then pick things up that I pull out of them. (One day I hope to get the mini hoe, think that will help there). I am getting the 4 in 1 to help with limbs, leaves and other things I like to drag down into a hole I put things to compost and get rid of them, and there are a few more trees I want to have taken down, and this should help load them in whoever is going to help me cut them down.

Looking forward to joining all on here, and hope I have good luck with the machine.

Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

Enjoy your trip and let us know how it goes....

:thumbsup:

 

[jfischer]

MR, Will do, any other things that I should get besides an extra hydraulic filter, and oil filter, and a attachment plate. Would love to get a LOT more attachments, but don't have the money, or room for them right now.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd get two attachment plates. Keep one for the future, and weld on a 2" receiver to the other. You can adapt a multitude of smaller implements to a 2" receiver, plus you can toss on a ball hitch and move trailers around very quickly. I frequently put a ring in my 2" receiver and pull logs with a chain through that. And I move my car hauler trailer around with it when needed....and a boat trailer, and the neighbor's trailer, and the..... you get the idea. :laughing:

 

[jfischer]

MR, I see what you are saying. I kind of just wanted to get an extra one, so I could see if I could use it for a template, to copy a few down the road.

I was thinking about taking he stock hitch off the back, and welding a 2" receiver to a plate, and bolting it on there as I have a bracket made that holds 5 elevator weights. They are low profile, and figured they don't stick out very far, so don't think they would get hung on things if I back up. I have this on my JD now, and works well, and could use it for other things in the back, as I have a bunch of 2" hitches. The extra 250 pounds I think would keep the back down if I needed to use the forks, or for other reasons to keep the back down, as I think it has a lot more lifting in the front then the weight ratio in the rear could handle stock.
Jeff

 

[PTWannaHave]

... I called down and talked to Terry about converting a 425 (as that was all I could afford now) with a few attachments to start things off. He was not sure at first, but gave me a call back, and said they could do such for me. I basically wanted the hand control on the left side, and still keep the foot treadle for others to use it.

I go down on Monday to Tazwell to take a look at the factory, talk to them, and get a real look at the machines, as I have never seen one in person, just lots of videos, and pictures of people and their machines on here and on the net.

Looking forward to joining all on here, and hope I have good luck with the machine.

Jeff

Glad to hear that Power-Trac will give you some accommodation. I bought my PT sight-unseen, but I had about 5yrs. to think about it while I was saving for it. If this forum did not exist, I don't think I would've chanced it.

Looking forward to pics of the factory mods to your new machine,

 

[J_J]

My PT 1445 purchase was quite unusual as I was talking to a friend of mine at a landscaping company, and he mentioned he had something he thought I might be interested in.

He then said the machine was all hyd and that got my attention.

He started it up with the auger on it and I jumped on the deal we made.

The 1445 and about eight attachments , that if new today would be worth about $38,550.

Hyd Flail mower, hyd dozer blade, hyd tiller, stump grinder/trencher, hyd/chain 4 in trencher, hyd planter head auger, 24 in auger

It took less than 30 min to complete the transaction.

I have made other attachments since then.

Only replaced two hyd pumps, two hyd hose and rebuilt two cyl.

 

[jfischer]

Glad to hear that Power-Trac will give you some accommodation. I bought my PT sight-unseen, but I had about 5yrs. to think about it while I was saving for it. If this forum did not exist, I don't think I would've chanced it.

Looking forward to pics of the factory mods to your new machine,

You know it is funny, I have all kinds of cameras around here, and never seem to take pictures until after I think about it, or think that others might like to see something.

I plan on keeping this one, so should be plenty of time to take pictures as I add, or change things.
Jeff

 

[jfischer]

JJ, It sounds to me from all I have read that if you keep up with upkeep on the machine, it should last for a long time. I am pretty good at that, and maybe do things more then I should, but think it helps with keeping the machine from breaking down the road, or in the middle of a project if you find something early.

I guess that was why I wanted to get that used 1430 I was looking at, as it had 6 attachments with it. The price of the machine I didn't think was bad, it is all the things you want to add to it that seem to add up, but then in the back of my head I thought about how many times I would use something, and that would just have to be something I would have to find a place to store it. Always keep my attachments inside, on rollers of some kind so I can move them around.

But then it will give me a few projects to make things down the road, and always something to keep me busy and look forward to.
Jeff

 

[ponytug]

A possible thought for a PT upgrade is to the 1445 brakes that automatically default to ON when the motor stalls or the system pressure falls below 600psi. One less thing to think about in an emergency.

All the best,

Peter