Filling in my basement. Using 10cu bucket, mini h

stray · Sep 27, 2004

I don’t know what is considered light material but the 422 seems to handle a full load of dirt in the light material bucket. The box blade does a very good job as well. It is really handy being able to tweak the tilt at will and with ease. I Will have some pics of that later.

Clarke · Sep 27, 2004

I know I have lifted a 10 cu. ft. very full bucket of 2a many times. I'm sure this over stresses a 422 or 425..

sg

425trailer · Sep 27, 2004

The 10cu bucket does work fine as an all around tool on the 425, however do be prepared for some rather interesting ( and possibly dangerous) situations when moving wet clay or fine gravel. I wish I'd have some pictures to illustrate this, but a camera is not the first thing to enter the mind while wishing that the bucket would drop alot faster thean it does. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

stray · Sep 27, 2004

Yes I can recall one time when putting a full load of dirt into a ditch the tractor got rather tipsy. For a moment I thought it might flip head first over into the ditch. Now I start empting while the bucket will hit the side of the trench to be filled. A very good point you made. Thanks for bring it out.

MossRoad · Sep 27, 2004

These are powerful little beasts. It depends on the density of the material as to how full you can fill the large bucket. For example, I can fill the large bucket with crushed limestone and have few problems tipping. However, fill it with moon dust, which is granulated limestone(same stuff, just crushed much finer) and I can hardly lift it and keep the rear on the ground.

Also, we have fine black muck soil on our property. I can lift that stuff dry all day, but if it is wet, I can forget about it. It is like a sponge and soaks up a lot of water, which weighs quite a bit.

Here's a good experiment... fill your 10 cubic foot bucket to the brim with water. Water weighs about 62 pounds per qubic foot. So, you should have a little over 600 pounds in there. See if you can lift it... if you can, only lift it about 4 inches off the ground. Then turn your tractor steering wheel all the way to the right or left. Experience the PT pucker yet? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

FOURTEEN · Sep 27, 2004

"" I wish I'd have some pictures to illustrate this ""

Are you referring to the infamous 'PT Pucker' that looks something like this??

If the answer is "yes", check out:

"PRO: Power Trac Stability (PT Pucker)" at PT-425 PROS & cons??

It is like driving on the first snowy road of the season! When the rearend of the car slids a little, your heart jumps in your chest! By March you drive down slick roads with the rearend swaying like a tree in the wind, and don't give it a second thought!!
The first time PT Pucker strikes it really gets your attention, but after a few times, it just becomes the nature of the beast, and more annoying than threatening!!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

stray · Sep 28, 2004

Here is another angle as I keep the bucket low.

BobRip · Sep 28, 2004

I added a bumper made of a 2 X 6 board about 5 feet long. I drilled a hole in it for the hitch bolt and reinforced the hole with a metal plate when was then bolted to the board. I then put two 55 lb Kobotoa tractor weights on the board. This had made a world of difference. It is now very difficult to lift the rear tires off the ground and the 422 has more traction on the rear wheels when lifting a bucket. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Clarke · Sep 28, 2004

Interesting, what are the pro's and cons of adding weight to the back of a PT. Does PT have any thing to say about it pro or con. I am considering adding weight also put using a different concept...

sg

MossRoad · Sep 29, 2004

The pros are you can now lift more weight.

The cons are you can now damage the tractor more easily and push it way beyond what it is rated for.

We've had this discussion before. Some folks say, it is your machine, so modify it to suit your needs. Others will say you should have bought a larger machine in the first place.

I say, be careful no matter what you do, but don't be disappointed if you crack the tractor in half, buckle the lift assembly, bend your attachments beyond recognition or get injured when something just plain snaps. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

If we beef up the machine by adding weights under the guise of making it more stable when lifting the rated 800 pounds, we eventually become use to the new capabilities of the machine and ignore that cut off point. So we try to lift 1000, or 1200. And that worked, so we throw some more weight on the back and go for 1500. Then the thing breaks, the load comes crashing down and property damage(or worse) happens.

I've done plenty to push my tools farther than they were designed to do. Most of the time it works out OK. Sometimes I've paid through the nose to fix the problem that I caused. And sometimes I have been injured(remember my post about dropping the mower deck on my toes?). Just be careful and use common sense.

[Up on my soap box now!]Get the proper tool for the job, rather than pushing it past the design limits or be prepared to be a test pilot.[And down off my soap box!]