How many of you use pt in commercially are you happy

[weaver]

Just wondering how many use Pt for commercail use and does it put up with daily use. I have a 1430 and put 700 hours in 18 month time. Mostly used in the fencing industry ( I use the auger, cement mixer, pallet forks, small bucket with homade grapple ) . I have had some problem like starter fire at 37 hours, from ignition wire grounded out in wire chase, 6 broken hyd. hoses ,1 broken fuel line 200 hours . battery no longer hold charge at 650 hours , , I have filled all my tires with slime because they have all gone flat at one point, steering box leaks after 400 hours, rear wheel motor leaks when running can't find leak? The filing off the auger is bent beyound repair it is only 10 gauge steel , bought one from bobcat that is 3/8 thick . Paint job from factory has no claer coat but steel is pretty heavy duty.
I have used this almost eveyday and doing what I have done with it by hand I would have a broken back.
Would I buy another maybe , a bobcat to much $$ and a gehl articulated compact tractor would be comparable.
May be I should take a poll on who is a home user or buisness user.

 

[BobRip]

Weaver, are you happy?

 

[weaver]

Weaver, are you happy?

I am happy . With Pt I am not sure yet.Not happy with warrenty on Pt. with all the other equipment I have I have not had so many break downs, but I have put 700 hours on in 18 months and still runs evey day . 2006 Massy fergeson 1700 series 32 hours no break downs paid same amount as Pt 1430 and all hose are heavy duty , paint is still on . little beaver auger 5 years old never broke down used evey day to dig holes. 1993 ford f-350 200,000 never broke down on road. Just seeing if other users are getting same or different resutls out of their equipment uses. Are you happy with yours

 

[BobRip]

I am very happy with the machine. It has been a lot of fun, but I don't use it commercially. I have 500 hours in 5 years. No major breakdowns.
PT does not seem to have a quality systems that listens to the customers and makes improvements routinely. I had an issue with the brush cutter blades getting hung up on the center hub. They told me this was rare. I told them that I know three people with the same problem. There response was, "I guess we should address this". It's OK now with some improvments found on TBN. As a hobby, I seem very tolerant of issues and seem to enjoy finding fixes and ways to improve the machine. For someone with 10 acres the 422/425 is an excellent machine. For commercial use I don't really know. Of course on TBN we get the issues more than the satisfaction. I would definately buy another one and am much happier with this machine and what it can do than the Kubotoa that I previously had. Task that would be impossible or exhausting are done quiclkly and easily. Just don't buy one if you don't plan to do the maintenance yourself or at least have a local shop who likes PTs.

 

[AltavistaLawn]

In my opinion it is not commercial quality.

Not a machine you and employees can depend on daily, when compared to CUTs, commercial mowers, bobcats, etc. Figure in down time and repair costs and the PT is way more expensive than skid steers.

See my posts on the PT1850.

 

[RegL]

Just wondering how many use Pt for commercail use and does it put up with daily use. I have a 1430 and put 700 hours in 18 month time. Mostly used in the fencing industry ( I use the auger, cement mixer, pallet forks, small bucket with homade grapple ) . I have had some problem like starter fire at 37 hours, from ignition wire grounded out in wire chase, 6 broken hyd. hoses ,1 broken fuel line 200 hours . battery no longer hold charge at 650 hours , , I have filled all my tires with slime because they have all gone flat at one point, steering box leaks after 400 hours, rear wheel motor leaks when running can't find leak? The filing off the auger is bent beyound repair it is only 10 gauge steel , bought one from bobcat that is 3/8 thick . Paint job from factory has no claer coat but steel is pretty heavy duty.
I have used this almost eveyday and doing what I have done with it by hand I would have a broken back.
Would I buy another maybe , a bobcat to much $$ and a gehl articulated compact tractor would be comparable.
May be I should take a poll on who is a home user or buisness user.

I also have a 1430 and use it commercially. I'm putting on hours on at half the rate you are ( 700 in three years) because PT work is a smaller percentage of what I do and I'm just a one man show. I think I am more diversified, some fence work, field mowing, brush hogging in the woods, grapple work ( brush, logs, rocks, etc. ), digging with mini-hoe, stump grinding, Big bucket work ( spreading topsoil, mulch, etc. ), snow removal and whatever else I think it will do.
I have had some of the inherent troubles but not as many as some others have. The one's I can remember are, flat tires of course ( figure I'll change those out with higher ply soon ), the sedgy (starter fire ), blown fuel line caused by the engine cover rubbing on it. Also , the left rear wheel has had a leak for a couple of months but not so much that I've had to add fluid. I find it interesting that you have had six hydraulic hoses go bad. I have not had one yet.
Now, i won't speak for anyone else, but I know I take the PT to it's limits and beat the crap out of it more than anything else I have ever owned. I don't know why. Maybe it just feels safer, or there's no plastic parts on it to crack and break, or maybe it's just because the paint job is so bad I don't mind scratching it.
So anyway, considering the price I paid for it, The money I've made with it, and the amount it's made my life much easier, I guess I'm happy.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I do not own or use a PT for commercial purposes, but there is a fencing company near me who has done a lot of work on my property and they own 2 PT422's with a custom built auger set up. They took the regular auger and altered it to spin either direction. I've had his units out to my house and have used them when I was considering buying a PT (I ended up buying a Ventrac 3000 instead because it was more suitable for my specific tasks). The owner is very happy with the PT422s, or at least he was when I last talked to him early summer 06.

 

[MossRoad]

...
Now, i won't speak for anyone else, but I know I take the PT to it's limits and beat the crap out of it more than anything else I have ever owned. I don't know why. Maybe it just feels safer, or there's no plastic parts on it to crack and break, or maybe it's just because the paint job is so bad I don't mind scratching it.
So anyway, considering the price I paid for it, The money I've made with it, and the amount it's made my life much easier, I guess I'm happy.

I think Blackwell pointed something like this out a couple years ago. He has several PTs in his business. He noticed that many of us are pushing the 400 series past what seems reasonable for that size unit and really should have stepped up to a larger machine. I think his years of experience with several models of PTs makes him a very believable source and we should consider his advice.

Some of us tend to use a machine to its limits and run it into the ground when we should have bought the next larger size unit and run it at 60-75% capacity. It would do the work easier, there would be fewer failures, and the machine would last longer.

I'm not at all implying that is the case for the original poster here, but it is something to consider when buying any tool. That's one of the reasons I opted for the largest engine in the 400 series at the time. I liked the size of the platform and wanted the most HP available. The unit is not pulling to it's maximum most of the time, so I think the engine will last longer than a smaller engine in the same situations that I put mine through. Just something to consider.

 

[RegL]

Some of us tend to use a machine to its limits and run it into the ground when we should have bought the next larger size unit and run it at 60-75% capacity. It would do the work easier, there would be fewer failures, and the machine would last longer."


1490 with high flow hydraulics. That's what I'm talking about.

 

[J_J]

Some of us tend to use a machine to its limits and run it into the ground when we should have bought the next larger size unit and run it at 60-75% capacity. It would do the work easier, there would be fewer failures, and the machine would last longer."


1490 with high flow hydraulics. That's what I'm talking about.

I see that you have a 1430, but what is a 1490? Is this something new?