Just got back from Tazeville

[American Bulldog]

I'd ask them to put the other tires on. It won't cost much extra, and you will feel 100% better about it.

Chris said that they would not do the tires. I would have to do it on my own. I will probably go with the turf tires and replace them when they start giving me problems.

Thanks all for suggestions. I am pretty much settled on the grapple and the LMB, the minhoe, the trencher, the tiller, the snow blade, and of course the mower. I will probably just get slip on forks for the bucket. The fork attachment has an absurd price tag.

As for hooks and stuff I can do that myself. From my conversations with them they were not very amenable to customization.

 

[dchapman]

American Bulldog, I have a finish mower deck for a 1460 for sale on PTs used web page if interested .

 

[SpringHollow]

If nothing else, have forks made. Get an attachment plate and have it welded to a used skid steer setup or something. My guess is you will use them more than you think.

You should be able to weld an attachment plate onto any skidsteer attachment. If you can not weld, there are many near you who can. Just be careful about what pressure/flow rates they require and their weight.

Ken

 

[woodlandfarms]

I bought a bucket with a grapple from Lackender, not PT, so keep that in mind.

If you do a lot o grappling, the bucket and grapple attached IMO is only mediocre. I am in the midst of building a dedicated grapple, one with the sides open, and the bottom slatted (like a normal grapple, not a bucket with a grapple on it).

If you do not do a lot of grappling, the combo works good enough (has worked fine for me for 4 years, but not perfect).

I don't own any PT implements, but the buzz when I bought was that I could go 3rd party for the same price and get something heavier duty.

Carl

 

[smartguyz]

Also, get the forks no matter what. They are infinitely useful. If you don't get PT made forks, get some other kind of forks, but get forks! :thumbsup:

David is right - I bought the forks based on his input, and I use them nearly every weekend.

They are much more than 'pallet movers'. I use it as a platform for my Sprayer, my Chipper, and for a giant digging implement. It makes the Sprayer and Chipper into 4WD go-anywhere power equipment. I cannot imagine going certain places on my property without my sprayer and my chipper - but they weight several hundred pounds each. The forks lift them with ease. Look at my avatar - that's my sprayer. It's attached to my forks with 2x4s and some brackets made of solid oak. They come on and off in seconds. Same with my chipper/shredder. It goes anywhere on my property, sometimes over rough terrain. A LMB would NOT be an acceptable substitute - it is much easier and safer to move things with my forks.

It has popped out a number of really large shrubs and small trees all over my acreage. I even used them to fix a bent truck hood. They have paid for themselves many many times over. I have even used them for a temporary man lift on a couple of jobs. They are a really outstanding purchase, and I don't think that adding forks to a bucket would be anywhere near as good.

-Rob

 

[ponytug]

I have also found the forks very useful for moving things, including, gasp, pallets of materials.

Most of the other items, like the sprayers, I tuck into the 4N1 bucket, as it is more compact and I can strap it in and drive around the property with a very low center of gravity, and a good turning radius.

I have used the trick (MR?) of using the forks to pry recalcitrant brush out of the ground. (Think big 12' high x15' wide poison oak) The forks get right under, crack the roots, and you can come back when it the brush is really dead and chip it or brush cut into little pieces.

One thing to consider about 3rd party implements is weight. They may well be beefier, but it does cut into the lift capacity.

All the best,

Peter

 

[toy]

I have the pt forks for my 425 and you will be surprised at just how much you will use the forks, a real back saver. I needed to unload something when I first got my pt and it was tall and I didn't want to have it turn over so I built a light weight back for my forks. I was able to tie whatever it was to the back and steady the load it worked and felt a lot safer with it. I figured that I would cut the back off later and build a heavier one but that one has lasted several years and seems stout enough considering that the machine has a load limit and I don't lift with the back just steady the load anyway.

 

[MossRoad]

One more nice thing about getting the forks with the unit....

I had mine shipped to a truck dock in South Bend, In, a few miles from my house. We bought the PT425, large bucket, small bucket with teeth, 60" finish mower, 48" brush cutter, 60" power angle snow plow, forks and the loading ramps.

We took two pickup trucks to the loading dock and a gallon of gas (they ship nearly empty for safety reasons). I unpacked the forks and used them to move the two skids of stuff onto one of the pickup trucks. I then used the ramps to load the PT into the back of the other pickup truck and we drove everything home! :thumbsup:

The guys on the dock were pretty impressed. :laughing:

 

[American Bulldog]

I hear you all about the forks. The 1430 forks are $1900. The 1445 forks are $2000, and the 1460 forks are $3200. The first two are priced high, but the 1460 forks are just ridiculous. I ended up getting clamp on forks for now from:

Tractor Forks, Bucket Forks, Loader Forks by Bucket Solutions

They are a sponsor on this forum.

I got the medium duty for $449, and they threw in a stabilizer for $25. Free shipping as well.

If they work out good I might get the debris forks later. They look like they might be a really useful tool:

Tractor Hay Bale Spears

If the clamp on forks don't work well enough, I will get an aftermarket set of skid steer forks and weld on a QA plate. They are about half the price of PT's.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I would have to look at an old receipt, but the reason I went third party was due to the incredible savings, and the stronger build. Some of the PT accessories are way to expensive. The downside of this theory is that sometimes you have to pay two shipping costs (one for the PT and one for the accessories). I got lucky and the truck was rolling by Lackender so there was no real additional cost.

Carl