New Owner

[Anonymous Poster]

Hello Guys, after reading these post for a few years I have gone from a Kubota B7100 to a Power-Trac 425. Having a 8 acre retail greenhouse and plant nursery I felt the Power-Trac would add some muscle to the operation. I drove to Tazewell one morning (126 miles) and spent some time with Scott and Terry, then placed my order. The 425, 60" mower, mini-hoe, trencher,auger/with 12" bit, pallet forks, small bucker/teeth, big bucket and extra plate arrived on Saturday. On Monday I was doing the 10 hour maintance and will change the oil and filter at 20 hours. I like this machine as it seems to hold well to hills and does as well as any tractor in this red clay soil we have in East Tennessee. It is not a dozer and will not dig into a clay bank like I was hoping it would, the pallet forks are a joke for moving real loaded pallets aroung. (Not long enough) The trencher is a hoss, but it needs skill from the op0erator as well as the mini-hoe. The mower will do the job as long as the grass is kept down, it just sounds like a jet wanting to take off. The buckets do as buckets do. Our season is fixing to start and I will have more seat-time than I care to think about in 3 months. Oh, almost forget the tiller, it is built like a tank compared to some of those imports I have used, but there again operator skill is needed to keep it from bogging down. Overall I feel this machine will help build and maintain my operation and will try to let everyone know as things go along.

 

[bubenberg]

welcome aboard ... good luck! did you get the new 425 version?

the green beasty has reduced my payroll quite a bit over the last two years ... i hope you can say the same thing at the end of the coming growing season.
/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

great - congrats on your purchase - looking forward to hearing about your progress and seat time

ED

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome aboard! Glad to have another commercial user to confer with, as us part time/homeowner types sometimes can't get the hours or real world usage under our belts for months at a time.

The pallet forks are a bit stubby, I suppose. Moves logs real well. And busts up hard soil mounds too.

For bucket use, I have found that on really hard digging, the large bucket works better than my small bucket with teeth. When you start pushing forward, try steering side-to-side while keeping slow, steady pressure on the treadle. You kind of wiggle through it, instead of pushing against it. Kind of like slicing side to side with the leading egde of the bucket. Of course, I don't have clay soil, but it might be worth a try. Hope this helps. Let us know if it works or not. Thanks.

Has anyone tried to sharpen the teeth on the little bucketss? The seem kind of rounded compared to industrial backhoe teeth. Wonder if different teeth would work better? Hmmm. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[pajoube]

Congratulations and along with the others looking forward to hearing your experience with the minihoe.
PJ

 

[marrt]

<font color="green">Has anyone tried to sharpen the teeth on the little bucketss? The seem kind of rounded compared to industrial backhoe teeth. Wonder if different teeth would work better? Hmmm. </font>

I did sharpen the teeth on the small bucket. Didn't seem to make a lot of difference. In the end, I took the teeth off and just used the potato plow to loosen dirt and scoop it up with the bucket. I found that I liked the small bucket better because there is less surface area on the bottom of the bucket to create friction. Therefore, it is easier to push.

 

[wasabi]

Welcome new PTer. You made a good choice. Looking forward to your insights.

 

[ernemats]

WELCOME ABOARD . I think you will like the machine once you learn little secrets on using the different attachments. On the tiller do not try to use down pressure just leave it in float position and adjust depth by tilting tiller.

 

[davesisk]

Welcome, dude! Enjoy your new toy...er...uh...tool!
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Dave

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Welcome...we look forward to your experiences as you rack up the hours in short order with this productivity "tool".