Ordered a new 425 last week

BobRip · Dec 16, 2006

JD, thanks for the report and the pictures. It still looks clean.
Did you raise the bucket up as far as it would go to dump it. That seems to work best for me. The down angle is greater up high.

Sounds like the machine is working great for you. Being happy is the best evaluation of any machine. The machine is easy to fall in love with.

The throttle is like a Japanese sword, it cuts on the pull stroke. This is how the Japanse throttles work.

Mark the hoses on the minihoe (put red tape on one of the minihoe hoses and on one of the PT quick disconnects) so you always hook them up the same. This way you learn one way to operate it.

RegL · Dec 17, 2006

This is a great thread and it's brought up something I don't think there's been discussion about before. Interchanging wheels of different diameters. Here's my question. Can you get different size wheels with the same bolt pattern? If so, I think this could be useful. For instance, in the winter I use the PT1430 to remove snow from several driveways and I drive the tractor to them on the road, about 1/2 mile. A little extra ground speed with higher wheels would sure be welcome. The reduced power would not be a problem because in Winter I usually break traction before I run out of power.
Than, for mowing hillsides, as long as ground clearance is not a problem, You could squat her down with shorter wheels increasing stability and power.
OK, enough ranting. Back to the beach.

MuncyBob · Dec 17, 2006

Great pics! With the expected warm weather for the next week or so you should be able to get in a considerable amount of seat time. Not sure what project you are working on...could it be site preparation for the first annual PT Owners Convention?

Bob999 · Dec 17, 2006

RegL said:
Here's my question. Can you get different size wheels with the same bolt pattern?

Yes. However you also have to be concerned about the center hole in the wheel, offset to fit with the wheel motor and wheel width appropriate to match the tire you are running.

With a 1430 the standard wheel/tire is 26x12x12. There are 27 and 29 inch diameter tires available.

ddonnell · Dec 17, 2006

JD

Nice digs, both tractor-wise and home-wise!

KentT · Dec 17, 2006

RegL,

These are standard garden tractor wheels, with 5 lugs on a 4.5" center pattern. Both Dodge/Chrysler and Ford car 5-lug wheels have the same bolt pattern, as long as the hole in the center is large enough to clear the nuts on the hubs. I've seen a lot of garden tractors where the owner put 15" wheels on them. There are also 14" car wheels with the same bolt-pattern. 13" ones are rare, since most 13" car wheels in the old days used a 4-lug pattern, though some few did use 5-lugs.

The only real issue other than the size of the hole in the center is the offset -- where the center of the wheel is located on the rim. Any of these car wheels should work, since none would have as deep an offset as the garden tractors, but they might widen the stance and put you close to the "reversed wheel" effect that Fourteen, I and a few others are using (and seem to be happy with, BTW)....

Hope this helps...

Beechwood · Dec 17, 2006

KentT said:
RegL,

These are standard garden tractor wheels, with 5 lugs on a 4.5" center pattern. Both Dodge/Chrysler and Ford car 5-lug wheels have the same bolt pattern, as long as the hole in the center is large enough to clear the nuts on the hubs. I've seen a lot of garden tractors where the owner put 15" wheels on them. There are also 14" car wheels with the same bolt-pattern. 13" ones are rare, since most 13" car wheels in the old days used a 4-lug pattern, though some few did use 5-lugs.

The only real issue other than the size of the hole in the center is the offset -- where the center of the wheel is located on the rim. Any of these car wheels should work, since none would have as deep an offset as the garden tractors, but they might widen the stance and put you close to the "reversed wheel" effect that Fourteen, I and a few others are using (and seem to be happy with, BTW)....

Hope this helps...

Kent: I could be wrong but I think the lug bolt holes on the PT wheels are 7/16" and auto wheel lug bolt holes are 1/2". Please correct me if I'm wrong. I think my lug bolts are 7/16" on the 180. I don't know if the larger dia. countersink makes much difference when tighting the bolts.

KentT · Dec 17, 2006

Beechwood said:
Kent: I could be wrong but I think the lug bolt holes on the PT wheels are 7/16" and auto wheel lug bolt holes are 1/2". Please correct me if I'm wrong. I think my lug bolts are 7/16" on the 180. I don't know if the larger dia. countersink makes much difference when tighting the bolts.

Beechwood,

You may be correct. But, I've put wheels from my Simplicities and a Gilson on my PT on a temporary basis (due to flats, before I added sealant) and I've put Dodge wheels on a Simplicity...

I haven't measured the actual holes in any of the wheels -- only bolted them on....

Kent

RegL · Dec 17, 2006

OK, I'm going to check out the junk yard for some wheels and tires, even if it's just to see what it looks like. I noticed that the wife's Volvo has 5 holers. Do you think she would notice if I swapped them out with the PT.

On a less silly note, Dave probably is not going to do any brush-hogging, but I bet there would be clearance issues between the front tires and the mower deck if he did. With the 1430, it's pretty tight with stock wheels.

JD-Beach · Dec 17, 2006

Bob999, ... 29-inch tires? ... do they fit on the same 12-inch wheels? ... This would be good to increase the soil bearing area. Where online can I see these tires? My hunch is that one could up-size the tires and increase traction significantly without a great deal of cost.

ddonnell, thanks, ... it's all a blessing from the Lord.

BobRip, great idea on the mini-hoe hoses, ... red tape to mark them. ... I'll do it! ... That throttle lever, (Japanese or not) is backwards. ... we gotta do something 'bout that!

My friend with the Kubota stopped by today. He's having trouble getting his front tires bogged down in the sand when the bucket is fully loaded. I think he's becoming a believer.

I remain a little concerned about the angle of the small bucket when trying to dump a load of sand. It seems that a minor modification (lengthening one section of linkage) could solve this problem and create a steeper angle (almost vertical) for the bucket. It seems like this would be more of a problem with soil or mud.

I love this machine!