PowerTrac Customizations

MChalkley · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

Sedgewood - You can talk to Long directly about the PT bucket, if you like (it's just a correctly-sized regular Long 4-in-1 with a PT attachment plate welded on it), but you'll have to buy it from Carver or another Long dealer. Long can also perhaps tell you if there's local dealer, but it doesn't make a lot of difference, in my opinion - Carver has as good a price as anybody and by now he probably knows what a PowerTrac is anyway... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

MChalkley · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

wasabi - I just want to echo Sedgewood's accolades for Charlie, MossRoad, MCHalkley and others who so tirelessly expound upon the virtues of their powertracs (braggerts, all of you!).

Just to set the record straight (I do enough misleading around here myself, without others getting into the act /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif: Ok, so I'm a braggert. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif Ok, I sometimes engage in tirelessly doing something which you are as welcome to call expounding as others are to call something less flattering. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif But, alas, I'm not a PowerTrac owner, though I'd like to have an 1845 or something that size for "little jobs" (please, no offense intended here, you 1845 owners - everything is relative). I suppose the case could be made that I've done about as much as anyone to encourage others to look seriously at PowerTrac before buying anything, but I'm an EarthForce EF-500 owner. I came as close to buying a 2465 as anyone can come to buying anything, but didn't. For my needs the EarthForce machine is better. My needs are, shall we say, a bit out of the ordinary from the average TBN'er... /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif But, still, definitely not unique - there are quite a few others here who are looking seriously at EarthForce machines.

wasabi · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

MChalkley;

My mistake...I stand corrected. Now that you so kindly bring it to my attention, I do recall your lengthy thread about jumping ship to the EF brand...and the considerable ruckess that ensued as a result of your thoughful decision. Nonetheless, you are clearly still a force at work here (no pun intended)

Charlie_Iliff · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

Welcome aboard, John:
I got my 4 n 1 direct from Long, but I think you probably would have as good a time working through Carver. Power Trac sent them an attach plate, and Long put it on. The standard Power Trac bucket has its back 60 degrees off vertical, which Long matched. (If I were to do it again, I'd probably shoot for 75 degrees, so that the bucket curls farther down. Don't take that as a recommendation, however, since I am still a rank novice with a 4 n 1)
The open and close circuit for the bucket is the auxiliary PTO circuit which also operates the attachment lock. Despite advising them in writing and orally, Long did not believe that the connections on the bucket needed to be two 1/4" female. They came through with one male and one female 3/8", which I replaced.
Some time soon, I hope to modify the hydraulics to the bucket so that the curl lines are switched to the open/close cylinders by a solenoid operated valve. That way, a button on the joystick will determine whether sideward motion of the joystick curls the bucket or opens or closes it. Currently it is a bit clumsy opening and closing the bucket with the lever by your right knee, but lifting and curling with the joystick. Mark Chalkley had the diverter switch on his Kubota. He got a valve from Long, but used a higher capacity one on his rig. I doubt you'd need more capacity than Long provides, but I haven't talked to them about it. If mark can find it, he is going to lend the Long-supplied valve to me to experiment. If he can't come up with it, I will be calling Long to get a valve and instructions. You may want to ask them.
When I dealt with Long, I talked to Don Sloan, but also got a call or two from the person actually building the bucket. If I can come up with his name, I'll post it. Their address and Phone numbers are:
W. R. Long, Inc.
1607 Cedar St.
Tarboro, NC 27886
800-823-4570
Fax 252-823-4570
Caution: That address is for FedEx or similar delivery only. I actually had my check returned to me by the Post Office, saying that Long didn't have a mailbox at that address. That delayed my bucket a week, or so. Long has a Post Office box number which I don't recall, so if you're mailing anything, you need to get that from them.
What will be your primary applications of the 1845?

Charlie_Iliff · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

"I've tried converting a board strecher, but it must be metric or something"

I often cut a board three times and it's still too short. Same with budgets.

Charlie_Iliff · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

"Charlie, MossRoad, MCHalkley and others who so tirelessly expound upon the virtues of their powertracs (braggerts, all of you!)." 

Wasabi:
I knew it wouldn't take MChalkley long to disassociate himself from us Power Trac braggarts. It's just that he couldn't quite master the required articulated swagger, so he had to go for the EF crabwise slide.

wasabi · Apr 4, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

I've seen politicians do that sidewinder crab thing....you wouldn't be suggesting a vague connection there would you? ...and here, all this time I thought you guys were all registered in the same party!

Sedgewood · Apr 5, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

I just want to echo Sedgewood's accolades for Charlie, MossRoad, MCHalkley and others who so tirelessly expound upon the virtues of their powertracs (braggerts, all of you!).

Indeed. These three enthusiastic posters have been especially helpful to me. In fact I'd never even heard of Power Trac before I stumbled on these threads. This has been an interesting journey. I have about 40 rather rugged acres here, a 1500 foot driveway and about 2000 feet of private road I share with my neighbors. I currently have an International 484 (about 40hp) with a FEL that I use to do minor road grading and snow plowing. And a 5 ft Bush Hog for mowing, both here and for various neighbors. Partly due to a horrendous deer tic problem I've been trying to develop trails in the woods so I can once again walk my property without picking up so many tics. And I find the 484 just too big in the woods. And there are a few small backhoe jobs I want to do. This got me thinking I might look for a narrower, lower tractor for woods work, one with a small detachable hoe. Ideally one also heavy and powerful enough to do the brush hogging and driveway maintenance so I could get rid of the 484. Then I got thinking an articulated tractor with front mounted attachments would work better in the woods. I did an internet search and to my surprise turned up nothing suitable, just the usual too small lawn & garden stuff and too big EF and on up stuff. This was a major disappointment. I really wanted to get my attachments up in front of this tired ol' AARP qualifying head swivel. So I went off to my local International (Case) / Kubota dealer to see what Kubota might offer. I found the soon-to-be BX22 and the 2410 on the narrow and low enough end of the spectrum but not big enough to do the driveway and brush hogging. The next level up I found to be nearly as wide as the 484 and taller in fact with the ROPS. So I had pretty well made up my mind to go with the BX22 and mid mower and keep the 484. While waiting for the dealer to get one in I started poking around the net to see what others were thinking about it, found TractorByNet, spent some time here, and, I've forgotten now just where, came across a Power Trac discussion, went to their website and WOW - there it IS!! well..... the rest is history.. Thanks guys.

Sedgewood · Apr 5, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

Mark, thanks for the Long info and especially for the long comprehensive Power Trac posts. What a wealth of useful info you have gathered for us newbies.

Charlie, thanks for the long Long info. From looking at what pictures I can find of the Power Trac bucket I think you mean the back is 60 degrees off horizontal, right? I didn't get a chance while at Power Trac to play with the attachments but did drive around the yard a bit and my sense without trying to measure it is that the attachment plate has a range of rotation of about 90 degrees, 45 either side of vertical. Is this correct? If so I gather the bottom of your bucket will go from about 15 degrees below level to about 75 degrees above level. Am I right here? In which case I would think the 75 degree included angle would indeed be better for digging out ditches etc. My current FEL has about a 110 degree range of motion with the bottom going from about 95 degrees below horizontal to about 15 degrees above. Which is great for grading and pushing dirt with the edge of the bucket but at the other extreme not so great for carrying a load. Things tend to fall out, like when I went down a 20 degree hill with my chainsaw and a can of gas in the 15 degree bucket. The chainsaw fell out one side and the gas out the other. Which I promptly ran over, smashing the saw. And the plastic gas can. Which launched the gas in a nice fine spray over my head, drenching me in gasoline. It also wet the grass so the tractor broke traction. Down the hill I went at a most alarming rate of speed, trying to squint through the painful gas in the eyes and steer just enough to miss the tree at the bottom. The lucky get to learn from their experiences. I digress.

Back to the 4n1. I too will want to put the open close function on a curl line solenoid and will be following your progress with that modification. Right now it is kind of hard to visualize how it will all come together without a machine here to look at.

I'll call Don Sloan at Long as soon as the bank confirms that they want to go in with me on this adventure, hopefully early next week.

John

Charlie_Iliff · Apr 5, 2002

Re: PowerTrac 1845 4 n 1

...and here, all this time I thought you guys were all registered in the same party! 

Oh, but we are: The TBN Other Brands Party. We just don't vote as a bloc on anything, even the color of Mark's signature EF.