PowerTrac Customizations

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations - 1845 hitch

Hitch in primer - photo attached.
Having owned the Power Trac 10 days, and already cut of something and welded on something else, I suspect that I may keep it. Certainly I made returning it for a refund a bit unlikely.
But, no buyer's remorse so far.
Next project is to dismantle another old Reese hitch and mount the receiver on a quick attach plate to hook things to the front.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations-Loading Ramps

MossRoad:
Once you see our welds, you won't have any hesitation to post pictures of yours.
And, once you see our 2" hitch mount, your own design will look a lot better to you. Some day, I'll have a 2" receiver mounted platform/basket for carrying miscellaneous stuff.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations-Loading Ramps

Thanks! I don't feel so bad now /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.

That looks great! It will be much handier than the pin type hitch. You can now put any type of hitch that you might need on a 2" bar and slip it in. Perfect!

Hey, you got a reverse light! I feel cheated.

Have you done the lube job yet? I had no troubles, although I did have to remove some bolts and covers to get to the treadle assembly.

 

[pajoube]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations-Loading Ramps

Thanks for the great photos, they have given me some very good ideas. Keep taking pictures.
Talked with a neighbor of mine who does welding, looks like it will be much cheapier to hire him than to train myself and buy the equipment.
Paul

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations-Loading Ramps

MossRoad:
I haven't done a lube or any other maintenance yet. I have about three and a half hours on it. I will be reading up and setting schedules, which I'll probably misplace, but until mowing starts, I won't be putting much time on unless we get a bunch of snow.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations; Light Brackets

Went to the scrap yard today and picked up several pieces of angle iron, square stock and some plate to start some practice welding and projects.

The first thing that I am going to attempt are some brackets to mount lights under the canopy facing forward and rear. I could have just drilled holes in the canopy to mount the lights, but decided that I would rather weld brackets to the underside and mount the lights to the brackets. That way, if I ever want to remove them, I can just grind down the welds instead of having to plug the holes.

I will need 4 brackets. For the brackets I am using one and a half inch square tubing, about 1/8 inch thick, 3 inches long. I drilled one hole in the middle of one of the sides of each bracket. All I have to do now is weld them in place and paint them. I will need to wait for warmer weather to do this, so I'll post pictures when the time comes.

 

[pajoube]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations; Light Brackets

Have not seen any updates from you in awhile, did you finish the light bar? Also looking at the weather pattern for your area I assume you got the large storm of last weekend. Did you have a chance to put the 425 into use?
Paul

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations; Light Brackets

We had about 4-5 inches of snow last week, then alot of ice. The blade did a fine job.

Right now, it is too cold to paint the light brackets, so I don't want to mount them until then, as I will be welding them to the underside of the canopy. I plan on removing the ROPS/Canopy and laying it upside down on the driveway so that I can weld in a comfortable position. Then I will paint them and the underside of the canopy and put the whole thing back in place.

This weather is lousy. Ground is frozen, so no digging. No snow, so no plowing. I think I'll go over to the "I miss my tractor " thread and whine some more! /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

 

[Bird]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations; Light Brackets

Don't feel too bad, David. It's certainly different down here in Texas, but may be just as bad. We had a very light, but almost continuous, rain for over 24 hours from Tuesday evening until last night (only about an inch and a third total), then it snowed last night./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Of course, since the temperature range has been about 28 to 38, you had to look close to see any sign of the snow on the car this morning./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I intended to set out onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage plants, and plant beets and squash next week, but the garden will still be too muddy.

However, I don't guess it matters, since I've committed to driving a truck for a fellow 10-12 hours a day this Friday and every day next week, so won't have time for the garden anyway./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

And to make matters worse, I'll probably never catch up on the forum again after next week./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PowerTrac Customizations; Light Brackets

Man, planting in February must be nice! I can plant stuff like spinach and radishes as soon as the ground is workable around the end of March or start of April.

I replaced my storm windows last fall, so I have a bunch of wood windows that I want to use for cold frames. Maybe I'll get an earlier start this year.

I put in some calls to a few local lawn and garden shops today looking for a chipper shredder with a blown engine that I can convert to hydraulic. Maybe a project that I can do in the cold. Until then, I have to wait.

Good luck driving next week. Catching up here after 24 hours is hard enough. One week would take at least a full day /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.