PowerTrac Specific Modifications

joshlee · Sep 3, 2019

m5040 said:
Good place for the fire ext. On your park brake, did your handle start off in the vertical position and you just made it longer? Mine starts off in the horizontal (off) and goes up from there. I think I would like to have it like yours, seems like it would be easier.

The part marked "A" is where the original handle was and "B" is the one that I welded on for the stop. The pipe being on there gets the handle away from the side a couple of inches ,so I don't skin my knuckles on that plate steel when putting the brake on/off.

m5040 · Sep 4, 2019

I lost proportion looking at yours, when I went to my PT180 to do some engineering, I came back to reality, it is miniature and wouldn't have room. I backed off on the friction nut so it would work easier.

joshlee · Sep 4, 2019

Yeah, it is a matter of finding that happy medium with the nut, where it will stay where you put the handle. Those 180 machines look like good tractors.

m5040 · Sep 4, 2019

If it was a diesel, it would be perfect for my needs. I bought it mainly to do brush cutting in tight spaces and it does the job great! All the other stuff it can do is just a bonus. I like it so much it makes me want to get a 1430.

joshlee · Sep 4, 2019

I was checking the 180 out the couple of times that I have been down to Tazewell. It would great for some of the yards around here, where people have lots of trees, bushes, out buildings, etc. to mow around, and clean things up. They would work well for the poultry barns around here too, but people do not know about Power Trac in this area.How much area do you maintain with the 180? I have about 200 yds of driveway to plow, and 2 acres with no trees to mow. I would recommend the 1430 to anyone; it sure is a well built machine.

m5040 · Sep 5, 2019

Instead of money in the bank, I have tractors in the barn. The PT180 has it's niche in the fleet. My driveway is 900' and we have gotten 2'-3' snow storms at one time, so I have a 60hp Kubota with a cab, plow, and snowblower. I built my house in the woods of south east CT and the soil here is 80% rocks so anywhere there is no lawn (and even there) is rocks. The PT with the ability to move to and fro slow or quickly is responsible for all the trim work, which is a lot. I put 15 hours on it the first 2 weeks getting ready for a July 4 picnic. I have tried many many tractors to do the job and nothing compares to the PT! No kidding... It would be one of the last ones to sell.

joshlee · Sep 5, 2019

It seems like there are quite a few of you guys up there in CT that have a Power Trac. When they deliver my PT, there was another one on the trailer that was going up to CT. The 425 I used to have had much more agility than what the 1430 has, but I needed a heavier machine for things around here. Right now I'm thinking about getting a 4 bar tires/wheels from Power Trac, and put chains on them for the winter time, then put my turf tires/wheels back on in the spring. That Kubota with a cab and snowblower sounds like a lifesaver up in that colder region,:laughing: Normal snows around here are between 4"-12", not quite enough for me to buy a snowblower.

m5040 · Sep 7, 2019

I personally believe that the size of tire chains made for the 23"-26"tires used on the PT are small enough that they will fall between the lugs on bar tires greatly reducing their effectiveness. I think if you are going to run chains, try them on your turf tires and save some $ (if the turfs/chains don't work out the same chains will fit the agriculture bar tires). Also the wheels might be standard "off the shelf" wheels that other tractor manufacturers use and you can pickup cheaper at a junk yard or off of craigslist on a inoperative tractor part-out (MTD, John Deer. Cubcadet etc). Just get the usual stuff right (dia, width, lug circle, offset and valve position correct). You are right on the agility of the smaller tractors, my PT180 can just about go anywhere the only thing that stops it is ground clearance and even that isn't as bad as I though since one of their advantages is the smooth heavy steel undersides that slide over objects. I have a lot of paint missing on mine, but nothing there to get damaged the way it is constructed.

joshlee · Sep 8, 2019

That does make sense about the chains on bar tires doing that. There's a business up the rode that specializes in tractor tires and wheels, so it would be a good idea to show them that tire/wheel to see how much their price would be. Yeah, that's one of the other benefits of these machines, a low center of gravity that prevents it from being tipsy, and like you said, that smooth bottom on the tub literally glides over higher objects. The bottom of the tub on mine is probably polished by now; I don't see how there could be any paint left on it, anyway.