Questions About 425 Attachments

[jsduke]

I知 not sure I値l be able to get to Tazewell in the near future so I値l be asking you fine folks here on the PT forum for your experience and input on a number of attachments for my future 425 purchase.

First, I am unfortunately restricted by storage constraints. I have a a 7X16 foot space in my garage in which to keep the machine and attachments. Down the line I may be able to expand that by a bit and possibly include some 宋ertical space (forks anyone?).

My needs are: 350 foot gravel driveway maintenance including pushing wet snow that my blower cannot handle. Battling autumn olive and other nuisance vegetation on my mostly wooded 10 acre ridge property (I have a field and brush mower so this would be about removal and burning). Smalller stump removal and rehabilitation (bigger stumps to be left for an occasional mini-ex rental). Some small scale excavation/landscaping projects. The land is hard with some rock and clay. Driveway has deteriorated into a 祖oncrete two track. Debris clean-up. Maybe expand the lawn into currently unusable brushy areas.

I have a Simplity for grass mowing (about 1/2 acre or so). I know what attachments are available but don稚 have the experience to know which ones would be really useful.

Thanks.

duke

 

[jsduke]

So what is with the weird characters replacing some of my letters and punctuation? ��

 

[jfh28]

the plow is great for snow...I couldn't live here without it.....heavy wet snow I don't like to let get deeper then 8-12" or being center articulated the machine crabs......get some chains for at least two wheels......if I could put them on all four I would.....the plow is pretty worthless for grading unless its loose stones...the machine just doesn't have enough weight or umph ......I have a 1/4 mile stone drive and for maintenance I back drag the light material bucket......I've also used that method to spread an acre of topsoil for a neighbor....I've also used the lmb as a scaffold although you didn't hear me say that out loud.....lol.....I also find the backhoe indispensable and have it hooked up on the rear all the time.......besides digging holes and trenches I'll use it to fix potholes and break up the ice on the drive.....I imagine it would do well removing small diameter stumps.....I also have the grapple bucket which although not used a lot is a life saver when I need it.....that might work for your vegetation or the four in one bucket might be better for what you have.....keep in mind the cost of shipping from tazwell will be about the cost of an attachment.......so get as much as you can afford when you buy the tractor otherwise you'll be looking at a couple of hundred bucks for shipping one attachment over the road freight......for what its worth I never went to tazwell either and bought everything sight unseen......Jack

 

[jfh28]

are you using a phone or tablet to type your messages....thats the only thing I can think of for the weird characters .........Jack

 

[jsduke]

Thanks for the info Jack.

If the blade is only capable of about 10 inches of snow and not really suited for driveway grading, might skip it as I have no room for sparsely used attachments. The LMB would probably handle my non blowable snow if equipped with edge tamers.

I am wondering if either the grapple bucket or dirt bucket with teeth could handle breaking up hard packed driveway and then back dragging until level? I guess the power rake would do a fine job on driveway maintenance but I am unsure if I would or could use it for anything else?

Will the grapple bucket hold up to the same digging tasks as the dirt bucket with teeth? They look basically the same except for the type of teeth on the grapple and of course the grapple itself. Seems silly to need both.

Then there is brush clearing and removing. Utility grapple, grapple bucket or 4in1?

And speaking of the 4in1... is it a tough and capable jack of all trades or a somewhat delicate and less capable master of none?

 

[woodlandfarms]

We were just discussing the value of the 4 in 1. OK at everything, great at nothing. Get a grapple, and buy a bucket with a toothbar. You will be way happier. Pushing dirt / snow requires the correct tool. I don't push any dirt so others will chime in.

The PT is not an exceptional machine at ground engagement. It isn't bad, but the torque and beef in a "normal" tractor is much more condusive to ground work. I maintain a mile long dirt road, no problems, I do cut trails on the hillsides of my property (something of a problem with 8 tires).

The PT does everything good, none of it great. It is hugely versatile, and outside of plowing a field IMO better than any tractor I have worked with. Stay away from the power rake btw. I don't know of anyone who has bought it who didn't try to sell it in a year.

 

[jsduke]

So instead of the 4in1 I should be looking at the PT 5 cf. dirt bucket with bolt on teeth and the PT utility grapple?

How do you maintain your road WF?

 

[MossRoad]

My PT storage area is about the same as yours... and old shed that is 16' deep. Here's how I store my implements.

SUMMER:
- 60" power angle snowplow goes up against the back wall.
- 48" brush cutter goes up against that.
- I put the 48" pallet forks sideways inside my small rock bucket with teeth.
- I put the small rock bucket with teeth inside the large light material bucket.
- I set that on the ground tipped up against the rear wheels of the 48" brush cutter.
- I put the 60" finish mower on the tractor, lift it up, drive forward until the front tires of the tractor are up against the rear of the large light material bucket, and slowly lower the 60" finish mower down onto the brush cutter and buckets.
- Then I get off and shut the door with room to spare.

That takes up 60" wide by about 15.5'

WINTER:
- 60" finish mower goes up against the back wall.
- Pallet forks nested in small bucket nested in big bucket go up against that.
- 48" brush cutter goes on top of the finish mower and buckets.
- 60" power angle snowplow goes on the tractor.
And that allows me enough room to BACK the tractor in with the plow facing out, and close the door with room to spare. So I just open the door and plow out. Works great.

As far as snow removal with a bucket... you won't like it. Get the plow and get the wheels for the back of the plow. The plow works way better than the large material bucket. It's cheap and worth its weight in gold.

I have the small bucket with teeth. If you get it, take a grinder to the tips of the teeth and bevel them. They come blunt and are kinda useless that way. I was complaining about it, and a TBN member told me to bevel them with a grinder. Night and day difference! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

The reason I'm suggesting the wheels for the plow is your gravel driveway. Raising the cutting edge of the snow blade up an inch or two and letting it ride on the gauge wheels will leave just an inch of snow and not hit any rocks. I have a long strip of crushed limestone in a long 3-4-space parking area and this works great. Don't be intimidated by 10" of wet heavy snow. Yes, it will tend to crab the machine when going forward with the plow angled. So don't angle the plow. Keep it straight and push down the center of the drive as far as you can, then back up and push it to the side if you have to. The plow on the FEL arms on the 400 series machines is very capable of pushing snow up in 6' piles. You can't do that with the buckets.

And although you get heavy snows, you also get lighter snows. The plow is too good of a value to pass up. As are the light material bucket and pallet forks.

If I was going to order again, I'd skip the small rock bucket with teeth and get the grapple bucket instead. It's the same bucket and same teeth.

The small bucket is 370. The teeth are 150. That's 520.
The utility grapple is 800.
The grapple bucket is 1300.

1300-800 is 500.....

If you go with the grapple bucket vs the small bucket with teeth plus the utility grapple, you'll get pretty much the same functionality in one implement that you'd have in two implements for 20 less.

Now I don't know how well either of those grapples compare to each other, so you'll have to get someone else's opinion on that. But if space saving is a concern, I'd go with the grapple bucket as long as it comes with teeth.

The light material bucket is another implement that is too good of a value to pass up. You can nest your grapple or grapple bucket inside it, as well as pallet forks. It's really nice to have that large bucket around when moving loose material such as sand, dirt, mulch, gravel, etc....

Also, looking back over the years, I should have gotten the mini-hoe with a thumb. It would be great for removing small stumps and digging plantin holes.

Hope that helps.

 

[ernemats]

I usually have the small bucket on my 422 as I use it for lots of things, hauling firewood, dirt, gravel clearing leaves out of ditches, etc. I also use the mini hoe with thumb a lot, picking up large logs, moving brush piles, digging holes and ditches, . Also use 48 inch finish mower a lot in summer for mowing, also modified snow plow blade I can use on either the 422 or 1845. Other attachments I use not too often, trailer mover, salt spreader/seeder, flail mower. I also modified a York rake to level driveway, it works ok but not for hard packed.
I don't know exactly where you live but you are welcome to come check out my tractors, I have a pt 422 and also a pt 1845 slope mower, I am about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh near Johnstown.

 

[jsduke]

Thanks Moss, it helps a great deal. Especially with my storage restrictions and my concerns about the blade.

Until I spoke with Terry at PT (The Tazewellian Angel by all accounts on this forum) and he explained that the teeth on the current grapple bucket are laser cut flat stock and not designed for prying and digging, I thought I could use the grapple bucket for brush work AND digging. So that is why I am asking about other options such as separate utility grapple and dirt bucket with teeth because buying both the grapple bucket and the dirt bucket with teeth just does not seem right.

I do not want to have to baby this stuff too much or break it.

I have the LMB, forks, minihoe and thumb on my list too.

 

[MossRoad]

Hmmm.... I wonder when they changed the teeth on the grapple bucket? Good to know. I'll cross it off my list.

 

[jsduke]

Sounds like the Hoe/thumb might be an option (although not ideal) for brush and log handling. I am about 90 minutes east of you in Bedford county. Thanks for the offer erne. May take you up on that at some point.

 

[jsduke]

Yeah, kinda puzzling, Moss. Terry did say he did not think there were any of the old style GBs still available. He also explained that the grapple bucket was better able to grab mixed brush and the utility grapple was better for logs due to the opening and lack of bucket.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, that's a puzzler for sure. Wonder why they changed it?

I have not seen the utility grapple in person. Looking at it from pictures, it looks a bit thin, so to speak.

I'd like a grapple for grabbing brush and branches, that's for sure. I don't need to grapple logs. My woods is too narrow between trees to take them out sideways and my tongs work really well for dragging them out lengthwise, and those cost $29.00.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I would not buy a grapple bucket. I started with that, then took the grapple top off and made my own Grapple bottom. So much happier.

You should reach out to EA Attachemnts. There is no rule that you use PT's attachements. As a matter of fact I only own one PT Attachment out of my 13. The Mower, Every other attachment I have purchased from another manufacturer and made to fit or just made the implement myself (I can proudly say I made my own Post Hole Digger, Stump Grinder and Grapple) and I modified a previously owned box blade and york rake to work on the PT. Even made my own quick attach plates.

As for road maintenance. I have ended up with a very old but still quite nice York Rake. I would like a landscape plane but I have yet to make the rear attachment adapter for my PT. The york rake works great, keeps the rocks in the road. Box blades are no good for a dirt / gravel road.

 

[ernemats]

An option I have been debating is adding a bolt on tooth bar for my bucket, I think that would work well for digging and also would help break up hard packed dirt or driveway.

 

[jsduke]

I saw a thread on here that came about a couple of years back that revolved around EA making grapples for T-8 and I think T-12 machines. One of the participants was Travis from EA and also included a few from this forum. The discussion was initially very positive but turned negative as the EA powers that be became skeptical. There was some issue about the QA Plate angle...

Would this be a one off from EA, WF?

While I wholeheartedly commend you on your accomplishments; for me, I have neither the skills, the equipment or the inclination to start building, adapting or tweaking a custom piece. Need more of a turn key solution.

 

[jfh28]

don't misunderstand me.....I absolutely endorse the snow plow as a must have for plowing....it's just after a decade of use I have learned to adapt to the limitations of the machine.......yes you can keep the plow straight and push and then move the pile to the side but the machine will bog down as the weight increases from the snow pile, crab and stall out.......and while that may be doable on a short drive let me tell you it gets old pretty quickly on a long drive......I can easily move 20" of regular snow but have found the optimum I want to push of the wet stuff is 8-12".....what I do on the first pass is slightly angle the blade and run down just off center of the drive.....once I have that path clear I fully angle the blade and make subsequent passes adjusting the width of the cut based on the snow depth....more snow then less cut.....in heavy snows I might only take half the width of the blade per pass.....this is what I have found works best for me over the years......I don't have the wheels what I did is cut a strip of horse mat and bolt it on the bottom of the plow with about 1 1/2" exposed below the blade......I then set the blade just touching the stones and off I go......if I hit a raised stone or high spot the rubber mat bends back.......generally after you plow for the first time in the season everything gets smoothed out and you're good to go for the rest of the winter....depending on the amount of storms we have I'll get about a season per strip so a horse mat will last quite a few years......in terms of storing I put each attachment on a furniture dolly and then just roll it to where I want it....the attachments don't take up a lot of room unless you have mowers........Jack

 

[woodlandfarms]

Agreed, buying is way easier than building. I was just emphasizing there is more than one way to skin a cat. Also I am getting at is that if you buy a bucket and a grapple, you wil lbe happy with your bucket and your grapple as each has a job to do and does it well. You buy a 4in1 or a Bupple (Grapit?) you get a tool that does those thing mediocre. I thought that EA resolved the plate issue, yes, the PT mounting bracket has a 15 degree down angle that is not common to manufactures but easy to create.