Spring fun

[bol4fun]

Building a house on 7 acres this summer and with our last snow this past week, have finally got the chance to start prepping for the build. I installed the thumb on my 425 mini hoe this morning and was very impressed with how it helped with the 15 to 20 trees a buddy and I cut down. He cut and I kept busy stacking logs and making brush piles.
I needed to get everything cleaned out before the bulldozer comes so was amazed how
the 425 speeded up the process. I bought it last August but didn't get a chance to use it much until now. I have 35 hours on it now and love it. I have noticed that occasionally, the controls are unresponsive in which case, i usually immediately try doing the opposite and try again for which it responds. It did this several times today. Is this common with the 425? I operate it mostly at about half to 2/3 throttle if that has anything to do with it.

 

[Thomas]

Congrats on new chapter in your life. :thumbsup:
Keep the updates coming.

 

[MossRoad]

If you're talking about the loader becoming unresponsive, it may be that you have the steering wheel at full lock to one side or the other, or, you need to lube up the joystick and under the joystick where the three spools on the hydraulic valvebank are.

If its the joystick and front end loader becoming unresponsive when the steering is at full lock, it's usually because the FEL hydraulics are fed pressure by a power-beyond port on the steering valve. Steering has priority. If you turn the steering wheel just a little bit the opposite way, it should free up flow back to the FEL.

 

[bol4fun]

Clearing out a ravine full of scrub trees has been a much bigger project than i imagined. The PT worked great for the fallen logs toward the top but the ravine was far too steep so most of those were cut small enough to carry out. I am happy I bought the rake attachment. I am glad I finally understand the float feature of the PT because it pretty much seems to be the primary way to use the rake. I am still debating on a box blade for leveling areas of dirt or gravel. I can't seem to get the hang of the big bucket since I can't seem to see the angle of the front edge of it from the seat. I have to lean forward out of the seat to see where it is. Any pointers would be appreciated.
Was thinking of having young son weld something to the top of the bucket somewhere (parallel with the bottom of the bucket as a reference guide to make it easier if that makes any sense. Think i have 45 hours on it now so will probably be calling Terry next week to have him walk my son through the bleeding process. Should I be looking for some cheap gallons of oil before I call him. 10w40 is what i will probably use since I live in Iowa and don't know if it will be in a heated garage the next few winters. Thanks guys for all of your help..... great forum here.

 

[MossRoad]

When I do my filter changes, I top off the hydraulic tank with Mobile1 synthetic oil, usually about a quart to replace what was in the hydraulic filter. I've used 5W40 and 5W50. Can't hurt.

As for you bucket leveling... I put the FEL arms in float, then curl the bucket all the way back, then start slowly dumping it forward. ("curl" and "dump" are the two terms for back and forward on a bucket) You can see when the flat of the bottom is level on the ground by the way the top of the back of the bucket will be moving forward and down as you dump, slightly hesitate as it sits level, then start moving up and forward again. Stop there and just curl it back a tad, then take it out of float. The bucket is now parallel to the ground.

If you want to use the bucket for back-dragging to level out an area, I fill the bucket with sand, dirt, rocks, whatever the material you are working with at the time. Then I level the bucket like how I described above and back-drag the area with the rear of the bucket while in float. It works way better than trying to back-drag with the blade-edge of the bucket and the key seems to be the weight of the material in the bucket providing the amount of down force you need to pull the material you are leveling.

By adjusting the angle of the curl/dump you can change the angle of the back of the bucket to get a more or less aggressive bite in the material.

Hope that helps a bit.