Starting to plan my PT purchase

[toolz_not_toyz]

I've decided its safe to start posting again now that I'm closer to making my own PT purchase.

I'm going to be moving out to Washington (state) over the next two months and will have a second crack at tractor ownership since i'm leaving my JD lawn tractor behind.

I'm thinking PT 425 with the following:

-48" finish mower
-small bucket with teeth
-large bucket
-mini hoe
-bar tires
-forks
-snow/dirt blade*
-box blade*

*Not sure about these.

Here's the thing. I will have an approx 450' gravel driveway to maintain. I don't think there will ever be much snow to move around since this is going to be Washington state but not in the mountains. Basically, I've been told it never really snows other than a light dusting. So between the snow/dirt blade and the box blade, which is the way to go to maintain the driveway?

Past threads have stated the box blade is THE way to go and that the dirt blade is pretty much useless for anything but snow. Yet, I'm pretty sure I did stumble across at least one thread that stated the dirt blade was THE way to go.

Opinions and tall tales of experience would be appreciated. I'm probably still about three months away from making any decisions on this.

 

[MossRoad]

If you are not expecting to get much snow, ever, I would not buy the snow blade. On the rare ocassion that you will have to remove snow, the large bucket can do a good job. All you have to do is drop it to the ground, level it with the drive, then tilt it up about 1/2 inch. Drive right down the center of the driveway with the unit in float and it should act just like a V plow once a little snow builds up in it. Then a few passes down the sides and you should be fine.

I don't have their box blade, but I do have a large one on my bigger tractor. They work great for leveling driveways a few times a year.

I'm not sure, but the small bucket with teeth may be the same bucket that they use on the graple. If you skip the small bucket with teeth and the plow, for $420 more you could have the grapple(which is $1300). Do you have a use for one? You'd have to check with Power Trac to see that the buckets are the same.

Knowing what I know now VS when I purchased, if I had no need for the plow, that's what I would have done. But I do need the plow and I had to stick to my budget. Darn that budget! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RegL]

Unless you plan on operating your tractor in the mud a lot, I would go with the turfs. I bought a set of bars to use when in the woods and fields. I didn't see a noticable difference in traction except maybe in mud that fills the tread on turfs. My bar treads are stacked up in the barn. They make a good stand to store my leaf blower on. LOL! If you were going to get the bars in addition to the turfs, I would spend that good money on an attachment. Just my 2 cents.

 

[stray]

-48" finish mower == Many will say get the 60” mower but I like the 48” Just fine.

-small bucket with teeth == Forget this one You are getting the mini hoe for digging and the bucket is way to small to be practical.

-large bucket this is a very good tool, very useful

-mini hoe I wouldn’t be without it. A great tool.

-bar tires I will totally agree with Regl. Get the turf. The bar will mark you yard and pack mud into you PT. The turf will get good traction. I too have a set of bar tars and they are gathering dust just like Regls are.

-forks == A good tool

-snow/dirt blade* I don’t have one of these

-box blade* This tool works very well. With the Pt you can pin point its action very well. You have to use it backing up of course.
One thing I don’t have to compare for you is the 4 in one bucket but I’ll bet it would

 

[pajoube]

My two cents worth!
Forget the snow blade.
Go with the bar tires
forget the small bucket with teeth
Go with the 4 in 1 bucket
get the forks
get the box blade
get the large bucket
depending on yard size consider the 60 inch finish mower.
I also have found the extra plate with receiver (hitch) has been very usefull as I move my trailer into tight places.
Great start of attachments. After you have settled into your new digs you may want to consder purchasing the following attachments:
core aerator
trencher
potato digger
tiller
Now you will need to build another garage to place all this stuff /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif but oh will you be happy.
PJ

 

[tracdoc]

Sounds as though you are on the fast track now to PT ownership. That's great.

IMO, the 48" mower is just fine for my 2+ Ac. I think there is a thread on TBN (not PT forum) that seemed to find that a 60" width did not reduce mowing time by the 20% over a 48" as the math would suggest--more like 10-15% time saving. I also find the 48" mower highly maneuverable and well matched to the width of the PT.

The voice of polite dissent on tires here [largely from going to visit FOURTEEN before I made my purchase /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif]. I think the bar tires are great. If you are going to do any woodsy or trail type work, I would stick with the bar tires as you were considering. Also, contrary to what some say, bar tires do not leave any marks on the lawn, at least none that last more than a couple of hours. I run the TPs at 7/11 psi as FOURTEEN recommends. I dosed them with Ultraseal (bulletproof grade from Gemplers {HERE} ) when I first got the PT, and I have had no flats. Neighbors are envious of my lawn this season. I attribute to de-thatching, feeding and cutting w/ the PT finish mower. Bar tires did not detract.

I have the snow blade, and so far have used it but once for snow. My wife says that buying it was a good insurance policy against snow LOL. I did also use it to push some dirt around, but I have a lot more fun...errr, I mean I get a lot more work done with my 4n1 bucket.

My favorite implement, is indeed the 4n1 bucket. It is somewhat larger than the small bucket but oh, it does so much more. I have used it as a grapple bucket very effectively. I can also back drag to level a trail, and even use it as a box blade. It's a piece of cake to dump into the side of my pickup, since I just have to open the bottom, and no need to curl bucket over the sidewall of the pickup bed and worry about denting. I would definitely give the 4n1 a serious look. Scott at PT hooked one up for me while I was visiting and put it through its paces. They'd be happy to do the same for you before you leave VA. For me the 4n1 is a box blade and a grapple bucket and so much more. If you get it, don't add the individual bolt-on teeth from PT (I would say that for any bucket you may consider). You can get a great economical toothbar for it from Markham Welding{HERE} and then you will have the best of all worlds. You can easily remove and attach the tooothbar with two bolts in minutes.

I got the tine rake and have found this to be an excellent implement to clean up and to de-thatch lawn in spring, and to clean up in non-lawn areas as well. I turned the tines around so I can use the rake moving forward. The only limitation with that orientation is that you can't use rake in 'float' as it will tend to dive in (as in no draft control with that orientation). I just proceed at a nice pace with hand on joystick, and it's a pleasure to use.

I also like the potato digger. It does a great job at digging small/medium holes for planting, breaking up soil to get my veggie garden going, and as others have reported it will also serve as a decent handy trencher.

I guess that's one of the things about a PT. It's hard to find an implement that you won't like or won't be able to adapt to your situation. As someone said: "The Swiss Army knife of tractors."

 

[pequeajim]

I agree that you should skip the small bucket and if you can afford it, go with the 4 in 1 bucket. I love mine and have used it for all sorts of work. Besides the mini hoe, it is my favorite attachment.

 

[toolz_not_toyz]

Okay. So that looks like thumbs down for the snow/dirt plow. My only concern about the box blade is having to drive 450 feet in reverse. That sounds pretty rough.

My reasons for the 48" mower vs the 60" is that the new property is mostly wooded. The 60" would have made more sense for my current property which has 1.5 acres of grass. BUT chances are I'd still prefer the 48" because of maneuverability concerns (e.g. driving around trees and flower beds).

The reason for the bar tires are again because there's mroe forest than grass and also because of that gravel driveway which comes off of a gravel road. Apparently, our little community pitches in to do "road maintenance" on the main gravel road. So I can see the PT coming in handy there.

Because "gravel" seems to come up a lot when I think of the chores around the new place I put that small bucket on the list. While I agree that the 4n1 bucket is pretty neat, I think it is limited by the PT 425's lift height. Or at least, in this case, my '78 ford pu has a bit of a lift on it so I'm not sure that I'd be able to use the dumping into a pickup bed feature of the 4n1 that much. But I will start thinking about the 4n1.

There are definitely other attachments that I'd like to have but the problem is I don't know how much use I'd have for them. Certainly, in the past, I would have had use for a post hole digger (I put in about 1000 feet of split rail fence on my own last year) but I don't plan on building a fence for the new place. Then there's the trencher (not the wheel one). It would certainly be neat to have a trencher but I kind of rationalized it out by thinking I could use the mini hoe for any trench work.

One of the issues is that shipping from VA to WA is going to be a pain (in the pocket book). So I need to be careful to order everything I need for now and sometime into the future. I think someone posted recently that they got the last or second-last of the 425's from the last run. It will be interesting to see what changes with the next run (since something always seems to change between runs).

Thanks for your input guys.

 

[tracdoc]

Keep us posted. We're all interested to see what the folks at PT come up with for their next iteration of the 425. Seems like there are more changes ongoing in the 425's than in the other models...

 

[pairodime]

I agree with Tracdoc's views on the 4n1. Since you have no snow, the 4n1 job of the snow blade, the box blade and the small bucket. Don't think that you only need it to put gravel into ones truck.

I know lots of folks find their large buckets useful, once you have the either bucket, you can do phenomenal things. For the most versatility, you could spend $1300 on a 4n1 and then forego the $1610 (total) you would spend on the snow blade, box blade, large bucket and small bucket.

Just my 2 cents