ponytug
Super Member
Tazewell Summary
First of all, let me thank all of the contributors here who wrote with advice, and suggestions. Reading the Power-trac forum here has been very useful. I't also like to thank the folks at Power-trac for making it a very useful visit.
It was a treat to visit Power Trac. It is definitely worth the trip, and the 5% discount doesn't hurt either. I flew into Bluefield, WV, which is the nearest airport. Hertz at Bluefield was very helpful, including a charming hand drawn map on how to get from the airport (on top of a remote hill) down to the highway, ~5 miles away: make sure you turn right at the truck repair shop. Arriving at Tazewell at close to midnight, I turned off the highway, looking for the motel, and pulled over to read a local map more closely. Looking up, I saw a sign for the Tazewell Industrial Park: Power Trac & CLA, which crossed that item off of my do list. By the way, the locals pronounce that “Tazzle”, as in dazzle. The motel was a little run down, but the sheets were clean, and the staff helpful. Having stayed the next night in Bluefield as well, I think it is a reflection of the general economic conditions in the area, so don’t get your hopes up.
If there are any mistakes in this please let me know. As a new customer, I am sure that I may have heard some information incorrectly.
As I mentioned above, I highly recommend a trip to the factory. Kristy and David in sales were really helpful, showing me all the toys in the show room. Eddie and Terry in service were both very helpful. If you haven’t seen the show room, it is a practical toystore. Power Trac has an 1860 slope mower on a 45-degree rack. It is a sight to see, and I take my hat off to anyone who drives one on a slope like that. Reading about a 45 degree slope or a 90” mower doesn’t do justice to them. Folks that is 90”, almost eight feet across. It’s huge. The 1445 brush cutter is 60”, that’s over five feet in diameter! Pictures don’t do it justice. They have a number of attachments there, an amazing number, although perhaps not all sizes of every attachment, but there’s a lot to be seen. Of course, there is also some mining equipment, a 10T CLA front loader, with a slick dump arrangement that pushes the load out horizontally from the back, rather like a big syringe, complete with a slick Ansul automatic fire suppression system ($4000, but who’s counting on a $72k base machine). The trailers themselves have some really nice racks for storing items, utilizing auger racks as supports for LMBs, etc. The augers appear to have a new tip design on them. It isn’t carbide tipped, but it looks as if it would be better in harder soils and rock. It appears as if it could be readily carbide tipped for those in need. One of the two other companies at Tazewell industrial park is named Carbide Tools, so that may be an option in the future. Looking around, you get the impression that PT is really good at cutting, bending, forming, and welding sheet steel (the thick stuff). That said; there is clearly a fair bit of individual variation: more on the metal cutting and welding below. Standing next to the machines brings home how large the bigger machines are and how maneuverable the small ones are.
Kristi had arranged for a little hillside time on the PT land behind the factory, which is a small col. They have a level strip at the bottom of a steeply sloping hillside, around behind the factory. Some folks were speaking about putting in a bridge to get there from the plant. Instead, they trailered over a 425 and a 1445 over for a spin on the slopes. Eddie and Dave brought inclinometers to check slopes (Harbor Freight is clearly doing well- I also own one). A number of you have probably spoken to Eddie over the years, and he was a font of knowledge on tips and tricks. They brought over a finish cut mower with the 1445. Eddie unloaded it, throttled it up, and mowed up the hillside, first straight up, then cutting traverses, looking for 30-degree slopes. Most of the slope is at a 20-degree angle, but it gets steeper toward the top of the slope. (It was said to hit 60, but it didn’t look that steep from down below, but hills are deceiving.) Frankly, it was impressive watching him sail back and forth great flair, slowing down occasionally to read the slope meter, steering with one hand and hanging on with the other. (They highly recommended wearing the safety belt.) After he had called down a couple of 30-degree sections, he came down and got the 425.
When he unloaded the 425 down a pair of ramps from the back of a pickup they demonstrated one reason why the 425 is so popular. It fired right up and eased down the ramps. The truck had a rather interesting tailgate, constructed of two ramps that fold up and lock in to become the tailgate. (Mfg. By Kuhn Welding, Harvey, ND. Really slick. I mean really, really slick.) He whipped around, throttled up, and headed up slope. More or less instantly, he vividly demonstrated what so many of you have written; the 425 can do 20-degree slopes straight up, but power management is essential. You could hear the engine really labor as it went up the hill. It did motor up just fine, but it was also clear that twenty degrees was pushing it for horsepower. They were at great pains to explain that good use of the PT machines involve high throttle, with speed modulation via the treadle, and careful treadle management. Eddie also pointed out that stomping on the treadle when under load was a recipe to stall the engine.
However, I have almost nothing less than 20 degree slopes, and it was clear that for my needs, the 425 would be running fully loaded, all the time, which is never a great way to treat equipment. Mentally, I moved onto the 1445, which also has the automatic brakes, which are a really attractive feature on hillsides. Personally, I like the idea of fail on brakes, when operating on slopes. I have missed more than a few gear shifts, and stalled a few tractors in my day and a 30 degree slope doesn’t give you a lot of room to goof up. Most of my slopes end in a barbed wire fence, a 10’ drop off and a road, in that order.
They showed me the controls, emphasizing a few no-nos, like leaving the safety belt hanging out, trying to use float and draft control at the same time, (Are you listening Homer?) and cautioned against flipping the parking break switch while in motion- out of concern for the operator. (I did do it, intentionally, at slow speeds and I can vouch for how solid the wet disk brakes are.) With the machine at low engine speed, I trundled off in the flats, trying to get used to the steering, which is easy to get used to, but quite different from normal steering, and a sense of how to use the treadle. There seemed to be a large gap between forward and reverse, with the center of the gap somewhere over on the reverse side. As an aside, I don’t know if that is a ‘feature’, or something that needed a little adjustment. Eddie had a great suggestion; put just each of your big toes on the treadle; it helps give you floor support and minimizes the tendency to stomp on the treadle. (Every time I as I lurched faster or slower, I found that I had inched my feet forward on to the treadles.) At a low engine speed, the steering was tough at times, but as I got better, and increased the engine speed, steering loosened up and was easy. I think I may have inadvertently trashed the mower, by inching around at too low an engine speed through really heavy, lush grass. The mower finally bogged down (clogged). Eddie pointed out that the finish mower takes about 18-20HP to run, so you do need to be throttle up a fair ways just to support mowing. While I am sure I am going to leave dents in solid objects once I start driving my own PT, I found the 1445 easy to drive, although the articulation does move the tractor differently. (I can see that the zero speed wiggle could be really useful for getting unstuck.) It was pointed out that the engine is used for braking as well as power, so that it was especially important to have the throttle up when going downhill. A quick check with the PT guys, and I revved it up and went on up the hill. With about half throttle the 1445 motored right up the 20-degree slopes with no sign that the engine was working. It clambered over a two foot high, 30-degree embankment. Soon, I was turning cross slope, waiting for the ‘PT pucker’. There is no denying it; driving machinery across twenty degrees feels steep, but after awhile, you notice that the tractor isn’t slipping on the fresh cut grass, nor does it have that tipsy, light, airborne response to small bumps. There was a little bit of crabbing, but I couldn’t quite tell if the cause was the tractor having to push the mower, or if it was normal for the PT on a traverse, as a result of slippage or steering; I did have the draft control on, but I don’t know how much weight it was carrying. After testing out 30-degree sideways traverses, I found myself confidently doing donuts on a 20-25 degree slope. Unbelievable. There was no sense that the tractor was anywhere near its limits.
The 1445 is certainly a confidence builder. As current owners know, these machines really do stick. Because of the slope layout, I didn’t have a chance to try out a 30 degree donut, but Eddie and Dave assured me that the top of the slope hits 60; it didn’t look it, but slopes are very deceiving, especially when viewed from below. There was a nice patch around the corner that looked like a nice test slope for those of you interested in slope mowers. I probably misheard them, but I thought that they said that it was the first time that they had had a 1445 out on the slope.
I had a look at the 1445 and 18XX engines in the show room, and it would appear that the Deutz engine itself is good for 45 degrees; I didn’t see anything special with the oil pans on the slope mowers. Can anyone confirm this?
I asked several times about loader vs. lawn tires; their view is that for anything but deep mud, the lawn would do better for traction, but worse for durability. On the 1445, they are the same height, but the lawn tires are about three inches wider, each. It looks as if one could flip the rims around for a wider stance for light weight slope work; personally, I would be concerned about the torque on the wheel motors with the wheels extended out. (Then again, the lawn tires are nearly that far out, so maybe not.)
I never did find Couze’s on 460, but I had a quick lunch at Wilson’s, about three miles N. on 460, across from the Exxon/used car dealer, and it had home style southern cooking; as I grew up in the North, I can’t comment on whether it was authentic, but it was good, and the owner delightful. After lunch, we went through the yard demo and service training.
I have put my own totally subjective opinions on how hard it would be to use the implements in parentheses below, and they are purely subjective.
As we tried out the implements, several of the implements were in a state of hydraulic lock, which was a great learning experience. The 4N1 wouldn’t open until it got driven back to the shop to loosen the hydraulic QA. One got powered into a lock state, when someone cross-coupled the curl on the minihoe with the QA, getting it really locked. Ooops! But it was a great lesson to watch the troubleshooting process. I can see making this mistake really easily. I could see attaching a few small low-pressure hydraulic accumulators to keep the pressure from getting too high, when not on the tractor.
On a 1430, I tried out a variety of implements. I tried the 4N1 on the gravel pile and it reinforced my respect for professional equipment operators, who make load-grabbing look easy. For me, I guess it is one of those rub your stomach, while patting your head things. I can do it, but I don’t feel talented at it. To load well, you have to get the speed right (treadle operation with your feet), while setting the height with the primary hydraulic lever, (fore-aft movement) and the curl (with left right operation on the primary hydraulic lever). I found it hard to time the curl, but I am sure practice makes better. (Skill needed: Moderately high) I’m also sure that you get used to up being an away motion on the lever. Somehow it was counter-intuitive to me.
Then we tried the mini-hoe. I came away from the minihoe, realizing that for my areas, it was going to be tough to use, and slow, because I have very hard gravel, and cramped operating areas. With the PT wiggle steer, it is pretty easy to dig, dump, and trench again, but even a whiz like Eddie dug a four foot six to eight inch deep trench in about 2-3 minutes. The minihoe has all of the skill level needed for the 4N1, plus you have to curl using the QA lever, which is down at knee level, and I understand now why relocating this lever is so popular. I ran by Terry the concept of moving the QA lever at least up to the dash. It didn’t seem to be high on his list. But for non-QA uses, I think he will need more convincing. For all the minihoe experts out, let me say that I am really impressed with your skills. (Skill level: High)
Eddie then put the 6-inch trencher on, and dug a 10’ long, 3.5’ deep trench in the 2-3 minutes, clearly cutting into, and through the subsoil. (Skill level: easy)
We then tried out the tiller. It is easy to maneuver it, but I was underwhelmed with its pulverizing power. I can’t really put my finger on why it wasn’t doing so well; it turned rapidly, but didn’t dig in that deeply, even when slowly backing up. I could have been dragging the motor on the ground, but it still didn’t make that great a progress going backwards. (Skill level: ? It was easy to use, but I can’t say that I did a good job with it.)
Anyone have ideas on getting it to work well? I checked to make sure the tines were rotating the right direction. I thought that I would buy one of these, but having used it, I have my doubts. I think that the 30” wide Ferrari walk behind that you can rent around here certainly digs deeper and faster.
We tried the drill head augers. Watching a pro drill a hole, I noticed that to drill a truly vertical hole requires moving the PT backwards, and forwards to keep the shaft vertical, as the auger buries itself in the ground. It is straight engineering, as the loader arms on the front of the PT arc outward as the hole is drilled. Getting that lined up is beyond my current skill level, but I can see that you could get good at it. On a 20-degree slope, I wonder if it might not be beyond my talents. (Skill level for a hole: easy. Skill level for a straight hole: Not trivial)
I didn’t have a chance to try out the post driver, but Dave and Eddie were kicking around the idea of perhaps arranging for it. I get the impression that they don’t sell very many of the units. There was some talk of driving posts to grind with stump grinders. A prospective customer who runs a tree trimming operation was offering to bring over a massive stump to try out the stump grinder on, so the toy field may get expanded.
After playing in the yard, we adjourned to the service building for service training. One of my primary concerns with the PT was my ability to service it. With the cover up, I realized that mechanically the machines are very straightforward: a small engine, a couple of pumps, and some hydraulic hoses. Oh, and some cute stuff around the edge, like the draft control and the accumulator for the autobrakes. There are a number of zerks, and I can see that making a checklist would be useful. There’s the hidden zerk that has been discussed before. That’s not to say that I know diddly about hydraulics, but there are lots of people around here who do. The rest of the 1445 is built like a tank. The 1445 has a couple of features that the smaller units (including the 1430) lack. For slope operations, the wet, automatic, hydraulic brakes are high on my list. The center articulation knuckles have no nut that needs adjustment; it is a solid pin. The 1445 has a full flow suction filter, and an oil cooling arrangement that seems to offer significant oil cooling to the power circuits, which sounded different than the 425. I asked twice, but it was hard to verify. The oil cooler has what looks like 3/4 copper plumbing, so it looks like a pretty big flow. The variable flow fan controller might be a useful add-on. I asked Eddie about the factory installing a different oil, and he said it would probably be possible, but that one plus to the 10W40 was its tolerance of higher temperature before breakdown. (Comments? JJ?)
The hydraulic tank is mounted low and easy to get to. I can see that tracing the hydraulic circuits out and labeling the lines would go a long way. Of course, it would be great if PT did that when the hydraulic lines are manufactured.
I do have a couple of comments from the perspective of a neophyte, non-owner. The hydraulic hoses don’t have abrasion protection as they cross metal edges, with the exception of the bundle going through the articulation joint. Because of the metal finishing techniques, almost all of the metal edges are sharp; almost all of the hydraulic hoses on the demo machines already had nicks on them; I found them on QA hoses, motor hoses, case drains, loader lines. This is a completely preventable and fixable issue; grommets, spiral wrap, hose guards, etc., but it is one that could also be addressed by modifications to the manufacturing technique. It won’t help you when you hook a root through a hose and rip it off, but it might keep you from cutting one open. It would be great if the hydraulic tank had a strainer on the tank opening; it won’t keep out 1-micron dirt, but it can’t hurt, either.
PT encloses the loose wires in what looks like tygon tubing, which seems like a way to add some amount of oil and abrasion resistance. For the most part, they didn’t seem to be fastened into a wire loom or otherwise attached to minimize abrasion or getting snagged. The main electrical interconnect is located on the side wall below the muffler. Eddie did comment that some municipality had added a heat shield to protect the main fuses and interconnect, and that particular machine had burned up. I am not sure about the causality there, but I pass it on. For those of you that haven’t seen a Deutz, the air-cooling keeps the exhaust significantly cooler than normal engines.
By the way, if you haven’t seen the Deutz F3L 2011 45HP engine, it is a compact monster. The way it is mounted looks easy to service; the filters, oil and fuel, are side-by-side, adjacent to the dipstick and oil fill port, and all above the transom line. There is a belly pan hole just under the oil drain hole, and Eddie mentioned that the brass washer is reusable and easy to lose. It appeared as if a small, wide mouth funnel, or a cut open bleach container would minimize a lot of mess. It does look as if you would have to pull the motor to replace the drain pan, but other than that, everything on the engine seems out in view and relatively easy to get to. There is one exception: the 55/60A alternator is behind the cooling fan. Cleaning the engine oil cooler has all of the issues that have been written about extensively. A very convenient feature is that the fuel lines don’t need to be purged after changing the fuel filter, which can be a real pain on some other diesels. Eddie said that the Deutz recommended oil change interval is 900 hours (their website says 1000). Eddie suggested changing the oil every other oil filter change. The air filter comes with the same vacuum indicators found on most diesel trucks, which makes determining when to change it a lot easier. (Anyone have a F3L 2011 technical service manual?)
Bottom line: these are special machines, with special capabilities. It would be great to get some design for manufacturing and robustness advice in there to make them even better. But then what would be left for owners? Seriously, I think that a little bit would go a long way toward enhancing the mean time between failures in the field. Besides, it might end up costing them less in the long run. It rather reminds me of the 70s with the difference in design, assembly, and quality coming out of Detroit versus what was coming out of Japan and Sweden.
I’m sold on the Power Tracs, and still fence sitting on the tiller.
If there are mistakes here, please let me know, and I will correct them.
First of all, let me thank all of the contributors here who wrote with advice, and suggestions. Reading the Power-trac forum here has been very useful. I't also like to thank the folks at Power-trac for making it a very useful visit.
It was a treat to visit Power Trac. It is definitely worth the trip, and the 5% discount doesn't hurt either. I flew into Bluefield, WV, which is the nearest airport. Hertz at Bluefield was very helpful, including a charming hand drawn map on how to get from the airport (on top of a remote hill) down to the highway, ~5 miles away: make sure you turn right at the truck repair shop. Arriving at Tazewell at close to midnight, I turned off the highway, looking for the motel, and pulled over to read a local map more closely. Looking up, I saw a sign for the Tazewell Industrial Park: Power Trac & CLA, which crossed that item off of my do list. By the way, the locals pronounce that “Tazzle”, as in dazzle. The motel was a little run down, but the sheets were clean, and the staff helpful. Having stayed the next night in Bluefield as well, I think it is a reflection of the general economic conditions in the area, so don’t get your hopes up.
If there are any mistakes in this please let me know. As a new customer, I am sure that I may have heard some information incorrectly.
As I mentioned above, I highly recommend a trip to the factory. Kristy and David in sales were really helpful, showing me all the toys in the show room. Eddie and Terry in service were both very helpful. If you haven’t seen the show room, it is a practical toystore. Power Trac has an 1860 slope mower on a 45-degree rack. It is a sight to see, and I take my hat off to anyone who drives one on a slope like that. Reading about a 45 degree slope or a 90” mower doesn’t do justice to them. Folks that is 90”, almost eight feet across. It’s huge. The 1445 brush cutter is 60”, that’s over five feet in diameter! Pictures don’t do it justice. They have a number of attachments there, an amazing number, although perhaps not all sizes of every attachment, but there’s a lot to be seen. Of course, there is also some mining equipment, a 10T CLA front loader, with a slick dump arrangement that pushes the load out horizontally from the back, rather like a big syringe, complete with a slick Ansul automatic fire suppression system ($4000, but who’s counting on a $72k base machine). The trailers themselves have some really nice racks for storing items, utilizing auger racks as supports for LMBs, etc. The augers appear to have a new tip design on them. It isn’t carbide tipped, but it looks as if it would be better in harder soils and rock. It appears as if it could be readily carbide tipped for those in need. One of the two other companies at Tazewell industrial park is named Carbide Tools, so that may be an option in the future. Looking around, you get the impression that PT is really good at cutting, bending, forming, and welding sheet steel (the thick stuff). That said; there is clearly a fair bit of individual variation: more on the metal cutting and welding below. Standing next to the machines brings home how large the bigger machines are and how maneuverable the small ones are.
Kristi had arranged for a little hillside time on the PT land behind the factory, which is a small col. They have a level strip at the bottom of a steeply sloping hillside, around behind the factory. Some folks were speaking about putting in a bridge to get there from the plant. Instead, they trailered over a 425 and a 1445 over for a spin on the slopes. Eddie and Dave brought inclinometers to check slopes (Harbor Freight is clearly doing well- I also own one). A number of you have probably spoken to Eddie over the years, and he was a font of knowledge on tips and tricks. They brought over a finish cut mower with the 1445. Eddie unloaded it, throttled it up, and mowed up the hillside, first straight up, then cutting traverses, looking for 30-degree slopes. Most of the slope is at a 20-degree angle, but it gets steeper toward the top of the slope. (It was said to hit 60, but it didn’t look that steep from down below, but hills are deceiving.) Frankly, it was impressive watching him sail back and forth great flair, slowing down occasionally to read the slope meter, steering with one hand and hanging on with the other. (They highly recommended wearing the safety belt.) After he had called down a couple of 30-degree sections, he came down and got the 425.
When he unloaded the 425 down a pair of ramps from the back of a pickup they demonstrated one reason why the 425 is so popular. It fired right up and eased down the ramps. The truck had a rather interesting tailgate, constructed of two ramps that fold up and lock in to become the tailgate. (Mfg. By Kuhn Welding, Harvey, ND. Really slick. I mean really, really slick.) He whipped around, throttled up, and headed up slope. More or less instantly, he vividly demonstrated what so many of you have written; the 425 can do 20-degree slopes straight up, but power management is essential. You could hear the engine really labor as it went up the hill. It did motor up just fine, but it was also clear that twenty degrees was pushing it for horsepower. They were at great pains to explain that good use of the PT machines involve high throttle, with speed modulation via the treadle, and careful treadle management. Eddie also pointed out that stomping on the treadle when under load was a recipe to stall the engine.
However, I have almost nothing less than 20 degree slopes, and it was clear that for my needs, the 425 would be running fully loaded, all the time, which is never a great way to treat equipment. Mentally, I moved onto the 1445, which also has the automatic brakes, which are a really attractive feature on hillsides. Personally, I like the idea of fail on brakes, when operating on slopes. I have missed more than a few gear shifts, and stalled a few tractors in my day and a 30 degree slope doesn’t give you a lot of room to goof up. Most of my slopes end in a barbed wire fence, a 10’ drop off and a road, in that order.
They showed me the controls, emphasizing a few no-nos, like leaving the safety belt hanging out, trying to use float and draft control at the same time, (Are you listening Homer?) and cautioned against flipping the parking break switch while in motion- out of concern for the operator. (I did do it, intentionally, at slow speeds and I can vouch for how solid the wet disk brakes are.) With the machine at low engine speed, I trundled off in the flats, trying to get used to the steering, which is easy to get used to, but quite different from normal steering, and a sense of how to use the treadle. There seemed to be a large gap between forward and reverse, with the center of the gap somewhere over on the reverse side. As an aside, I don’t know if that is a ‘feature’, or something that needed a little adjustment. Eddie had a great suggestion; put just each of your big toes on the treadle; it helps give you floor support and minimizes the tendency to stomp on the treadle. (Every time I as I lurched faster or slower, I found that I had inched my feet forward on to the treadles.) At a low engine speed, the steering was tough at times, but as I got better, and increased the engine speed, steering loosened up and was easy. I think I may have inadvertently trashed the mower, by inching around at too low an engine speed through really heavy, lush grass. The mower finally bogged down (clogged). Eddie pointed out that the finish mower takes about 18-20HP to run, so you do need to be throttle up a fair ways just to support mowing. While I am sure I am going to leave dents in solid objects once I start driving my own PT, I found the 1445 easy to drive, although the articulation does move the tractor differently. (I can see that the zero speed wiggle could be really useful for getting unstuck.) It was pointed out that the engine is used for braking as well as power, so that it was especially important to have the throttle up when going downhill. A quick check with the PT guys, and I revved it up and went on up the hill. With about half throttle the 1445 motored right up the 20-degree slopes with no sign that the engine was working. It clambered over a two foot high, 30-degree embankment. Soon, I was turning cross slope, waiting for the ‘PT pucker’. There is no denying it; driving machinery across twenty degrees feels steep, but after awhile, you notice that the tractor isn’t slipping on the fresh cut grass, nor does it have that tipsy, light, airborne response to small bumps. There was a little bit of crabbing, but I couldn’t quite tell if the cause was the tractor having to push the mower, or if it was normal for the PT on a traverse, as a result of slippage or steering; I did have the draft control on, but I don’t know how much weight it was carrying. After testing out 30-degree sideways traverses, I found myself confidently doing donuts on a 20-25 degree slope. Unbelievable. There was no sense that the tractor was anywhere near its limits.
The 1445 is certainly a confidence builder. As current owners know, these machines really do stick. Because of the slope layout, I didn’t have a chance to try out a 30 degree donut, but Eddie and Dave assured me that the top of the slope hits 60; it didn’t look it, but slopes are very deceiving, especially when viewed from below. There was a nice patch around the corner that looked like a nice test slope for those of you interested in slope mowers. I probably misheard them, but I thought that they said that it was the first time that they had had a 1445 out on the slope.
I had a look at the 1445 and 18XX engines in the show room, and it would appear that the Deutz engine itself is good for 45 degrees; I didn’t see anything special with the oil pans on the slope mowers. Can anyone confirm this?
I asked several times about loader vs. lawn tires; their view is that for anything but deep mud, the lawn would do better for traction, but worse for durability. On the 1445, they are the same height, but the lawn tires are about three inches wider, each. It looks as if one could flip the rims around for a wider stance for light weight slope work; personally, I would be concerned about the torque on the wheel motors with the wheels extended out. (Then again, the lawn tires are nearly that far out, so maybe not.)
I never did find Couze’s on 460, but I had a quick lunch at Wilson’s, about three miles N. on 460, across from the Exxon/used car dealer, and it had home style southern cooking; as I grew up in the North, I can’t comment on whether it was authentic, but it was good, and the owner delightful. After lunch, we went through the yard demo and service training.
I have put my own totally subjective opinions on how hard it would be to use the implements in parentheses below, and they are purely subjective.
As we tried out the implements, several of the implements were in a state of hydraulic lock, which was a great learning experience. The 4N1 wouldn’t open until it got driven back to the shop to loosen the hydraulic QA. One got powered into a lock state, when someone cross-coupled the curl on the minihoe with the QA, getting it really locked. Ooops! But it was a great lesson to watch the troubleshooting process. I can see making this mistake really easily. I could see attaching a few small low-pressure hydraulic accumulators to keep the pressure from getting too high, when not on the tractor.
On a 1430, I tried out a variety of implements. I tried the 4N1 on the gravel pile and it reinforced my respect for professional equipment operators, who make load-grabbing look easy. For me, I guess it is one of those rub your stomach, while patting your head things. I can do it, but I don’t feel talented at it. To load well, you have to get the speed right (treadle operation with your feet), while setting the height with the primary hydraulic lever, (fore-aft movement) and the curl (with left right operation on the primary hydraulic lever). I found it hard to time the curl, but I am sure practice makes better. (Skill needed: Moderately high) I’m also sure that you get used to up being an away motion on the lever. Somehow it was counter-intuitive to me.
Then we tried the mini-hoe. I came away from the minihoe, realizing that for my areas, it was going to be tough to use, and slow, because I have very hard gravel, and cramped operating areas. With the PT wiggle steer, it is pretty easy to dig, dump, and trench again, but even a whiz like Eddie dug a four foot six to eight inch deep trench in about 2-3 minutes. The minihoe has all of the skill level needed for the 4N1, plus you have to curl using the QA lever, which is down at knee level, and I understand now why relocating this lever is so popular. I ran by Terry the concept of moving the QA lever at least up to the dash. It didn’t seem to be high on his list. But for non-QA uses, I think he will need more convincing. For all the minihoe experts out, let me say that I am really impressed with your skills. (Skill level: High)
Eddie then put the 6-inch trencher on, and dug a 10’ long, 3.5’ deep trench in the 2-3 minutes, clearly cutting into, and through the subsoil. (Skill level: easy)
We then tried out the tiller. It is easy to maneuver it, but I was underwhelmed with its pulverizing power. I can’t really put my finger on why it wasn’t doing so well; it turned rapidly, but didn’t dig in that deeply, even when slowly backing up. I could have been dragging the motor on the ground, but it still didn’t make that great a progress going backwards. (Skill level: ? It was easy to use, but I can’t say that I did a good job with it.)
Anyone have ideas on getting it to work well? I checked to make sure the tines were rotating the right direction. I thought that I would buy one of these, but having used it, I have my doubts. I think that the 30” wide Ferrari walk behind that you can rent around here certainly digs deeper and faster.
We tried the drill head augers. Watching a pro drill a hole, I noticed that to drill a truly vertical hole requires moving the PT backwards, and forwards to keep the shaft vertical, as the auger buries itself in the ground. It is straight engineering, as the loader arms on the front of the PT arc outward as the hole is drilled. Getting that lined up is beyond my current skill level, but I can see that you could get good at it. On a 20-degree slope, I wonder if it might not be beyond my talents. (Skill level for a hole: easy. Skill level for a straight hole: Not trivial)
I didn’t have a chance to try out the post driver, but Dave and Eddie were kicking around the idea of perhaps arranging for it. I get the impression that they don’t sell very many of the units. There was some talk of driving posts to grind with stump grinders. A prospective customer who runs a tree trimming operation was offering to bring over a massive stump to try out the stump grinder on, so the toy field may get expanded.
After playing in the yard, we adjourned to the service building for service training. One of my primary concerns with the PT was my ability to service it. With the cover up, I realized that mechanically the machines are very straightforward: a small engine, a couple of pumps, and some hydraulic hoses. Oh, and some cute stuff around the edge, like the draft control and the accumulator for the autobrakes. There are a number of zerks, and I can see that making a checklist would be useful. There’s the hidden zerk that has been discussed before. That’s not to say that I know diddly about hydraulics, but there are lots of people around here who do. The rest of the 1445 is built like a tank. The 1445 has a couple of features that the smaller units (including the 1430) lack. For slope operations, the wet, automatic, hydraulic brakes are high on my list. The center articulation knuckles have no nut that needs adjustment; it is a solid pin. The 1445 has a full flow suction filter, and an oil cooling arrangement that seems to offer significant oil cooling to the power circuits, which sounded different than the 425. I asked twice, but it was hard to verify. The oil cooler has what looks like 3/4 copper plumbing, so it looks like a pretty big flow. The variable flow fan controller might be a useful add-on. I asked Eddie about the factory installing a different oil, and he said it would probably be possible, but that one plus to the 10W40 was its tolerance of higher temperature before breakdown. (Comments? JJ?)
The hydraulic tank is mounted low and easy to get to. I can see that tracing the hydraulic circuits out and labeling the lines would go a long way. Of course, it would be great if PT did that when the hydraulic lines are manufactured.
I do have a couple of comments from the perspective of a neophyte, non-owner. The hydraulic hoses don’t have abrasion protection as they cross metal edges, with the exception of the bundle going through the articulation joint. Because of the metal finishing techniques, almost all of the metal edges are sharp; almost all of the hydraulic hoses on the demo machines already had nicks on them; I found them on QA hoses, motor hoses, case drains, loader lines. This is a completely preventable and fixable issue; grommets, spiral wrap, hose guards, etc., but it is one that could also be addressed by modifications to the manufacturing technique. It won’t help you when you hook a root through a hose and rip it off, but it might keep you from cutting one open. It would be great if the hydraulic tank had a strainer on the tank opening; it won’t keep out 1-micron dirt, but it can’t hurt, either.
PT encloses the loose wires in what looks like tygon tubing, which seems like a way to add some amount of oil and abrasion resistance. For the most part, they didn’t seem to be fastened into a wire loom or otherwise attached to minimize abrasion or getting snagged. The main electrical interconnect is located on the side wall below the muffler. Eddie did comment that some municipality had added a heat shield to protect the main fuses and interconnect, and that particular machine had burned up. I am not sure about the causality there, but I pass it on. For those of you that haven’t seen a Deutz, the air-cooling keeps the exhaust significantly cooler than normal engines.
By the way, if you haven’t seen the Deutz F3L 2011 45HP engine, it is a compact monster. The way it is mounted looks easy to service; the filters, oil and fuel, are side-by-side, adjacent to the dipstick and oil fill port, and all above the transom line. There is a belly pan hole just under the oil drain hole, and Eddie mentioned that the brass washer is reusable and easy to lose. It appeared as if a small, wide mouth funnel, or a cut open bleach container would minimize a lot of mess. It does look as if you would have to pull the motor to replace the drain pan, but other than that, everything on the engine seems out in view and relatively easy to get to. There is one exception: the 55/60A alternator is behind the cooling fan. Cleaning the engine oil cooler has all of the issues that have been written about extensively. A very convenient feature is that the fuel lines don’t need to be purged after changing the fuel filter, which can be a real pain on some other diesels. Eddie said that the Deutz recommended oil change interval is 900 hours (their website says 1000). Eddie suggested changing the oil every other oil filter change. The air filter comes with the same vacuum indicators found on most diesel trucks, which makes determining when to change it a lot easier. (Anyone have a F3L 2011 technical service manual?)
Bottom line: these are special machines, with special capabilities. It would be great to get some design for manufacturing and robustness advice in there to make them even better. But then what would be left for owners? Seriously, I think that a little bit would go a long way toward enhancing the mean time between failures in the field. Besides, it might end up costing them less in the long run. It rather reminds me of the 70s with the difference in design, assembly, and quality coming out of Detroit versus what was coming out of Japan and Sweden.
I’m sold on the Power Tracs, and still fence sitting on the tiller.
If there are mistakes here, please let me know, and I will correct them.
