More torque on the wheel motors is putting more stress on all of the structural components of the loader when using the mini hoe and backing up with it buried. That and lifting/swinging large unbalanced loads are when I certainly feel I am doing the most damage to the loader.
Ken
Exactly....
The first time I damaged my PT was with the original 12.5ci wheel motors when I was moving quickly, scooping up and hauling tree trunks while my son was sawing the trees down. I'd drive and scoop the tree trunk up with the grapple bucket, often pushing the trunk into another pile of trunks or brush to fill the grapple bucket. I encountered a tree trunk that was not completely sawn off, and was still attached to the stump. When I attempted to lift it, while still moving forward, one end lifted freely, while the end at the stump was still attached and did not break free. The PT puckered, lifting the back tires off the ground, and because I was attempting to turn at the same time, it continued to articulate, swinging the back end to the side, while still in the air... I bowed and bent the lift arms to the point that one side rested almost an inch lower than the other...
When I broke the original rollover bar (later replaced with the larger version) I was using the minihoe digging planting holes in the edge of the woods, on a slope where there were extensive tree roots. Attempting to pull back and break a root with the hoe (while it was still down in the hole), the front tires lost traction (due to downforce on the loader arms) and the front of the PT slipped sideways violently putting unexpected twisting force on the hoe and loader arms...
I'm not sure of the exact time that I've bent the QA attachment plate either time (it was only discovered later when changing attachments), but both times I was using the minhoe digging in rocky soil on slopes. I'm trying to break the bad habit of using reverse to help fill the bucket on the hoe in these circumstances, and rely on just curling the bucket -- but it's a challenge... because it is SO much faster to put back-pressure on the bucket as it curls closed to get the largest possible bite... Combine that with fact that the second time was while I was digging a deep (3' plus) trench for a drain tile, and much of the time the bucket was down in that trench and could not readily move sideways while the PT was inching forward or back...
I don't know how much you've used a minihoe on a PT, but it is NOT like using a true backhoe, where the machine is sitting still and all the work is done with hydraulics of the boom and bucket. With the PT, you're almost constantly moving the machine since you must articulate it to dump the bucket of soil, then reposition for the next bite...
You could describe all these as "operator error" -- but the point I was trying to make is that he will have more power available than the PT was originally designed to handle and it can show up at several different stress points on the machine...
