Which PT do you recommend?

Anonymous Poster · Jun 6, 2003

Hi all. I am considering the purchase of a PT, but I'm not sure which one would be best for me. My house sits on four wooded acres. About half an acre is clear and I'm in the process of clearing the underbrush and saplings on the other 3.5 using a chainsaw and a gravely walkbehind brushhog. When done I'll have what seems like about a million 2 to 4 inch diameter cherry tree stumps and tons of rocks (50 to 500 lbs each) that I'd like to move. Then I'd like to keep the underbrush clear with a brushhog. The gravely works fine for this, but I'd like a rider. So immediately I could use a stumpgrinder, brushhog, and a bucket. Eventually, I guess I might as well get rid of the riding mower and get a mower deck, and I could certainly make use of snow plow. I'm inclined to give a PT-180 a try, but not sure I wouldn't be better off with a 422 or even a 425. Anyone have any thoughts on these models for the jobs above?
Thanks!
Jeff

bmac · Jun 7, 2003

I'd vote for the 425. More HP, Kohler engine, new heavy duty wheel motors, new higher lift height, steel canopy. From everything I know about them - its a real bulldog. I was about ready to buy one myself but chickened out due to lack of local dealers (didn't want to rely on myself for maintenance and repairs).

However, if you've spent any time on this section of TBN, you already know that there is a wealth of information here and a team of experts whose willingness to help is unsurpassed. Had I even a wee bit of mechanical skills / knowledge, I'd probably have a PT 425 in my garage right now. I think they are fascinating machines.

Good luck with your decision.

bryce · Jun 7, 2003

I would also choose a 425, if I had the $. I tried to get a 418 from PT, but that may be some months away according to PT sales. They are also out of 425's and the 1430. That leaves the 422 w/ the Robin engine. I wouldn't want the problems some people have experianced. The guy 3 doors down bought one of those ZTR's 4.5 weeks ago. He is having trouble starting it, and getting it to run smoothly. It sounds like a 1.5 cyl. engine w/ a weak starter. The dealer is picking it up next week. I wonder if the PT people have used up the engines with problems yet? I only need a 418, but I may have to wait, or put up w/ the Robin. Robert

Anonymous Poster · Jun 7, 2003

I now have over two years and about 325 hours on my 422. I have used this unit for stump grinding, mowing, post hole drilling, moving soil and gravel. I did have starting troubles with the 22 robin, but since the installation of a new starter and coils, from Robin, the unit starts every time the first time. The only problem I have had are the failure of the cooling fan, replaced under warranty, and the failure of a mowing spindle, my fault, failure to tighten pulley mounting nut.
Easy to service and maintain, one cannot find a similiar machine which is so versatile and easy to operate, at this price.
Andrew

Charlie_Iliff · Jun 7, 2003

Mine is an 1845, but I've been around Bubenberg's 425 a bit, and have seen and driven the 400 series at the factory.
I don't know if they are cutting any special deals to sell the remaining last generation 422, but that looks to me to be something to consider. The 422 with the roof (which I'd recommend) is cheaper than the 425, and most owners have reported good service after the engine fix. It has more horsepower than the upcoming 180 and the quick attach is hydraulic. The 180 does, however, have an attractive price.
If you can get to the factory, or line up one of the 400 series owners on the board for a demo, I think you'll be astionished at what the 4xx machines can do. The upcoming 425 will lift higher and has tougher wheel motors, but the old ones would do everything except load a pickup. (That required ramps.)
If you try a PT, I doubt anyone in this forum will bet against your buying it.

MossRoad · Jun 8, 2003

Welcome to TBN! The 425 is a very capable machine. I have a 2001 model with the 52" lift height. The new ones are suposed to be 60" lift height. The added lift height would be a great big plus in my book. I have a small fenced off area around my pool that has no gate wider than 36"(bad planning on my part). I wanted to add some crushed limestone around a patio. The fence is 4' high and I could rest the bucket on top of the rail, but could not dump over it. That extra 8" of lift height sure would have been nice. And the new 425s are supposed to have a little lower gearing for a little less top speed(how fast do you really need to go anyway?) and more torque with the stronger wheel motors.

The 2-4" stumps will be a lot of digging. A smaller bucket would probably be best for this. Don't know if you would need the teeth. I have them on my small bucket, but am not sure if they do any good. I will eventually try some different teeth. The ones from Power Trac are kind of rounded. I'd like to switch to a tooth bar modified from some other CUT and see if it works better with teeth more like that on a backhoe bucket. Maybe a 400 series mini hoe or full backhoe from the 1400 series would work better for stumps.

If I had the money and had to do it all over again I would get the PT425, small and large bucket, pallet forks, brush hog, 60" mower, back hoe from the 1400 series, the snow plow, the smaller auger head with 3 sizes of augers and a tooth bar from a 3rd party.

Good luck in your search. How about some more information in your bio? Don't have to get specific. Maybe there's a PT owner near you.

smartguyz · Jun 8, 2003

Hi, MossRoad -

You mentioned that "if you had to do it over again", you would "get the backhoe from the 1400" even though you would order the PT425. What do you mean?

* Do you mean you would get the mini-hoe from the 1400 series? How is that different from the mini-hoe from the 425? They look the same.

* Do you mean you would like them to build a unit that has a backhoe like the 1400?

* Or something else? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Thanks for answering,

Rob

Anonymous Poster · Jun 8, 2003

Thanks for the suggestions...it's very helpful to hear others experiences. I'm still struggling to make a decision. I keep thinking a 425 would be nice, but it's difficult to justify an extra $4k if the 180 would do (or $2k if the 422 would do).

Does anyone have an idea how much snow can be pushed by these things? I have a gravel driveway, so maybe traction would be pretty good.

MossRoad, you mentioned digging up the stumps using the bucket. I had actually figured on cutting the stumps close to the ground with a chainsaw and then hitting them with the stumpgrinder. I have no experience with the stumpgringer, but from the look I would have guessed they could take out a 2-4 " stump in no time? I also updated my bio (thanks for the suggestion...didn't intend to be rude).
I'm not through reading back through all the old posts yet on this forum, but from what I gather the major differences between the 422 and 425 are the engine and the wheel motors? Anyone know what the major advantages of the 422 over the 180 are? Wish the power trac website had a better model for model comparison.

Thanks again,
Jeff

MossRoad · Jun 8, 2003

You mentioned that "if you had to do it over again", you would "get the backhoe from the 1400" even though you would order the PT425. What do you mean?

* Do you mean you would get the mini-hoe from the 1400 series? How is that different from the mini-hoe from the 425? They look the same.

* Do you mean you would like them to build a unit that has a backhoe like the 1400? 

This is a link to a picture of Power Trac's full backhoe for the 1400 series.

This is a link to a picture of Power Trac's mini hoe for both the 400 and 1400 series.

What I meant was if I had the money and, for some reason, had to do it over again, I would purchase the full backhoe(not the mini hoe) from the 1400 series and an extra quck attach plate. Then I would do like Ed did and use it on my PT425. I didn't mean to make it sound like I would do anything differently from my original purchase. At that time, I got every implement that I could afford and get the most use out of.

Here's a link to a thread that has quite a few pictures of Ed's attachment's. Read the entire thread and look at all the pictures... a good read /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Here's a link to just one of the pictures from that thread.

MossRoad · Jun 8, 2003

Does anyone have an idea how much snow can be pushed by these things? I have a gravel driveway, so maybe traction would be pretty good.


Here's a link to a picture of my PT425 and a big 'ol pile of snow.

I had no problems with light flufffy drifts up to 2'. However, snow comes in different flavors. We had about 14" of wet heavy stuff and I had to herring bone the drive on the first path to get through. After that it was no problem. Most of the time we only get 4-5 inches and that just takes 4 passes and I'm done.

 MossRoad, you mentioned digging up the stumps using the bucket. I had actually figured on cutting the stumps close to the ground with a chainsaw and then hitting them with the stumpgrinder. 

Ooops /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I forgot about the stump grinder. Don't have one, so I can't comment on how well it works. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif