Treadle to hand control conversion on 1430

[ernemats]

I don't know if this will help you or not but I measured the seat height on my pt 422 and my pt 1845, the seat height on the 422 is 28 inches and the 1845 is 32 inches. The 1845 has a seat with much thicker seat probably about 2 inches thicker than the 422 so I would assume the 430 would be in the 30 inch height give or take an inch or so .

 

[jfischer]

The beauty is having the snow plow on the FEL arms.... I stack snow 6' high with my little PT425. I can only imagine how much more I could do with a 1430.

That is true, you can pile it high, but I know now that I can only lift the front blade a foot or so, and I look back at pictures where I have it piled 4 to 5 foot tall, by lifting the blade and just driving up it before I stop.

My big thing I wanted to accomplish was to not have to chain up, and with 4wd over my basically single track now, since I don't have a diff lock on the tractor I would hope that with AGS on it that I could gain that, and seem to read all over the place that the traction is not that good. I do have weights on my wheels now, and 250 pounds in the weight carrier I made for the back now. I wonder if people are just trying to put too much down pressure on the blade to try to get things too clean, and this is causing their issues. Once I have a clean path, except on deep snows being 10" plus the first time, the little JD does a pretty good job on snow.
Jeff

 

[jfischer]

I don't know if this will help you or not but I measured the seat height on my pt 422 and my pt 1845, the seat height on the 422 is 28 inches and the 1845 is 32 inches. The 1845 has a seat with much thicker seat probably about 2 inches thicker than the 422 so I would assume the 430 would be in the 30 inch height give or take an inch or so .

Yes. that does give me a good idea, and helps me a LOT. I would think it would be close to what the 1845 is, as it has the 26x12x12 tires on it, and think that is the same as the 1845 has. I would also think about changing the seat on it and putting a nicer seat on it with arms, like I did my JD with a higher back for support, since I am a T-5 Paraplegic, with no stability from my chest down.
Thanks so much for the measurements, Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

That is true, you can pile it high, but I know now that I can only lift the front blade a foot or so, and I look back at pictures where I have it piled 4 to 5 foot tall, by lifting the blade and just driving up it before I stop.

My big thing I wanted to accomplish was to not have to chain up, and with 4wd over my basically single track now, since I don't have a diff lock on the tractor I would hope that with AGS on it that I could gain that, and seem to read all over the place that the traction is not that good. I do have weights on my wheels now, and 250 pounds in the weight carrier I made for the back now. I wonder if people are just trying to put too much down pressure on the blade to try to get things too clean, and this is causing their issues. Once I have a clean path, except on deep snows being 10" plus the first time, the little JD does a pretty good job on snow.
Jeff

I think my PT425 weighs about 1600# with me on it. I'm pretty sure the PT1430 weighs 2500# without me on it. :laughing: I only have problems getting pushed sideways if I angle the blade sharply in very heavy wet snow. Powder is no problem angled. I think deepest I tried was about 16-18" of light snow and 8-10" of wet heavy stuff. I think one time in the past 14 years I encountered so much snow that I had to push it off at angles, rather than making a straight pass down the center of the drive. Of course, down at the end of the driveway where the county plow packs it in for 4-5 feet, I sometimes have to raise my blade up 2" to push through it. Then make some cleanup passes with the blade lowered. I always use my blade in float. The only time I put down pressure on it is when I back-drag away from the garage door to scrape packed stuff where the car drove over it. I have turf tires and no chains. But our driveway is table top flat and paved. I have had it on slight side slopes and it crab walks down the slope easily in snow. So, depending on your situation, you may or may not need chains.

 

[jfischer]

On the snow, that could be the problem. Years ago I had a few smaller Deeres with just Electric lift on them, with only small blades and used to get stuck even trying to push dirt into my fill hole in the back.

Mine now has the same size AGS you would see on the smaller PT machines, and they do help a lot, along with the machine weighing about 1400# or so with me on it. The thing that I have found helps in the snow is to not use the float, as it will try to dig in, and does want to do a lot of the crab thing. The blade seems to be too heavy and wants to dig into everything, but solid ice. I raise it just a hair above level with the ground, as it will bounce some when I do the gravel road I live off of, and if it is at all warm outside, or you can get it close to the earth, the sun will pull the heat out of the earth, and before you know it you see ground. I used to try to clean all the way down, and don't do that anymore, and within a few hours things look good, and anyone can get in and out of my road.
I do have a couple I do their driveway in the back that has about a 200 foot downhill to their house, and used to be afraid to plow it, as it is narrow and one side has landscaping timbers on one side, and you can never see them when it snows, but you find them going downhill when you hit them and the blade goes fully forward. (Never keep it locked doing snow). I think there has only been one time that the snow was so deep I had to just keep the blade straight and push it off to the side, and then back up and make another pass. All of that took a lot of time, but the snow was wet, and between 18-24" and a lot for a small machine to move.
Over the years I have learned to make a small machine do a lot, and many are surprised it will clear as well as it does.
I really think the PT should do as well with 4wd, as my JD does with the AGs and straight link chains on it, and not have a problem.
Where the machine is now that I am going to see is suppose to get more snow on top of what is down now on Thursday, so not sure when it will get to the point I can go look at it and have someone put it through the passes.
Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

The PT snowplows are available with gauge wheels. Mine came standard. When plowing gravel or over a lawn, its nice to tip it back an inch or two on the wheels, put it in float and not worry about scalping off the gravel or grass.

 

[SpringHollow]

I plow a neighbor's 1/4 mile long driveway which is uphill from the road. In deep heavy snow or when pushing back the furrows, my PT would shift to the side and I would have to keep backing up and take another bite at the snow. The V-plow I now have mounted lets me drive up the middle of the driveway non-stop and I convert it to a snow pusher to clean around the parking area and then into an angled plow to push the sides of the driveway back on the way down. Even when I had CUTs, I put the plow on the loader arms - makes all of the difference in the world if you get real snow (more than 12").

Ken

 

[jfischer]

We have gotten a little off topic here, guess we should change things to snow removal.

Ken, I have seen a few of the V Plows work, like the one on the Ventract, and agree they do a fine job.

Where, did you get the one you have on your PT, or did you make it up yourself, as I don't think I saw where they make one for it. That was the problem I had a year or so ago on my tractor. and my neighbor didn't have as much of a problem with his tractor, but he had his blade mounted, and a Front End Loader on the front and it lifted all the way up, and the regular blade angled on the bottom, so he had a LOT of weight on the front end.
Jeff

 

[SpringHollow]

Hi Jeff,

I have never bought a PT plow. I have made 3 just by buying used truck plows when I see them very cheap(<$100 because I do not need one with the frame and lift cylinder) and weld a PT adapter plate to them. I did splurge on the V-Plow (paid $350 because I really wanted one) about 5 years ago and finally added the extra hydraulic circuits to the tractor and welded on the adapter plate a couple of years ago. I have been EXTREMELY happy with that setup. I bought the plow to cut down on the time it took me to plow the neighbors driveways but what surprised me is how useful it is to me to use it in the reverse V-plow snow pusher mode at my house. Now I can select where I want to dump the snow instead of having a continuous pile of snow alongside the driveway.

But that does remind me of one potential issue of the PT for you. The hydraulic disconnects can be a little hard to hook up. Releasing pressure before you ever remove the implement helps. I used to use a bungee cord to keep the lever pulled when I was doing hookup but there were still a few times where I had to use wrenches to loosen the fitting to release pressure before I hooked up. I switched to flat face connectors and also added additional hydraulic circuits to my tractor. That means when connecting a hydraulic attachment, I do not have to undo the quick attach plate latching lines to use them for the implement - they are now hard plumbed permanently to those connections. That set up also allows me to use the existing joystick from the front of the tractor to manipulate the valves as necessary such that I can attach the flat face connector with only one hand on the connector. Without doing that, it can be quite hard to hook up with even two hands on the connector. I have been extremely pleased with that modification.

The PT does not have a lot of leg /foot room. It is nothing like the mower you showed. It will be much harder to get in and out off. But that is also true of the JD CUT's from the 80's - 90's (not sure about now). The clean pass through was one reason I preferred the Ford/New Holland tractors. The PT might be easier to get into if the seat mount pivoted to get in and out but with a pin lock to keep it in place while using the tractor. You could even make it with some serious ball bearing slides to let it come out from the tractor more. Warning that you have to keep everything compact height wise because the FOPS does not give lots of head room either. That is why I used a much more expensive extra low height suspension setup for my seat modification. You could mount a swivel plate to the PT and then mount the HD bearing slides to angle brackets on the swivel plate and on the seat. This would put them to the outside of the seat thus not raising the height. I have even seen triple extension slides that were rated for 500 lbs which would extend the seat out about 2' or more. You would need to be able to pin it in the extended position as well so that you could slide yourself on with out it retracting on you.

Ken

 

[jfischer]

Hi Jeff,

I have never bought a PT plow. I have made 3 just by buying used truck plows when I see them very cheap(<$100 because I do not need one with the frame and lift cylinder) and weld a PT adapter plate to them. I did splurge on the V-Plow (paid $350 because I really wanted one) about 5 years ago and finally added the extra hydraulic circuits to the tractor and welded on the adapter plate a couple of years ago. I have been EXTREMELY happy with that setup. I bought the plow to cut down on the time it took me to plow the neighbors driveways but what surprised me is how useful it is to me to use it in the reverse V-plow snow pusher mode at my house. Now I can select where I want to dump the snow instead of having a continuous pile of snow alongside the driveway.
Ken

Hey Ken, Thanks for all of the suggestions and info here. I did a quote on each part (don't know if it is older timers kicking in, or just forget what I was typing about) :laughing: I am not sure which snow blade the guy has with this unit I am looking at, as he didn't have a picture of it. Seems people in my area seem to want top dollar on anything. I see stuff that will be on Craiglists for 2 years, and it is sitting there rotting away, rather then taking some money for it, and letting someone use it. Places to find scrape steel are getting harder to find also, and all the steel places want you to buy a full stick of most anything.

Another thing that has me kind of worried, or concerned is it has a brush cutter and rototiller and says both are 48". I wouldn't think that they would make such for a 1430, and in the attachments for it they are not listed, guess I should call Terry and ask him if such were ever made. To me the wheels would be a lot wider then what the implement would be.

But that does remind me of one potential issue of the PT for you. The hydraulic disconnects can be a little hard to hook up. Releasing pressure before you ever remove the implement helps. I used to use a bungee cord to keep the lever pulled when I was doing hookup but there were still a few times where I had to use wrenches to loosen the fitting to release pressure before I hooked up. I switched to flat face connectors and also added additional hydraulic circuits to my tractor. That means when connecting a hydraulic attachment, I do not have to undo the quick attach plate latching lines to use them for the implement - they are now hard plumbed permanently to those connections. That set up also allows me to use the existing joystick from the front of the tractor to manipulate the valves as necessary such that I can attach the flat face connector with only one hand on the connector. Without doing that, it can be quite hard to hook up with even two hands on the connector. I have been extremely pleased with that modification.
Ken

I know all about the problems with trying to connect hydros many times. Seems my feet are too long in the chair sticking out to get to them most the time. I have replaced all of them on my JD, and that helped some, and all the hoses, so I won't have the problem in the middle of something with it dumping fluids all over the places. It is pretty good as long as I shut it off, and move the levers and hold all of them for a minute to dump all the fluid pressure down, and would think the PT would be the same way. Does it use double "O" ring connectors on the females?

The PT does not have a lot of leg /foot room. It is nothing like the mower you showed. It will be much harder to get in and out off. But that is also true of the JD CUT's from the 80's - 90's (not sure about now). The clean pass through was one reason I preferred the Ford/New Holland tractors. The PT might be easier to get into if the seat mount pivoted to get in and out but with a pin lock to keep it in place while using the tractor. You could even make it with some serious ball bearing slides to let it come out from the tractor more. Warning that you have to keep everything compact height wise because the FOPS does not give lots of head room either. That is why I used a much more expensive extra low height suspension setup for my seat modification. You could mount a swivel plate to the PT and then mount the HD bearing slides to angle brackets on the swivel plate and on the seat. This would put them to the outside of the seat thus not raising the height. I have even seen triple extension slides that were rated for 500 lbs which would extend the seat out about 2' or more. You would need to be able to pin it in the extended position as well so that you could slide yourself on with out it retracting on you.

Ken

That is kind of something I have already been thinking about. I love the seat on the Hustler mower you saw in the pictures. I have a skinny butt and it helps me out there some. On the JD, that is a seat that I bought and totally made the brackets and all up for it. I added springs to the back of it on either side, so has a pretty good ride. Put it on in the beginning and didn't realize the pan on it had about a 10-15 degree tilt on it, then the pans on the back of the tractor are tilted forward also. Think the seat is for one of their better Zero Turn mowers, and I do need, or want the arms as it helps me out a lot. I also thought about making new mounts and all up to where it mounts to the PT, and make them as low as possible. How much play do they have up and down above the hydro tank? Have to keep that in mind with trying to make it lower. Might end up making one of the PVC style things you saw that I use to get on them, as they are light and easy to move, only bad thing is if I have problems out in the field, I have to find someone to go get that, and my chair, in order for me to get off.
Jeff

 

[SpringHollow]

I wonder if he is confused about the width of the implements - for the 1430, 60" would be standard.

PT's come standard with Ag style hydraulic quick connects.

The fill port for the hydraulic tank is below the seat so there is not much room, at least on my PT1430.

I was quite impressed with the wheel chair one farmer had. It was made for doing things like working on equipment - it could extend up quite a bit such that your arms would be higher than if you were standing on a single step. If I remember correctly, it would also extend forward a bit. He strapped himself in and did all of his own maintenance on combines, tractors etc.

Ken

 

[jfischer]

Ken, I thought the same thing, and thought most things were at least 60", but he didn't have pictures of a few things, and has been snowing too much to make it down there and check things out.

I saw that the cap for the filler on the tank was right under the seat, and wondered how much up and down it might have, but thought with a solid pin, or bolt, didn't see how it would have much twist up and down to it, mainly just side to side.

Yes, there are standing style chairs and such, but I am hurt too high to make them work. Do know of a few that have tried them over the years, and unless your mobility is from the waist down, many don't have that much luck with them.
Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

I've had very good success with powering off the engine, operating the quick attach lever (aux PTO lever) a couple times both ways to release pressure in both directions, then connecting or disconnecting the hydraulic hoses as needed. I've never not been able to disconnect them. I have a couple times, maybe three in 14 years, not been able to connect them. Bird (if you hang around here long enough you'll meet him) suggested a sharp rap with a punch and hammer on the tip of the pressurized hose connector. That works great. Just a couple drops of fluid will come out and that's all it takes to relieve the pressure. I wrap the punch with a rag to lessen the chance of dinging the connector tip. It beats finding a wrench and cracking the fitting open.

 

[SpringHollow]

I need to start eating my spinach every day like MossRoad does! To be clear, I have never had a problem with disconnecting and I always cycle the lever multiple times before disconnecting and connecting. Where the problems mainly happen is when there is a big change in temperature of the hydraulic oil in the implement between when it was taken off and then later put on. I would say about 2 - 3 times a year I needed to crack the fitting. I have not had to do it since my modification but that may be a coincidence but I doubt it. It is so much easier now when I hold the valve open versus before. It must be the difference between my joystick valve now and the auxiliary valve mounted below.

Ken

 

[jfischer]

I understand what both of you are talking about here. I seem to find that if you cut the engine off, and let as much pressure off whatever the attachment is before you go to store it, or let it sit, that seems to help the next time you put it on. I put new Parker fittings on some old equipment I had, and that seems to help also. Seems if you can keep caps on them, and keep them clean is another thing that makes it a bit easier, but I do know what you both are talking about, and have had to get 2 extra hands to connect things in the past. Seems that the male ends just kind of get seated more with he centers of them after time gets on them, and only way to get them connected is to release the pressure.
I was asking about the "O" rings on the female, as I have some that don't ever seem to leak when they are running, but do when they are sitting, even if you seem to take the pressure off of them. I have tried replacing the "O" rings, but in the end end up putting new connectors on them, seems to be the only way to get them to stop leaking. Guess the balls in them end up getting worn also.

 

[joshlee]

Hi Jeff, I fell at work and am in a wheelchair too. I just bought a PT-425. I remember the seat height on the PT-1430 is 33". I'm putting hand controls on mine inside the panel on the steering wheel stem.

I know this is a question that might not be asked very much, but thinking of buying a 2005 (or there about) 1430.

Problem is, I am in a wheelchair, so can't use the treadle control on it, and wondering of what, or how hard it might be to convert it over to a hand control. I have some ideas on how I would like to make it, and would like to make is so others could use the treadle if they needed to drive it. I would like to keep it on the left side of the steering wheel, so I could use my right hand for the controls of the bucket, and other things on the right.

Also, I know it has 26x12x12 tires on it, but can't get a judge on just how high the seat is.
If anyone has one, could they measure how high the seat is off the ground, and how far the side panels might be, in order to get an idea of how close I can get the wheelchair to it.

Hope to be a New owner (well new to me) of a PT soon.
Thanks, Jeff

 

[joshlee]

Then I'm having the shaft come out the right side of the steering wheel stem. The forward-reverse lever will then be inbetween the steering wheel and the hydraulic lift shifter. I'll be done with it here in a couple of weeks, so I'll send you some pictures of it.

I know this is a question that might not be asked very much, but thinking of buying a 2005 (or there about) 1430.

Problem is, I am in a wheelchair, so can't use the treadle control on it, and wondering of what, or how hard it might be to convert it over to a hand control. I have some ideas on how I would like to make it, and would like to make is so others could use the treadle if they needed to drive it. I would like to keep it on the left side of the steering wheel, so I could use my right hand for the controls of the bucket, and other things on the right.

Also, I know it has 26x12x12 tires on it, but can't get a judge on just how high the seat is.
If anyone has one, could they measure how high the seat is off the ground, and how far the side panels might be, in order to get an idea of how close I can get the wheelchair to it.

Hope to be a New owner (well new to me) of a PT soon.
Thanks, Jeff

 

[jfischer]

Hi Jeff, I fell at work and am in a wheelchair too. I just bought a PT-425. I remember the seat height on the PT-1430 is 33". I'm putting hand controls on mine inside the panel on the steering wheel stem.

Joshlee, you say you have a 425?

Can you measure to the TOP of the seat, and tell me how high it is. I get different measurements, and it looks different in all the pictures I seem to find from machine, to machine, and when a person is standing next to it, I can't always tell how tall they are.

Would help me out a lot, since I am a T-5 para, and have had to make something to jump over to first on my Tractor, and Zero Turn mower.
Jeff

 

[jfischer]

Then I'm having the shaft come out the right side of the steering wheel stem. The forward-reverse lever will then be inbetween the steering wheel and the hydraulic lift shifter. I'll be done with it here in a couple of weeks, so I'll send you some pictures of it.

Is there any reason you are coming out on the right, rather then on the left. My Tractor now has the forward/reverse control on the right side, but my controls for the up and down, bucket and such are on the left. Sure you have to take your hands off the wheel, but is good when you are at the end of something you are plowing, or trying to raise with the bucket, as you can slow things down with your right hand, and lift and roll a bucket with your left.

Just a thought. I would like to see what you come up with, and when I get my machine set up I will put some pics out here for others to see, so maybe it will give them some ideas.
Jeff

 

[joshlee]

I'm a T-5/ T-6 para too for 8 years. Yeah, the seat height on the 425 is 31". With that treadle on the machine and where its located, makes it somewhat easy to retro-fit hand controls to that treadle. That treadle also has a gas spring that returns the controls to neutral, unlike my Steiner that has a gas damper that just stays where its at, which would be super simple to convert to a gas spring if I wanted too. Yeah, I'm going to run a piece of 3/8" round stock down through that steering column to attach to that treadle so you won't even be able to see it with the panels on. I'm going to be away from the internet for a few days but will get back to ya.

Take care,
Josh

Joshlee, you say you have a 425?

Can you measure to the TOP of the seat, and tell me how high it is. I get different measurements, and it looks different in all the pictures I seem to find from machine, to machine, and when a person is standing next to it, I can't always tell how tall they are.

Would help me out a lot, since I am a T-5 para, and have had to make something to jump over to first on my Tractor, and Zero Turn mower.
Jeff