Slope Climbing Capabilities

[TheYard]

Respecting this is the PT forum you should consider getting a backhoe too. Also with your stated needs take a look at the Kubota BX-25 series with a Backhoe and Thumb for those rocks, building walls, digging trenches, and the occasional digging for plantings. Your usage is very similar to what I use my machine for here in NH where we grow new rocks every spring, and I use the BH to pick and hold logs for cutting and more.

Are you in Hopkinton Ma or NH or another Hopkinton?

Hopkinton MA and we have bumper crops of rocks here too

 

[Carl_NH]

Hahaha. Come on in! Many of us have (GASP) traditional tractors, too. :laughing:

Brand allegiances and feathers seems to get ruffled easily now vs the early days of TBN where it was a local front porch knowing everyone.

 

[BobRip]

I have the trencher. Rocks do get caught in the chain. Then the chain stops. No damage. I have not tried backing up but I suspect it would work. It is a very useful tool. I have dug many trenches for neighbors, more than for myself. It is also good for breaking up soil. Then you switch to the bucket and move the dirt. It will trench roughly a yard in a minute at 18 inches depth. I believe that two feet is the maximum practical depth. More than that and it is pretty slow.
The stump grinder is my least favorite attachment. On stumps under 4 inches it is fast. At two feet diameter it can take an hour or more. It works, but slow and you can feed it too fast and it stalls.

 

[BobRip]

I have the trencher. Rocks do get caught in the chain. Then the chain stops. No damage. I have not tried backing up but I suspect it would work. It is a very useful tool. I have dug many trenches for neighbors, more than for myself. It is also good for breaking up soil. Then you switch to the bucket and move the dirt. It will trench roughly a yard in a minute at 18 inches depth. I believe that two feet is the maximum practical depth. More than that and it is pretty slow.
The stump grinder is my least favorite attachment. On stumps under 4 inches it is fast. At two feet diameter it can take an hour or more. It works, but slow and you can feed it too fast and it stalls.

That being said I wore out my first and am on my second.

 

[BobRip]

My PT422 will do a 20 degree slope which is more than 20%. If you go more than that the engine will not get enough oil.

 

[azizfargo]

Welcome to the PowerTrac forum. :thumbsup:

View attachment 644121

A 20% slope is only an 11.3 degree angle. A PT425 with a bucket full of stone could go up that without issue. Pulling a trailer is a different story.

The reasons are these:
Going up hill, there's more weight on the rear tires. If you put a load of stone in the bucket and lift it off the ground even just an inch, that will transfer a lot of weight to the front tires, you'll get a lot better traction, and up the hill you'll go.

If you put a trailer on the rear vs a load of stone in the bucket, that would concentrate more weight on the rear of the machine and you'll lose even more traction on the front.

I've posted a few videos of my brush cutter going up hill, so maybe that's what you saw. A couple things to note if that's the case:

My PT425 is a 2001 model. The newer models have larger wheel motors so they are stronger on hills than my 19 year old machine.

When I'm pushing the brush cutter in float up a steeper grade, with the brush cutter in float, the brush cutter's weight is riding on it's own wheels and the PT425 is just pushing it. Eventually I'll start to loose traction on my machine in all 4 tires as the slope gets steeper. If I pull back on the joystick, taking it out of float, that take's the brush cutter off of it's own wheels and transfers its weight to the FEL arms on the PT425, effectively transferring the entire weight of the brush cutter and part of the FEL arms from the brush cutter to the PT425's front tires. It also takes some weight off the rear tires. What that does is concentrate several hundred pounds of force to the front tires for better traction. Then up the hill I go. Works quite well.

Tell me if I am operating the machine wrong, but here is my experience. Originally my expectation was that when you go up the hill and place the the mower deck or snowblower in float mode, as you go up the hill, either will stay floating. With mower deck and snowblower, the tractor front wheels keep lifting off the ground. Does it mean I am not really in float mode?

 

[ernemats]

Do you have the lever pushed forward as far as it will go if you do there should be a faint click and the lever does not return to the normal position.

 

[azizfargo]

Do you have the lever pushed forward as far as it will go if you do there should be a faint click and the lever does not return to the normal position.

The more I push forward the more the deck/blower lifts up the front wheels. On Friday I will be mowing and I will try pushing all the way forward as far as I can to see what will happen.

 

[agjones]

Tell me if I am operating the machine wrong, but here is my experience. Originally my expectation was that when you go up the hill and place the the mower deck or snowblower in float mode, as you go up the hill, either will stay floating. With mower deck and snowblower, the tractor front wheels keep lifting off the ground. Does it mean I am not really in float mode?

The climb over response you're getting is what is expect in float going up hill.

You're in float, but the implement+arm weight is working with the leverage of the wheels to drive the implement in to the hillside.

A mid or rear mount tool might work more like your expectation.

On flatter ground, try floating the mower deck but alter the tilt. You'll find a point where the tool, arms and drive are aligned to allow a balanced ride, work and progress. Typically w the rear guide wheels grazing or just off the ground.

 

[ernemats]

Push the lever very fast and hard forward and you should get the float position. If you are pushing it and the front end is raising you are not getting to the float position. Another possibility is the control valve for it is not hooked up correctly.

 

[ernemats]

Is this a new machine or used one?

 

[MossRoad]

I agree with the others...

If you're pushing the joystick forward, and the front wheels of the tractor are coming off the ground, you need to push the joystick forward even further to go past the detent and get into float mode. You'll feel a definite click as you push past the UP function, and the front wheels of the tractor will drop back onto the ground. From that point on, the FEL arms are free to float up and down with the undulations of the mower.

 

[MossRoad]

The joystick has several positions.

Normally, with no operator intervention, the joystick is in LOCK and the FEL arms will not move from their current position.

Pull back on the joystick is RAISE.
Push forward on the joystick is LOWER.
Push all the way forward past LOWER to get into FLOAT. You have to force it past LOWER to get into FLOAT.

Practice it at idle to get a feel for it.

The faster you push or pull the joystick, the faster the FEL responds. So sometimes you want to get into float fast, and not lift the wheels off the ground. So just slam the joystick forward past the detent and it'll go directly into float.

If the thing doesn't operate that way, then something is wrong or it's O.E. (Operator Error).

Let us know how it goes.

 

[m5040]

AZ, what model tractor do you have? The PT180 has "float" in a different position then the other tractors. You have to pull it back to get into float. I changed mine after many attempts to raise my mower while it was hitting a rock, and tried to pull into raise position, but in my rush ended up pulling the lever past the "raise" position and into "float" making my problem worse.

 

[Incline]

I frequently experience the front end lifting up in float when mowing. It happens so smoothly that sometimes it surprises me to see how lifted I've become. Usually it's just as I'm making a turn and heading up hill where the grade goes both up and sideways. I'm not sure what causes that but agjones's comment sounds right. I will take it out of float and lift it slightly, make the turn and when I'm back to heading straight up the hill, I can return it to float without any front wheel lift. When the grade gets really steep, it does help to take it out of float and lift it slightly just to add weight to the front wheels. As others have said, make sure you are in fact in float mode by making a quick and forceful push forward on the joystick - you'll feel/hear a slight "click" when you do so.

 

[m5040]

Just an FYI, the diesel Power Tracs have a draft option (at least my 1430) and it specifically spells out on the dash not to use float with draft. The principle of the draft is that it sends pressure from the drive circuit to the lift circuit. So if on a smooth level surface like asphalt, there is not much pressure going to the drive motors and therefore not much pressure going to the lift cylinders. Now climb a steep hill with the tractor and the pressure going to the wheel motors is high. PT uses this pressure to apply a lift to the loader arms. It is proportional to the amount of wheel motor torque needed to move the tractor, the more torque the more lift. As it applies lift it adds weight to the front wheels taking it off of the mower deck, in effect making the mower "lighter"

 

[woodlandfarms]

Could it be he is “climbing over” the implement? I know for me if I am in float and not in draft if the implement digs in or wheel catch I will climb over it. Usually happens with my York rake.

 

[MossRoad]

Could it be he is “climbing over” the implement? I know for me if I am in float and not in draft if the implement digs in or wheel catch I will climb over it. Usually happens with my York rake.

Yes, that could happen if the implement digs in. I think you'd notice the wheel ruts pretty quick, though.

 

[cqaigy2]

I've had that happen, mowing uphill especially. If there is enough resistance, you'll climb up the front wheels.

 

[azizfargo]

I have PT-425. And yes pushing forward and fast, makes the click sound, at which point it is indeed in float. The diagram on the dash does show forward for float, but I would have never guessed it needs to be pushed swiftly to avoid front wheels lifting.