Bringing her home

[deadstick]

My PT425 is coming via Overnite. It is my responsibility to get her from their service center to home (It cost too much to deliver it via the private trailer way otherwise I would have done this)....

My thinking is to hire a tilt flatbed tower to pick her up and deliver to my residence. My question is does the PT425 have a neutral setting where the wheels will just spin on their own so that it can be raised and lowered on the tilt bed, or is the angle such that it could be driven on/off? Any thoughts?

I personally don't own a truck which can tow a trailer and PT425 together home....

Thanks, Chris

 

[bubenberg]

i would not use the ability to disengage the hydraulics. that is if you have to either tow the pt or to move it around in the shop.
if i understand correctly, the pt is at the truck terminal? if so get some gas and drive the thing around the truck terminal parking lot for a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the beast.
now you are ready to drive the thing on and off the flatbed. the flatbed operator can assist you by hooking up a cable to secure you even more while loading or onloading.
if you need more help call me. send me a private message to get my tel #.

 

[deadstick]

Thanks bubenberg. That's probably what I'll do. I asked power-trac and they said that you can do it by doing something with the "toe valve??" near the seat but they did not recommend it if you didn't know what you were doing. I unfortunately do not know what I'm doing

I wanted to get an idea of what angle the tilt beds are at. I can just see it, me in the power-trac, attached to the winch trying to climb an angle of say 70 degrees, lol, what fun.....

 

[bubenberg]

around here the lawntractor dealers have tilt beds for pick-up and delivery of compact tractors. one of the guys i am friends with, did not think that you should have any problems, since the all wheel drive capability of the pt is far superior (lawn tractors)in getting you up and down safely.

 

[MossRoad]

You shouldn't have any problems loading it at the trucking terminal.

When you get home, try to find a berm or embankment for him to back up near to lessen the angle of the tilt bed if you have to.

Also, take a gallon of gas with you, as they ship them close to empty due to laws transporting flamables.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Drive it home!

 

[king_black_shoes]

I called the Overnite terminal the day before I expected arrival ( If they call you it costs $22. ) and my tractor was already there. They only had loading docks (48" high) so I couldn't use my trailer. Moss Roads was able to drive his out of the warehouse. I couldn't find a slide body truck so I rented a Ryder truck (u-hauls are too low). As I was driving the tractor into the truck at the warehouse I ran out of gas. Power-trac had warned me to bring some but I forgot. The guys on the loading dock were nice enough to give me some (although my fuel filter got loaded with rust from the can) and I was on my way. When I got home I backed up to a very large pile of gravel I had and laid some 4x6's and plywood down for a ramp. Backing down was hairy. Then I had to leave the bucket and go back for the attachment pallet. I don't think you'll have trouble backing down a slide body. Maybe you could attach the winch as a safety but leave it loose and back down under power. Leave the throttle on a low-middle setting so the pedal is less sensitive. Good luck. You'll love the tractor. Tom

 

[deadstick]

lol, the thought had crossed my mind...

 

[MossRoad]

I considered driving it home as well. The trucking terminal is only 2.5 miles from my home. It would have taken about 10 minutes. I decided against it because there are several busy roads that I'd have to travel on with a machine that I was not familiar with.

The pickup truck and Power Trac ramps worked fine, although it was a little scary because the ramps weren't secured to the pickup and possibly could have slipped out. Let me tell you, that was the most nervous part of owning this thing; driving it up the ramps onto my pickup for the first time after using it to unload and re-load all of the skids of implements. Everything since has been a piece of cake!

I think you are doing the right thing with the flat bed tow truck. Like I said before, take a gallon of gas and find a berm or embankment to lessen the angle when you off load. Even if the berm is down the road from your place, at 8MPH top speed, you can get home pretty quick.