As a welcome respite from the events of the week, I spent part of Friday at Power Trac in Tazewell, VA. This post should perhaps be in the Good-bye Kubota thread, or the Power Trac Update thread, but I chose this one because of its theoretical breadth. As a result of my own visit, I am determined to buy a Power Trac 1430, 30 hp diesel, as soon as I can manage. If you glance at my profile, you will see quite a batch of machines (all mostly worn out). My visit to Power Trac reinforced my impression that the Power Trac machine will perform nearly every function I ask of a tractor at least as well as the machines I have experience with, but more easily, efficiently, and most importantly, safely.
First, however, a drawback. The 1430 is loud! As with many other tractors, its muffling is inadequate. When I get one, I will put another muffler in series with that which came with the Deutz diesel. It may reduce power slightly, but I want this thing for comfort, not irritation.
We do a lot of mowing - the 1430 has a 6 foot rear discharge finish mower with cut quality and maneuverability about equal to the Jacobsen Turf-Cat II front mower which is our best. The Power Trac has more power, and will cut faster, but as smoothly. The finish mower and the 60" rough cut mower (brush hog) are at least as well built as any I've seen. Grease fittings are where they belong - everywhere. (See Goodbye Kubota thread.) I need the 1430, or the smaller gasoline machine or the larger 1460 or 1800 series for the slope mowing capability. For that I have to give up the backhoe on the 2400 series, but I think I can mount a small digger up front, adapting a 3-point mount to the quick attach mechanism.
I played with and observed the quick attach functions, and hate 3-point hitches even more than before. A switch from any Power Trac implement to any other takes no more than 30 seconds, and includes no blood blisters, strained backs, mashed feet or other built-in characteristics of the beloved 3-point mechanism. You may have to leave the tractor to attach two primary PTO hydraulic hoses, and maybe the two secondary hoses, if the implement requires. On the 425, you can do even those from the machine, by standing and leaning over. Sometimes, when really lucky, I have attached a PTO shaft more quickly that I could plug in two hydraulic quick disconnects. Those times are fewer than those where aligning the splines required a bit more time - or trip to the bin of levers and beating tools.
With the grapple bucket, the 1430 digs as well as our JD 2240, and will pick up a pile of brush with ease. With the posthole auger, even the little 425 digs a 9" hole, 3' deep in reasonably tough soil, in about 45 seconds.
All the controls are easy to work with.
The apparent build quality is very good - an appropriate word for all of the machines and attachments is "stout." Power Trac makes all its own implements because third party supplied implements haven't been built well enough or consistently enough to suit the boss.
Some time ago on this thread, there were some attempts at cost comparison. I haven't tried to refine those. My impression is that costs may be roughly comparable for comparable horsepower. Power Trac implements are generally more expensive, particularly where hydraulic PTO is used in place of gearboxes. The costs comparisons, however, should be done against top line implements, and should assume a Freedom Hitch assembly or equivalent for each implement.
Use of hydraulics is less efficient than gears. Because of the configuration, however, I'll bet that Power Trac actually is able to apply as much power to the job as conventional tractors. The whole system is well designed and thought out, and not constrained to retrofit to systems designed early last century.
I am sorry for the long post, but it has kept my mind off terrorism for a few minutes, and back on our mutual recreation - machines to play, er, work with.
Charlie Iliff
