New PT-180 owner

[curtjeep]

So, a couple weeks ago I bit the bullet and contacted power trac and ordered a pt-180 with a bucket, 45" finishing mower and a brush cutter. Last weekend I drove up to Virginia and picked it up (was not ready for that weather... ... Here in FL it was 80-90 and it was in the 30's and rainy.) I picked it up Friday at about 1030 and stayed at a place I have in NC and drove home on Saturday. I played with it for a few hours Saturday and put it to work for a total of nine hours on Sunday. Monday I did my first oil change at roughly 13 or 14 hours and installed the hour meter. (The factory oil filter is a PITA to get off) then today I pulled it out to do more work. This is a fantastic machine. I have been researching power trac since '17 and I am pleased.

Now the bad. By brush cutter came apart. By came apart I mean the whole rotating assembly flew out from under the deck and hit my fence. Not sure what happened. There is nothing on the ground that I hit. Anyways, tomorrow I will dig into it and figure out what broke.

 

[curtjeep]

This is the damage...

 

[MossRoad]

Without a closeup of the underside of the hub, it looks like all 5 lug bolts sheared off?

 

[curtjeep]

It's dark, but my flashlight is bright.

 

[MossRoad]

HMMM its different than mine. Can you turn the hub with the blades over and take a pic of that, please?

 

[curtjeep]

This is the underside of the hub assembly. The blades found a piece of metal probably 3 or 4 minutes before it decided to launch itself from the underside of the deck into my fence...

 

[curtjeep]

Luckily I have extra pieces of fence to fix these.. hazards of living in a hurricane prone area where I have had to replace fencing numerous times over the 5 years we have lived in the house.

 

[MossRoad]

OK. Yours is definitely different than mine for the 425.

from the underside, mine only had two bolts for the blades, and two spare bolts for spare blade location. Mine has the 5 lug bolts on the top, not the bottom like yours.

Looks like maybe your set screw came off of the shaft.

I'd take those 5 bolts off the underside to get that hub off of the drum and then see how that hub attaches to your shaft. Hopefully, all it will be is a set screw had backed out and you may have lost a key way stick.

Get those 5 bolts off and see if the hub will slide back onto the shaft and lock in place. If so, you may be good to just put the drum back on with the 5 bolts.

 

[curtjeep]

OK. Yours is definitely different than mine for the 425.

from the underside, mine only had two bolts for the blades, and two spare bolts for spare blade location. Mine has the 5 lug bolts on the top, not the bottom like yours.

Looks like maybe your set screw came off of the shaft.

I'd take those 5 bolts off the underside to get that hub off of the drum and then see how that hub attaches to your shaft. Hopefully, all it will be is a set screw had backed out and you may have lost a key way stick.

Get those 5 bolts off and see if the hub will slide back onto the shaft and lock in place. If so, you may be good to just put the drum back on with the 5 bolts.

The key is definitely missing... I am going to grab my magnet and see if I can find it when it is light out. Right now is the time for no see-ums and mosquitos... Although tomorrow I will have to contend with the darn yellow flies.

 

[Lnk]

Looks like a taper lock, probably not tightened at the factory. Call them and they will send you a new key and bolts.

Edit:: just looked at the second set of pictures. Definitely a taper lock. Those three small bolts on the bottom pull the keyed inner piece into a cone. Much stronger than any other way to attach. You can remove the three bolts and see if the tapered part can be removed by hand. If it can, they never tightened it. There should be holes between the three that are threaded on the outer part. You use the bolts to push the taper out.

Glad no one got hurt..

Take three bolts out, put into threaded holes on opposite side, tighten increments until the center becomes loose. Put key on shaft and slide taper on shaft with flange toward deck. Mount center hub on taper lining up the three bolts holes. Put three bolts back in from bottom and tighten in incremented until they are good and snug.

Good luck.

 

[m5040]

Is there oil leaking down from the shaft area on the deck?
It is definitely a tapered lock. Most likely 1/4-20 grade 8 bolts to pull the taper together (and to use the same bolts to loosen it, but in the other threaded holes). Post pics and we will all chime in to help and so will Tazwell. Just be careful when tightening those bolts. The last time I did something like that I recall the torque spec to be 22 inch LBS (not FT LBS). You should get the correct torque spec and use a torque wrench to tighten progressively in steps, then tap on it and retighten, then put to use for a few minutes, then retorque.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are not familiar with those bolts that hold the articulated blades to the hub, you need to tighten them regularly, like every 1 or 2 hours of use. The more rocks you hit, the more you need to tighten. Even if you don't hit anything, check them and you will get a feel for how they tend to loosen. I carry a 15/16 wrench in my 180 toolbox just for that.

 

[curtjeep]

Thanks for the input guys. I searched around the yard today and no luck at finding the key... So I'll call terry in the morning and see if I can get one sent down to me.

I did spend a good several hours on it today mowing and doing bucket work, but I gotta say I wish I had bought the LM bucket as the regular one (in most cases) doesn't even challenge the hydraulics. I said most cases because I used it to move some of my pavers for a backyard project into the back yard and when I hopped off to open my gate the tractor tilted forward... Luckily I had the load low and it wasn't an issue when I hopped back on it.

 

[cqaigy2]

I've had that happen too. Hop out, front goes down, hop back in, front goes up. Just a case of having sufficient ballast, in the right location.

 

[curtjeep]

I've had that happen too. Hop out, front goes down, hop back in, front goes up. Just a case of having sufficient ballast, in the right location.

Yeah, my fat behind provides a significant amount of ballast

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks for the input guys. I searched around the yard today and no luck at finding the key... So I'll call terry in the morning and see if I can get one sent down to me.

I did spend a good several hours on it today mowing and doing bucket work, but I gotta say I wish I had bought the LM bucket as the regular one (in most cases) doesn't even challenge the hydraulics. I said most cases because I used it to move some of my pavers for a backyard project into the back yard and when I hopped off to open my gate the tractor tilted forward... Luckily I had the load low and it wasn't an issue when I hopped back on it.

That is known as the PT pucker when you're on the machine and it does it unexpectedly. Welcome to the club! :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Ahh, taper lock. Slipped my view. I've only had to deal with those on one machine in my 30 years at my last employer.

 

[m5040]

Curtjeep, I just wrote up a post that may be of interest to you:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/power-trac/425329-i-believe-everyone-should-do.html#post5732349

 

[curtjeep]

Curtjeep, I just wrote up a post that may be of interest to you:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/power-trac/425329-i-believe-everyone-should-do.html#post5732349

Thanks buddy,

Terry recommended not to run it for over 1.5 hrs at a time so I give it a break pretty often for now. I will, in the future, plumb in an oil cooler and fan. Probably in the same location as the oil cooler on the other models.

 

[m5040]

That is what I did because it was hard to deal with the duty cycle.

 

[curtjeep]

That is what I did because it was hard to deal with the duty cycle.

Awesome! Now, what fan didja get, what size is the cooler, and is it a push or pull fan? Also, where did you tie into the hydraulics? Or do you have a write up?