Scott_F
Silver Member
I got home with my new PT-422 on Friday after two loooong days of driving. Had other commitments on Saturday so I didn't get to use it until yesterday. I was having too much fun using it to take any pictures, but I thought I'd post some initial observations - will try to get some pics soon if you're interested. I put a little over three hours on the machine yesterday./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Sean Blackwell and all the folks at the PT factory were very nice and helpful. I got to try out the machine and any attachments I wanted in their test area. It's a very impressive operation and it appears to be growing quickly.
I finally settled on a PT-422 with ROPS and bar tires, 60" mower, small bucket with teeth, large bucket, blade and box scraper. I don't think the smaller engine will be an issue for me. My lot is fairly flat and my mowing will be primarily yard work, so I won't be cutting a lot of heavy grass. I mowed most of my lot yesterday - I think I'll be able to mow it in about 2/3 the time it took with my garden tractor with a 44" deck. That fraction will probably improve when I get the lot smoothed out or the grass is heavier.
I really had a tough time deciding whether or not to get the box scraper. I used it yesterday to smooth out and move around the gravel in my drive. It worked great for this task. You can easily control how much the box fills or empties by using the roll cylinder to control the tilt of the box. I didn't use the tines yet. They're definitely not as heavy as those you normally see on a box blade, but I'm sure they'll handle dirt ok - it remains to be seen if they will tear up the bank run gravel in the driveway. I'll probably wait until after another a good rain to try that.
I think the blade will be good for plowing snow, but I wasn't able to control it well enough to move gravel with it while going forward - it would either dig in too deeply or not dig at all - probably a matter of practice and getting the gauge wheels set right. I was able to drag it backwards and move grave from the center to the sides of the driveway without any problem.
I'm really glad I got the bar tires. The machine I tried at the factory had turf tires and I spent a lot of time spinning them when I was trying out the bucket and blade. The bar tires worked great in my driveway with very little spin. I also quickly confirmed what everyone's been saying about backing off the pedal to get more torque. Also, the bar tires didn't hurt the lawn at all. They're very flat across the tread from side to side so the don't seem to make a very deep impression. The rear gauge wheels on the mower do a lot more damage to the turf than the bar tires. When I get my lawn looking like MossRoad's I'll probably try to find some of the rounded wheels that you see on other mowing decks.
It is loud. I especially noted a lot of lower frequency noise, even with foam earplugs and muffs on. I don't want to restart the active noise reduction versus noise compression debate from the Pro-Ears thread, but I think for my use (and to save what little hearing I have left) I'll be looking into some ANR protection when the budget allows.
As others have said, the seat belt is way too long.
Not that anyone really cares, but if you'll look at my TBN profile, you'll see that I'm a human factors engineer. What this means is that I spend my time developing and/or analyzing operator stations and human-machine interfaces (in my case, those on navy aircraft). Naturally, I have a couple observations on the PT operator interface.
The throttle is upside down./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif It should move forward/up to increase power. To quote the military standard for Human Engineering Design Criteria - "Direction of control movement shall be consistent with the related movement of an associated display, equipment component, or vehicle. In general, movement of a control forward, clockwise to the right, or up, or pressing a control, shall turn the equipment or component on, cause the quantity to increase..." yada yada yada. In other words, "the throttle is upside down." Probably not a big deal on a PT-422, but imagine a fighter aircraft in which the pilot pulled the throttle lever backwards to increase power. Yikes!
I also noticed that when I pushed the treadle pedal for reverse I would often really take off. I think this is due to the fact that the pedal is shorter on the reverse side that it is on the forward side. This means that, for a given amount of pedal displacement, you get more movement of the pump valve, and consequently, more acceleration in reverse than you do in the forward direction. Will probably take some getting used to.
So there you have it, my observations after a few hours of use. Most have been stated before, plus a couple new ones to chew on (I expect I'll catch some guff for the throttle comments). Happy tractoring.
Scott
Sean Blackwell and all the folks at the PT factory were very nice and helpful. I got to try out the machine and any attachments I wanted in their test area. It's a very impressive operation and it appears to be growing quickly.
I finally settled on a PT-422 with ROPS and bar tires, 60" mower, small bucket with teeth, large bucket, blade and box scraper. I don't think the smaller engine will be an issue for me. My lot is fairly flat and my mowing will be primarily yard work, so I won't be cutting a lot of heavy grass. I mowed most of my lot yesterday - I think I'll be able to mow it in about 2/3 the time it took with my garden tractor with a 44" deck. That fraction will probably improve when I get the lot smoothed out or the grass is heavier.
I really had a tough time deciding whether or not to get the box scraper. I used it yesterday to smooth out and move around the gravel in my drive. It worked great for this task. You can easily control how much the box fills or empties by using the roll cylinder to control the tilt of the box. I didn't use the tines yet. They're definitely not as heavy as those you normally see on a box blade, but I'm sure they'll handle dirt ok - it remains to be seen if they will tear up the bank run gravel in the driveway. I'll probably wait until after another a good rain to try that.
I think the blade will be good for plowing snow, but I wasn't able to control it well enough to move gravel with it while going forward - it would either dig in too deeply or not dig at all - probably a matter of practice and getting the gauge wheels set right. I was able to drag it backwards and move grave from the center to the sides of the driveway without any problem.
I'm really glad I got the bar tires. The machine I tried at the factory had turf tires and I spent a lot of time spinning them when I was trying out the bucket and blade. The bar tires worked great in my driveway with very little spin. I also quickly confirmed what everyone's been saying about backing off the pedal to get more torque. Also, the bar tires didn't hurt the lawn at all. They're very flat across the tread from side to side so the don't seem to make a very deep impression. The rear gauge wheels on the mower do a lot more damage to the turf than the bar tires. When I get my lawn looking like MossRoad's I'll probably try to find some of the rounded wheels that you see on other mowing decks.
It is loud. I especially noted a lot of lower frequency noise, even with foam earplugs and muffs on. I don't want to restart the active noise reduction versus noise compression debate from the Pro-Ears thread, but I think for my use (and to save what little hearing I have left) I'll be looking into some ANR protection when the budget allows.
As others have said, the seat belt is way too long.
Not that anyone really cares, but if you'll look at my TBN profile, you'll see that I'm a human factors engineer. What this means is that I spend my time developing and/or analyzing operator stations and human-machine interfaces (in my case, those on navy aircraft). Naturally, I have a couple observations on the PT operator interface.
The throttle is upside down./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif It should move forward/up to increase power. To quote the military standard for Human Engineering Design Criteria - "Direction of control movement shall be consistent with the related movement of an associated display, equipment component, or vehicle. In general, movement of a control forward, clockwise to the right, or up, or pressing a control, shall turn the equipment or component on, cause the quantity to increase..." yada yada yada. In other words, "the throttle is upside down." Probably not a big deal on a PT-422, but imagine a fighter aircraft in which the pilot pulled the throttle lever backwards to increase power. Yikes!
I also noticed that when I pushed the treadle pedal for reverse I would often really take off. I think this is due to the fact that the pedal is shorter on the reverse side that it is on the forward side. This means that, for a given amount of pedal displacement, you get more movement of the pump valve, and consequently, more acceleration in reverse than you do in the forward direction. Will probably take some getting used to.
So there you have it, my observations after a few hours of use. Most have been stated before, plus a couple new ones to chew on (I expect I'll catch some guff for the throttle comments). Happy tractoring.
Scott
