New PT425 and Trip

[woodlandfarms]

24" is a big head. Check to make sure the drill can do it. I have a 24. Love it for trees. One thing I did was add a longer point to help auger on slopes.

 

[Impulse]

I was using the dirt bucket with teeth today and it kept stalling out ....turning completly off..... and I would have a hard time restarting each time it stalled. I think what I was doing maybe, was pushing down on the forward treddle too much in an attempt to push through the packed down gravel surrounding a gravel pile i have behind a building for filling holes in the parking lot. The same thing happened when i pushed against a 3 to 4 inch sapling. Is the stalling typical?

Is it common that you have a rough time starting it? I bought mine in April and also have the Subaru engine. Even the first night I had it home, I shut it off and had a hard time starting it back up again. I have a post on here about my issue, but long story short, there was a square o-ring in the carb that was allowing fuel to sneak around the float/needle valve. I really noticed the issue when I forgot to close the fuel shut-off one night and the next day I had a crankcase full of fuel.

If by chance my issue wasn't a one-off and affects your carb as well, the repair cost me about $6 by getting the grab bag fuel-resistant o-rings from Autozone. Since I replaced that o-ring, it runs like a beast.

I've stalled mine only a couple times, but I think that as you get more seat time, you get quicker on the treadle and know when to back off a bit. I absolutely love this machine.

Don't forget that at 15 hours, you do your first oil, oil filter, hydraulic filter change then every 50 after that.

 

[bol4fun]

It seems to be starting better. In this case, I think a lot of it has to do with just getting to know the machine. My son and I got out to use the 24" auger several days ago. LOL, I tried first in some hard ground (very little rain all summer), and it wasn't pretty. I screwed around for over 30 minutes maybe on the first hole. My son tried setting the emergency brake and did the next two in about 10 minutes each. Went out yesterday after some rain and my son dug three holes in really fast. He's the man. I guess there is a learning curve on everything in this world. Going out this afternoon to dig some smaller 9" holes and play with the tiller for a while. I tried the tiller behind my work building on some pretty bumpy ground so anxious to try it on something more level and smooth. Looks like it is going to take a little practice too. 5 hours on it so far.

 

[cqaigy2]

Good to hear your have some quality time on your PT. A little moisture in the ground sure does help when your trying to get post holes into it.

 

[SpringHollow]

If it was a dry spell, I used to pour a bucket of water on the post location the day before.

 

[ponytug]

I usually till in two or three passes, depending on how hard the soil is. If it is rocky, I do the first pass going forward, with the tiller rotated backward, so that it is spraying some dirt forward. The rocks get tossed forward and are easy to collect and remove. I do the second pass in reverse, with the tiller rotated all the way toward me, and as deep as possible. If it goes to full depth, I'm done. If not, I do a third pass at full depth in reverse (no tire tracks).

If it has been dry, I will bet that you will be happier if you water it enough to dampen the soil to depth.

I also mow/mulch ground cover first- less gets would up in the tiller and it composts faster. I sharpen the tines occasionally to help with tilling roots and ground cover, but it doesn't make a big difference for me.

All the best,

Peter

 

[bol4fun]

The only accessory I haven't used yet is the minihoe and I have a few small stumps I just can't wait to practice on.
My son used the tiller to level out about 400 sq ft of what looks like someone made a lot of small piles of dirt and rock on top of the beautiful grass that used to be there when I had the place 8 years ago. Anyhow, he just took his time backing through the piles and gradually knocking the tops down until he finally got it pretty well leveled off. He sure is a lot better on it than me. I think maybe the tiller started to overheat toward the end cause the machine was doing all kinds of weird little things.....Very little power.... kind of a tinny clanking on a reg. basis sounding toward the front in front of the steering wheel????. We turned it off and let it set for 15-20 min. and switched over to the 9" auger bit. It was awesome. I made about an 140' row of regularly marked little branches pounded into the ground about every 10 ft and he just drove straight down the row digging 24 to 30" holes. He was done in no time.....in fact, he basically was keeping up with me as I measured and pounded in the little branches. Loving this thing big time.

 

[coolconnection]

Well check your emergency brake. If your moving and you hear the clicking from the front it could be that it is partly engaged. Just move the lever up or down.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, I've heard those parking brake pins clanking against the metal brake gear many times. For a long time I had no sweet spot to make the parking brake lever work well... I either tightened it too much and couldn't engage/disengage the brake, or I'd loosen it too much and the break wouldn't set, allowing the pins to rub the gear and engage. Finally got it right. Had to adjust it maybe 10 times in the past 16 years.

 

[BobRip]

I made a lever/ cam to hold it off. I pull the lever aside to let it go on. Works great.

 

[BobRip]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-noise.html?highlight=Improving+parking+brake
Look at the above link. There is a picture of my cam.

 

[bol4fun]

Slowly putting on the hours and getting much more comfortable with the machine. I did call Terry about a issue with curl UP on the joy stick not working right but since I didn't have the machine close, I told him I would call him back. He said something about making an adjustment under the dash but I couldn't see where unless I took some things apart. I noticed it when I had the brush cutter on ( I couldn't seem to get the front of it to lift up) then looking under the joystick, I could see where the other 3 movements engaged immediately but the curl UP one, kind of made a psssst sound and did nothing). A few days later I was filling pot holes with gravel with small bucket and it seemed to work fine but not quite sure if it curls as much as it is suppose to....... soooooo, either it didn't work correctly with brush cutter because of its weight so far forward or ?????. Any ideas.......

 

[marrt]

The curl should have a lot of power. Enough, for example, to lift the back of the tractor off the ground in some situations. It may be an adjustment. Or you may have a bad o-ring or other problem in the joy stick control.

Put a bucket on and go lift something very heavy using just the curl (i.e., curl the bucket back to lift the object 3 or 4 inches or until the back of the tractor starts to come off the ground). In general, the curl will lift a heavy object this way when the actual lift arms will not due to the greater leverage. At least in my experience.

 

[MossRoad]

Also, the steering has priority on that circuit. If you have the steering wheel cocked all the way to one side, its possible to disable the lift/lower and dump/curl functions. If you notice it again, see of the steering is cocked all the way to one side. Back off the wheel just a tad and FEL functions should return.

Hope its something that easy.

 

[marrt]

Also, the steering has priority on that circuit. If you have the steering wheel cocked all the way to one side, its possible to disable the lift/lower and dump/curl functions. If you notice it again, see of the steering is cocked all the way to one side. Back off the wheel just a tad and FEL functions should return.

Hope its something that easy.

Good point. Forgot about that. This confused me too (no lift or curl while turning the steering wheel) when I first bought the tractor.

 

[MossRoad]

I only have issues with the FEL functions at or near full lock on steering to one side or the other. But it definitely does happen.

 

[MossRoad]

It because the AUX PTO pump supplies the steering valve first, then the power beyond port on the steering valve feeds the three spool valve under the dash that operates the up/down, dump/curl, and aux PTO (quick attach), before dumping back to the tank.

 

[bol4fun]

Since we are talking right now about power.... if you have pto attachment on with pto on...... and if you are stuck, would it help to turn off pto so wheels are getting all the power. Does it work that way? I know that less speed is better traction..... but thought it might somehow help ... torque ??????
Also, what adjustments do you think Terry was talking about under the joystick (box?) to make the left curl Up work better.

 

[BobRip]

The PTO is on a separate pump, but it does take engine power to run the PTO so turning off the PTO should give you more horsepower for the wheel motors.

 

[MossRoad]

If you are running a hydraulically powered implement and you get stuck, turning off the powered implement would be the first thing I'd do just for the safety aspect.

By turning off the implement, you won't gain any hydraulic flow to the wheel motors, as the PTO pump is separate from the tram pump. However, you will get some more engine power available for the tram pump to use.

HOWEVER.... the main PTO pump is always pumping, wether you have it turned OFF or ON, it is ALWAYS PUMPING! The main PTO switch on the dash is not an ON/OFF switch for the pump; it's an ON/OFF switch for an electric diverted valve. When OFF, it diverts the output of the main PTO pump directly back to the tank. When ON, it diverts the output of the main PTO pump directly to one of the main PTO quick connects out on the FEL arms, through the implement, and then back to the tank through the other main PTO quick connect on the FEL arms.

So, if you're stuck, and leave the PTO pump ON with an implement running, the implement will consume some engine power that could be used by the tram pump if it were turned off. Even if the implement is just free spinning in space, its consuming engine power because of air drag and inefficiencies in the hydraulic motor on the implement, drag on the fluid in the fittings and hoses, etc...

Does that make sense?