Now to repent for my mini-tirade of the 'delivery' experience.
First--some differences between Moss Road's PT425. I'm listing this as his is an earlier machine, and he's done a great job of documenting various aspects of the tractor.
-His has a plastic gas tank mounted in front of engine. Mine is steel and is a part of the cover, which places it above the engine and makes it hard to open the cover when full, and you can't easily tell what the fuel level is. Fuel could spill out, also, when opened. BUT, the battery is now where the fuel tank on MRoads machine is. Pretty convenient. Moss-Road--where is your battery???
-My engine mounting is reversed from MRoads. The exhaust is toward the front. Pictures to follow.
-The great debate regarding Command Pro vs. Command. Contrary to Scott's (Gentry) assurance that the Kohler 25 is a Command, the decal on it says Command Pro, it has the yellow cap, dipstick, oil sentry, oil cooler, etc. I think they just substituted the Command air filter for lower cost, and lower profile for the fuel tank that is now a part of the engine cover to clear it.
Other stuff--
There have been posts about the treadle sensitivity. It is sensitive, but my feet may have been made for Power-Tracs. By having a toe on each side of the treadle, modulation is easy, even on rough ground. It using just one foot at a time, smooth operation is difficult. Quick (and I mean QUICK!) stops are easy with one-toe at a time operation. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
-Having the mini-hoe bucket curl as the separate lever is odd, but easily accommodated. I've read that some have considered relocating it or making a custom modification.
-I need to gain about 150 lbs. to use the generous seat belt! That's been well-documented in this forum. I have enough left over to make a shoulder belt. Hmm...
-ROPS seems sturday enough for the weight. Has anyone considered a separate ROPS for the rear part of the machine? There are holes in the bottom side plate behind the rear wheels. Just a thought.
-The exhaust routing and muffler insulation are interesting. I'll be cutting holes in the expanded metal where the dual exhausts (now comes out both side! More HP!. Woo-Hoo!) now spew INSIDE the engine compartment. Might have been better to slot the sides of the engine cover and extended pipes out.
-I haven't read the manual yet (Shame on me!), but the parking brake is counter-intuitive. That's why they couldn't figure it out at the freight terminal. RELEASING the brake seems to apply tension to the cables. I'm assuming that is to be a 'fail-safe' so the brake works even if cables part. I've discovered that it's very difficult to release the brake if the machine has drifted or been powered again whatever that mechanism is.
So--to make this not too long as I'm merely an owner, not an operator (or manual reader) at this point, I'll stop for now.
Pictures to follow.
The weather's better, the tractor's home, and will move to the property to do actual work within a week or two.
Mark H.
First--some differences between Moss Road's PT425. I'm listing this as his is an earlier machine, and he's done a great job of documenting various aspects of the tractor.
-His has a plastic gas tank mounted in front of engine. Mine is steel and is a part of the cover, which places it above the engine and makes it hard to open the cover when full, and you can't easily tell what the fuel level is. Fuel could spill out, also, when opened. BUT, the battery is now where the fuel tank on MRoads machine is. Pretty convenient. Moss-Road--where is your battery???
-My engine mounting is reversed from MRoads. The exhaust is toward the front. Pictures to follow.
-The great debate regarding Command Pro vs. Command. Contrary to Scott's (Gentry) assurance that the Kohler 25 is a Command, the decal on it says Command Pro, it has the yellow cap, dipstick, oil sentry, oil cooler, etc. I think they just substituted the Command air filter for lower cost, and lower profile for the fuel tank that is now a part of the engine cover to clear it.
Other stuff--
There have been posts about the treadle sensitivity. It is sensitive, but my feet may have been made for Power-Tracs. By having a toe on each side of the treadle, modulation is easy, even on rough ground. It using just one foot at a time, smooth operation is difficult. Quick (and I mean QUICK!) stops are easy with one-toe at a time operation. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
-Having the mini-hoe bucket curl as the separate lever is odd, but easily accommodated. I've read that some have considered relocating it or making a custom modification.
-I need to gain about 150 lbs. to use the generous seat belt! That's been well-documented in this forum. I have enough left over to make a shoulder belt. Hmm...
-ROPS seems sturday enough for the weight. Has anyone considered a separate ROPS for the rear part of the machine? There are holes in the bottom side plate behind the rear wheels. Just a thought.
-The exhaust routing and muffler insulation are interesting. I'll be cutting holes in the expanded metal where the dual exhausts (now comes out both side! More HP!. Woo-Hoo!) now spew INSIDE the engine compartment. Might have been better to slot the sides of the engine cover and extended pipes out.
-I haven't read the manual yet (Shame on me!), but the parking brake is counter-intuitive. That's why they couldn't figure it out at the freight terminal. RELEASING the brake seems to apply tension to the cables. I'm assuming that is to be a 'fail-safe' so the brake works even if cables part. I've discovered that it's very difficult to release the brake if the machine has drifted or been powered again whatever that mechanism is.
So--to make this not too long as I'm merely an owner, not an operator (or manual reader) at this point, I'll stop for now.
Pictures to follow.
The weather's better, the tractor's home, and will move to the property to do actual work within a week or two.
Mark H.
