Power Trac 1845 Report

[Charlie_Iliff]

<font color=red>"I guess the only hard part would be balancing the trailer while loading it, unless it is a dual axle trailer? </font color=red>
Not a problem even with a single axle. It just sits on a tongue jack while loading, and you pick it up so that doesn't drag

 

[Sedgewood]

Well three wheeled electric tractor seat to scoot around the factory. Then there's the PT6x6 heavy duty articulated six wheel drive Gator green truck - yours for, I think at least, a modest $6,000.

 

[MossRoad]

So is the axle set towards the back of the trailer, or do you just have to be careful when loading it so that you keep most of the weight between the axle and tongue?

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

MossRoad:
The trailer I have is a single axle BriMar 5x8 dump trailer. The axle is far enough back that I'd have to load right against the tailgate to get it to pick up the tongue. Could happen, but not likely.

 

[Sedgewood]

My 1845 has been here a week now and its about time I put together a first impressions report. To my astonishment and great pleasure I've managed to put 20 hours on it already. It took a while to figure out why the hours are accumulating so fast. This thing is too much fun to stay away from. And unlike my 484 the hour meter records the passage of time rather than hours at PTO speed.

One of my first projects was to work on a boggy seasonal runoff crossing. With the small bucket with teeth I dug out a spot for a stone drain crossing and a side ditch. The traction this thing has is astonishing. After some tentative moments I decided I wasn't going to stick it in the 6 inches or so of slop I was working in and just went ahead with my digging. It would just chew & claw its way through. Quite amazing.

Another project was to grade off some woodchuck mounds in a steep field I mow. That went well. I did find that if I took too big a bite there was enough traction to stall the wheel motors without spinning the wheels. This I think was at about 3/4 throttle and may not be a problem at full throttle. I'll have to check it out. I also did a test run down, up and across my neighbors pond embankment I've been rightfully too puckered to mow with the 484. I didn't measure it but it must be close to 30 degrees. There I found it took nearly full throttle to develop enough torque to climb the slope. Stability felt fine.

I found a small leak in one hydraulic line, which was not very tight. I tightened it up yesterday and have not run it since but I think it will be ok. Otherwise everything seems just as it should be from the factory. The engine compartment sure does gather dust with the cooling fan pulling so much air in through there. A rear mounted engine sits in dirty air coming off the attachments/wheels so I guess this is to be expected but it will be a maintenance nuisance since I have no compressed air of water nearby.

One thing I slowly became aware of is that after 3-4 hours on the 1845 I'm no where near as tired as I am after 3-4 hours on the 484. I think there are a couple of factors at work here. First is a dramatic reduction it vibration without all the gear train stuff flailing around under me. Plus the seat is on the forward section and the engine is on the after section and I think the articulation joint isolates one from the other. Second, it takes much less physical effort to operate. No clutching/shifting/braking etc. And its SO easy to adjust speed to the needs of the moment. One thing that I must do something about is the small diameter of the rim of the steering wheel. I find that fatiguing to my hands and it also irritates my carpal tunnel after a while. I'll just put on a steering wheel cover I guess.

I have a few attachment comments I'll post to a new 1845 customization thread.

 

[MossRoad]

Sounds great! I'm getting jealous of you guys with the larger machines /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif, however, it would have been too big for my needs.

Just out of curiousity, which tire setup did you get?

I, too find that the steering wheel is a little thin. I'm thinking of getting a spinner knob with a big grip. That might do the trick.

 

[Sedgewood]

Hi MossRoad,

<font color=red>Sounds great! I'm getting jealous of you guys with the larger machines, however, it would have been too big for my needs.</font color=red>

That's interesting because I just realized the 1465 is even bigger at 65hp and comes with bigger wider tires and an 8ft/2400lb lift instead of 6ft/1200lb for just $2,000 more. For an instant I thought I might have made a mistake but the narrow track was an important consideration for me and I'm finding no shortage of power and not much shortage of traction for what I do. We'll see if that holds when I start ripping up the driveway with the box blade!

<font color=red>Just out of curiousity, which tire setup did you get?</font color=red>

Single bar tread.

<font color=red>I, too find that the steering wheel is a little thin. I'm thinking of getting a spinner knob with a big grip. That might do the trick.</font color=red>

When I was out mowing in the woods yesterday I had the same thought. When I first got into this tractor stuff with tricycles, spinners were a huge taboo. If you've used a tricycle you'll know why. Tricycle operators learned very quickly, some the hard way unfortunately, never to hook a thumb inside the wheel. And a spinner was just as lethal. But I see no risk of a kickback with the PT so I'm now thinking a spinner might be just the nuts.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, a spinner on something with conventional steering linkage could easily break some bones in your hand. I just don't see how this could happen with the Power Trac setup. You'd have to hit something mighty hard to get the hydraulics to give enough to send the wheel around. I just don't see it happening.

What do all you other Power Trac owners think? Steering wheel spinner knob or not?

 

[bubenberg]

mossroad, although i agree with your position of the wheel ever spinning on this type of steering and wheel control via hydrostatics.
the knuckle boaster devices others attempt to use are of mixed blessing and have disappeared from the tractor supply parts counter as an impulse buy item ..... wonder why?
the first thing i ever broke was my thump, and that with the knuckle boaster on my ford 8n.
as mentioned before the pt machine does not free wheel around like an old tractor does.

 

[Carpenter]

MR, I've been using a spinner knob on my PT425 for several months, and it works great. I got the idea from a landscaper whose had a PT422 for quite awhile. Neither of us has had a busted knuckle, so far (knock on wood). I agree it would be fairly unlikely to get any kickback from the PT's steering.