Power Trac PT425

[RobS]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Great picture David, fine looking family you've got there. I take it that's 23 in the background? You should take up mint farming like all your neighbors down that way /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Yep. That's 23. I like it now that they put up the gardrail. It keeps people from falling into our field, dumping trash along the roadside and accessing our property off of the old railroad grade.

 

[kcook]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Wow those are tall weeds, are you going to post them on your site?

KCook

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

David
I've been following your 425 posts for a while and I think I'm convinced that I want a Power Trac instead of a conventional tractor like a BX. Our new house will be finished by the end of the month, and hopefully soon after, I'll be in the market to buy. (Although when we added up all the little "won't cost much" extras on our house, it was quite a $$ shock, so I approach the wife with caution when discussing equipment purchases at this point). I had a few questions about the 400s that I hope you won't mind answering when you get a chance.

- In your review on your web page you mention that the joystick is a little touchy. I also noticed in the Power Trac video that it looked that way as well. Any comments on this now that you've used it more? Did you ask the Power Trac folks about it?
- Is there really a need for two different buckets? I'll probably only be moving mulch and dry dirt so I'm thinking all I really need is the larger bucket and maybe the box blade.
- How do you set the cutting height on the finish mower, and does it float? Our new yard is an old field that has been farmed the same direction for a long time so it has lots of ridges. I don't want the mower deck lifting up every time the front wheels roll over a rise.
- You also mentioned in your review that the space around some of the filters looked a little tight. Have you had the chance to change them yet?
- Finally, I noticed on the Power Trac web site that they lowered the price of the 422. If you add the canopy to the 422 it's still $1000 less than the 425. I'm wondering if a 25 hp Kohler really worth a thousand bucks more that a 22hp Robin?

The primary use will be mowing and landscaping. Will also use it to clear the occasional snow we have here in Southern MD, and I may eventually want the brush mower to clear some of the underbrush in our wooded areas. I've really enjoyed all the Power Tracs posts and have been dreaming up my own set of mods while thinking about working on the new lot.

Regards,
Scott F.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Yes, I will eventually post them there as well. However, we all know the quickest way to the masses is right here at TBN /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[PTRich]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Scott F.

I hope you don't mind me putting in my two cent's. I've had my pt425 for over a year now. I have been very happy with it. Yes the hydralics are very quick, they are also very percise, once you get used to them they make for very quick work. I have a small bucket with teeth. I like this bucket because I do a lot of digging. The smaller bucket is great for digging. The teeth are excellent for a couple of reasons. You can pick up very large logs with them, much heavier than the advertised lifting capacity of the machine. If you have material on your lawn or driveway you need to pick up you can use the teeth to keep the bucket just of the grass or gravel without doing any damage.
I have driven my PT425 places where you wouldnt think of driveing a regular compact. I drive straight into my drainage trench to clear it out. I dropped two large red oaks on a pile of stumps and brush from clearing my back lot last year, I drive my tractor (carefully) on the pile and pick up logs and back off the pile. Because all four tires are wide and the tractor turns so well this is relatively easy. When I fall into a hall I just turn the machine all the way in one direction and drive out.
I have had such big logs on the bucket that the rear tires where 2 feet in the air, the machine still felt secure. I realy think you would have a hard time tipping this machine over but I bought the pt425 because of the roll cage, and the Kohler has a good track record around here. The rain cover is amazing, it is large and plate steel. I mounted two lights on the top and have mowed our medow in the dark with pouring rain, you stay almost completly dry and visiblity is great, because the mower is in front of you the grass is not pushed down by the tractor before it is cut.
The front mower does float on it's own 4 wheels. My lawn is also very uneven in places and this is a nice feature. The brush hog also floats. I don't know if MossRoad has much experience with the small bucket yet but it is pretty neat, because it is very deep and the top is open quite a bit you can put almost double the capacity of the bucket in the bucket, like an overloaded pickup.
Money is tight right now But I hope to get the stump cutter and brush hog this spring. I also would like to get the power rake and grapple bucket the following year.

Good Luck PTRich

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

I think PTRich said it pretty well.

I only have about 14 hours on it so far. About 2 hours of small tooth bucket loader work, 2 hours of brush hogging, 6 hours of snow plowing, 15 minutes of awsome forklift time and the rest is goofing around time and warm ups on really cold days. I still occasionally move the joystick in the wrong direction, but it is becoming second nature as I spend more time on it.

I have only used the small bucket with teeth so far. It digs into the sod very well, even with the turf tires(did you see the videos on my web site?). The large bucket hold twice as much, and I plan on using that for moving mulch, compost and other light materials if we ever move out to our property(probably in a few years). If I ever had to do a larger excavation, I would probably use the small bucket to tear everything up and stockpile it to the side, then switch to the large bucket to haul it away. It only takes 20 seconds to change buckets (did you see the video on my website?). I am also thinking of fabricating a graple for the smaller bucket for grabbing branches and other large awkward items.

I haven't used the finish mower yet, but to adjust the cutting height, you pull a lynch pin and change some spacers on the front wheel support. I'll try to take some pictures in the next few weeks, as the finish mower is burried in the garage right now. I've seen more conveneint methods for changing mowing heights, but really, how often do you change mowing height? I haven't changed it on my Simplicity for 6 years! And it does float. Since it is attached to the loader arms by the quick attach, all you have to do is put the joystick in the float position and off you go. Another owner that I talked to said that sometimes it does not float up fast enough when approaching very steep hills, so all he does is bump the loader arms up a little until he starts up the hill, then puts it back in the float position.

The picture of the trail that the brush hog cut is going with the grain in an old field. When I went across the grain, the brush hog just went up and over the ridges with ease. Its height is controlled the exact same way as the finish mower, so I don't think it would be a problem, although I would have the lot leveled by a pro with the proper equipment. It would be worth it in the long run.

I have not had to change the filters yet, and I keep eying them up and awaiting that day. I'll be sure to post my opinion as soon as it happens. Other owners say it is not that bad, so I'll defer to them for now.

As far as the price per horse power ratio, here is a link to a much earlier thread where I did a the math <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=other&Number=95809&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=pt425%20pt422&Match=And&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=91187> how much bang for your buck </A> These were based on the prices that I had at the time.

Hope this answers some questions. Feel free to ask more as you think of them.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Rich,
Thanks, I'll take all the two cents I can get. I was thinking about teeth on the bucket, but from looking at the price sheet, it seems they only offer the tooth bar for the 45" bucket. Decisions. Decision.

Do you have the 48" or 60" mower? I'll only be mowing lawn height grass with it so I assume it'll drive the larger deck without too much effort.

Scott

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Thanks David. Yes, I did see the videos on your site. You're right about setting the mower height. Mine stays at 3.5" all the time. I will most likely have the lot leveled eventually, but I'll probably wait until the fall for more optimum grass seeding (maybe by then I'll be able to get a tiller attachment and do it myself /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif). I wish PT made a landscape rake attachment. I was also thinking about the spring tine rake for dethatching, but I guess I ought to worry about getting some grass to grow first.

Scott

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

I've never had to dethatch my lawn. I try to cut it often, and never pick up the clippings. This way, they are small enough to decompose. Of course, my lawn doesn't look like a nice estate either /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. I just like to keep it green and a uniform height in front of the house and where people notice it. Fortunately, most of my lawn is on the side away from people traffic. I don't have to water it or use weed killer or fertilizer on it over there either. I only maintain about 5000 sq. ft. for looks.

I would imagine that you could adapt a 3pt rake with a quick connect plate. You would have to drive backwards, maybe? Don't some of the rakes reverse like a rear blade? You could attempt to push the rake instead. This would still gather all of the debris, you would just get tire tracks in your wake. After all of the debris was gathered, you could rotate the rake and drag it for the final passes.

Might be worth looking into.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Scott:
I only have about 12 hours on my PT1845. As far as I can tell, it is just a bigger and heavier version of the 422 or 425. The functions and attachments seem the same, just a bit bigger.
The first thing I have found confirms what I was told by other owners. The performance exceeds what Power Trac says. It will lift whatever I hook to it. I haven't tried the mower yet, but the tiller makes deep powder out of a garden. (It also throws dirt in your face if you lift it without turning off the pto, and the second pass should be in reverse to erase tire tracks - front mount isn't perfect for every device.)
I visited Power Trac twice, and enjoyed the trips. They will put you up in a hotel, and turn you loose outside with any machine you want to try.
The quick attach plate has worked great on a 4 n 1 bucket from Long and a hoe from Lackender. Power Trac sent the plates UPS and I received working attachments from the manufacturers. I suspect the same would be true of various flavors of rake, if you wanted to get one adapted. Power Trac will help you figure out how to do it. They may also have something available at Power Trac that isn't on the price list.
One aspect of my Power Trac experience delights me. The "manuals" have a bare minimum of information, counting on the owner to figure out how to do a lot of things. The implements I got don't have any instructions at all. Although this requires an occasional call to Power Trac with a question, it means I don't have to find shelf space for two feet of warnings not to stick my hands into the running mower.
Part of my law practice is products liability, so I have some concern that Power Trac may some day get burned by not warning the buyer not to do anything stupid. It is refreshing, however, that at least one company still counts on its customers to be reasonably intelligent and careful adults. (When I hit my head on the canopy of the 1845 at Power Trac, the salesman said "You'll learn not to do that.")
Tazewell is a bit of a hike from Maryland, but the trip is worth it. Don't take your checkbook or credit cards, or you'll wind up with more attachments than you planned on.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Dethatching was probably the wrong word for what I want to do with the rake - more like pulling up the dead stuff every now and then so I can chop it up again with the mower. With the clay on my place, I don't want to actually remove any organic matter.

As far as the landscape rake goes, I was just at the new place and the lawn seeders were using a spring tine type rake on a 3PH to level the soil and it looked pretty good. Guess I'll have to rethink that one. I was really thinking of pushing a landscape rake to maintain the gravel road/driveway, but hopefully the developers will pave it in fairly short order.

Scott

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Thanks Charlie,
I hope to split the gas with my neighbor and fly down to Tazewell sometime in the next couple of months. I'd like to take a shot at driving one around for a while.

BTW, I liked the pics of your 4-in-1 bucket. Do you know if they make anything smaller that 60"? I didn't see anything on Carver's web site. I've never used one of those. When it's open, can you roll it forward far enough to use the top part (with the bucket sides) as a sort of quasi-box blade by dragging it backwards? In other words, if I could get Long to make one small enough for the 422/425, could it serve as both a bucket and box blade? Just a thought.

Scott

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Scott:
Tazewell should be a great flight. Pretty country. If my pilot's license were active, however, I certainly couldn't have afforded the PT.
The 4 n 1 bucket I got is the heavy duty one - probably overkill. They have a lighter one, and various widths, so I am sure they can do one for the 422 or 425. It does reduce lifting ability a bit, since even a light one would be a lot heavier than a mulch bucket.
I'm still thoroughly incompetent with the 4 n 1. From prior threads, however, and comments from folks like Mark Chalkley, I understand you can grade as with a box blade, forward or backward. It won't be as good as a heavy box with scarifiers, but will do a lot more than a solid bucket. There are a number of posts about 4 n 1, ( 4 in 1) that you will want to search up and take a look at.
Steve Carver can give you more info on available configurations, or you can call WR Long, in Tarboro NC
800-823-4570
Other fabricators have been mentioned favorably on the list, as well.

 

[pajoube]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

MossRoad / Charlie
Noticed on the PT home page they do not show any trade show dates. Sent an email to them asking if they were doing any shows this year but no answer as yet.
Have either of you talked with them or heard if they will be doing shows this year?
If there was a show close by I would attend and test drive the units again. Will wait to go to the factory until late fall or early winter.
Paul

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Paul:
Although I got some answers to e-mails when I directed them to Kristie Asbury at PT, she hasn't answered the last couple. The only way to communicate with them reliably is phone. I'd call and ask what shows they will be attending, rather than waiting for an e-mail answer.

 

[pajoube]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Charlie
Thanks, will do.
If I go to the factory I will spend, trade show I can ask questions and test drive.
Paul

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

I haven't heard either.

 

[PTRich]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

Scott F

I have the 60" deck, I have cut 1 to 2 foot field grass with it without a strain. Hit a rock and decided to wait for the brush hog. Power Trac makes a power rake, I am told these are similar to the Harley Rake and work very well. I have a landscape rake I made with a mounting plate. I can't push it very well, it hops. Pulling it works well. It is better at making short quick passes than one behind on a 3 point but not nearly as good on long runs. If I had the extra money I think I would try to make one out of there plow.

PTRich

 

[PTRich]

Re: Power Trac PT425 4\' Brush Hog Works Great

MossRoad
I don't know if you noticed but on the price sheet for the PT2422 right under the plow there is a rubber scraper for it. I don't know why they don't list it for the PT425 but I believe they take the exact same plow. I think this would be usefull for me, I plow gravel and pavement. I was plowing this winter a little (well..., a lot) to fast and hit a rock. I usualy always wear my seatbelt but I did'nt put it on this day. I hit the roll bar so hard it made me black out. Boy did I feel like an idiot. I alway's wear it now. I think the rubber would be a little more foregiving?

PTRich