Well, I ordered it on Friday afternoon and it was in South Bend, Indiana at 8:00 am Tuesday! How's that for service?
It was shipped with the 60" mower attached, the 48" brush hog on one skid and all of the other stuff on another skid. A friend of mine and I both took our full size pickups to the trucking company to pick it up. Arrived at 5:15pm. We unpacked the skids and used the quick attach on the PT425 to load the brush hog, pallet forks and 60" mower on his truck. We put the 60" snow plow in the front of the bed on my truck, attached the big bucket to the PT425 with the little bucket w/teeth nested in the big bucket. Then we set up the ramps and I backed it up into my truck. Put the ramps in my truck, tied everything down and drove home. Reversed the process at home and everything was unloaded and the garage doors were shut by 6:30pm. Not bad.
This was my first time driving an articulated vehicle in tight quarters. It is very interesting. Going forward feels natural, you just steer the wheel and follow the implement. Going backwards is another story. You kind of have to steer the back wheels and the rest of the unit follows. I was surprised how easy, yet un-natural it feels to drive this backwards.
Lining up an implement to pick it up with the quick attach is very easy. If you are off a little, all you do is turn the wheel and the front moves left or right without moving forward. Incredibly easy.
I have not had the chance to use any of the attachments yet, with the exception of the pallet forks. There is a dirt pile in the back yard that is taunting me. I think I'll introduce it to the bucket with teeth this weekend. There is also a grassy parking place next to our driveway that I want to dig out and install some crushed limestone before the ground freezes.
As posted by many of the other PT owners, it is loud. But I knew about this before and always wear hearing protection. I find it about the same as a bobcat. The seat is cushy and the arm rests are just at the right height for me. The lights are very bright, but are mounted too close to the lift arms, so that they cast a shadow on the quick attach, making it about impossible to see it at night. I will investigate moving one of the lights up under the canopy so that it can point down on the quick attach, or maybe just add a third light that is switched seperately.
Also, as posted by other PT owners and now posted by me;
This thing is built like a brick outhouse! Everything on it, from the canopy to the cage around the engine, is made of HEAVY steel. Thank goodness the canopy has a cushy trim strip around the edge, because if you walk into it, you're going down! My next step is to make a maintenance plan, send in the warranty info, and get used to it gradually. It was too dark to take pictures tonight, so I will take them ASAP and get them developed, then scan them in(I got my wife a digital camera for Christmas, so she can take some pictures for me after that; instant picture posts! Don't tell her).
Thanks to all posters on this board for helping me make an informed decision. It took a year, but was worth it. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute in the same manner in the future.
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<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>
