PT-425 New Type of Gas Tank

[joshlee]

Check out this video on YouTube. This man made several nice videos of this 425 he just bought, and it appears that the tank on his is aluminum or stainless. Power Trac PT 425 - YouTube

 

[m5040]

Nice, look at the land he is going to have fun on, beautiful. The fuel tank looks like a good improvement, my 2019 tractors have painted steel and deformed plastic.

 

[MossRoad]

He'll have fun. :thumbsup:

 

[joshlee]

Looking on the history of the PT-425, I see that they have had multiple designs when it comes to gas tanks, even having one inside the hood! It's interesting how I see that they are still trying to resolve a problem that customers have been having with the gas tanks on these. When I had bought my new 425 back in 2015 customers were having problems with vapor locking, although I never had any fuel issues with mine. Right now I'm just wondering why they would be going with an aluminum or stainless gas tank instead of steel? There has to be a reason or they wouldn't be using a more expensive material.

 

[MossRoad]

Rust?

 

[ponytug]

I'm with you. Rust. Ethanol oxidizes to acid when water and air come into contact the gasoline, and unlined steel accelerates the process. An aluminum tank would be more resistant, and it would be lighter than a steel tank, lowering the center of gravity a small amount. It will also reflect a certain amount of radiated heat, keeping it cooler.

Of course, you could just line a steel tank with a polymer, but that may be too pricey for Power-Trac (liner cost, labor). Small volume manufacturing has a constant tension between fixed and variable costs as production numbers varies. Add in not wanting to switch manufacturers very often to be able to stock spares, and I think PT has real challenges.

I also suspect that their parent/sister company, CLA, is having real challenges with the shrinking local mining industry, which lowers the purchasing volumes.

Still, I would appreciate an aluminum tank. It has "looks".

All the best,

Peter

 

[cqaigy2]

I'd think aluminum would be susceptible to acid, unless it was lined. A pretty shiny stainless one would look cool.