PT diesel for sale

[ponytug]

On my 1445, there is a small (SAE 3/8") hose plumbed between the left and right rear motors. Terry described it to me as a limited slip differential, there to even out any left / right flow imbalance due to turns or wheel slippage.

I brought up the debris concern mainly because it was mentioned in the advertisement that all four motors and the drive pump were dead which suggested to me that there was more than a simple single point failure.

All the best,

Peter

 

[marrt]

On my 1445, there is a small (SAE 3/8") hose plumbed between the left and right rear motors. Terry described it to me as a limited slip differential, there to even out any left / right flow imbalance due to turns or wheel slippage.

I brought up the debris concern mainly because it was mentioned in the advertisement that all four motors and the drive pump were dead which suggested to me that there was more than a simple single point failure.

All the best,

Peter

They added that hose to at least one generation of the 425 as well (I didn't mention it to avoid complicating the post as most 425's don't have it). I think they later went back to the old design on the 425. To be clear, it is possible, of course, to create a hydraulic circuit where the different turning radiuses aren't a issue. That's just not the way most smaller PT's were designed (probably, with good reason...cost, simplicity, reliability, etc...).

I have 3 PT's and love fixing them up. But I wouldn't touch that 1418 personally. Too many unknowns due to prior owner modifications. I even have a spare pump and 4 wheel motors laying around that would work perfectly. However, that's a VERY old PT and I would wait for a 4xx series to come up. They are around if you look (and know how to work Google search to your advantage). I get the feeling about 20% of people that buy a PT aren't willing, or grow tired, of routine repair and maintenance issues. Power Tracs are super simple machines compared to any other tractor. But the lack of dealer support is an issue for some people (not judging, just pointing out a fact). Also, it's not a $30K machine with those attachments. More like $10K for that model.

 

[priberc]

Imagine the rear wheels were moved 1 mile to the rear. The front wheels would barely move, verses the rear wheels, when making a hard turn. However, the front and rear wheel motors on PT's smaller tractors are directly connected on each side...e.g., the output from the left rear motor is the input for the left front motor. So, hydraulic fluid MUST go through the front wheel motor at the same rough rate as the rear motor, even though the front motor couldn't turn much in this scenario. Obviously, this wouldn't work well for long.

Also, Peter's comment is spot on. The wheel motor circuit is NOT directly filtered on a PT (or most other small hydraulic equipment). Therefore, a catastrophic failure really is catastrophic. On big machines, it's necessary to pull a cleaning device through all the lines after a catastrophic failure...in additional to disassembling and cleaning every motor and pump in the circuit (along with the hydraulic reservoir and fluid of course). Even then, you're not going to get everything and one can expect reduced service life for each component going forward. Fortunately, it's rare to have this sort of failure. The more usual case is gradual deterioration due to normal wear or contamination.

1 mile is a lot different than 1 foot. I will take your word for how these things are plumbed but I am not seeing catastrophic stresses being applied anywhere. From your description the front drive motor would have more power in a turn is all. Or would it lose power as explained in another thread on here?

 

[MossRoad]

1 mile is a lot different than 1 foot. I will take your word for how these things are plumbed but I am not seeing catastrophic stresses being applied anywhere. From your description the front drive motor would have more power in a turn is all. Or would it lose power as explained in another thread on here?

There's 2 front drive motors; 4 wheel motors total.