Videos of New PT425 Arriving/Unloading

[SpringHollow]

There are some things you might be able to do to cut down on the number of times you have problems besides all of the suggestions we have already mentioned.

One possibility would be to Tee off your auxillary pto supply and return and add hydraulic ball valves. That way you could keep your disconnect always hooked up and just close those ball valves and open the other set when you want to use the auxillary circuit. Even better would be a manual selector valve (cheaper probably too).

A nicer mod would be to so what I am doing and add solenoid selector valves to the lift and tilt circuit. Then the auxillary can be used just for the quick attach and you can use the joystick and a button for everything else.

Besides $, space is a problem with these suggestions. The valves and associated hoses take up space.

It also would not be too hard to have two notched metal plates, sliding each over a connector with threaded studs or bolts on each side of the connector to pull the two plates together. You could use a battery drill or keep a gear wrench style wrench on the tractor.

But following all of the suggestions made here including holding the handle up and down with a bungee has made a huge difference for me in making these connections.

Ken

 

[Gravy]

Preaching to the choir:

It doesn't take much temperature change to create an awkward pressure differential. The QD's are designed to be connected at zero pressure differential. As long as the ambient temperature, hydraulic temperature, and radiant temperatures are about the same as when they were disconnected, connecting the hoses is easy.

BUT:

If you disconnect with hot oil on a cold day...

Or hot sun on hoses that were disconnected while cold...

Or about a zillion combinations of temperature and pressure...

You will get a lesson on thermal expansion and the incompressability of fluids.

I'm used to connecting and disconnecting air tool hoses at about 120 psi. I thought I knew quick disconnects.

Wrong.

Air pressure changes slightly with temperature. Air is quite compressible. That's why there are lots of air springs. I can squeeze a 120psi air connector without thinking about it (except for the noise when it pops).

Oil changes pressure all out of proportion with our perception of air temperature. I haven't seen a lot of hydraulic springs. Air squishes a whole lot better than oil.

Fingers don't squeeze oil very well - especially when they hurt.

I can connect an air hose at 15*F and disconnect it at 150*F with no problem, or vice-versa.

I can't do that with hydraulic hoses. That stuff just doesn't give.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

 

[MossRoad]

We used to be told that you cannot compress a liquid. While we know that you can compress a liquid, it takes a great deal of pressure to compress it just a tiny, tiny bit. That's why when we hit the quick connector with a punch and hammer, only a drop or two of oil comes out, yet all of the pressure is relieved.

I'd say, just smack it one good rap with a hammer and that should do it.

 

[Clarke]

Clumber,

This is probably a dumb question. Your not trying to just push these connectors together without also pulling the spring loaded locking ring back are you?

sg

 

[Clumber]

Clumber,

This is probably a dumb question. Your not trying to just push these connectors together without also pulling the spring loaded locking ring back are you?

sg

Yes, I am pulling back the locking ring.

 

[J_J]

On my Safeway hyd QD's, which are equal to Fasters QD's, you can either push or pull the sleeve. Pushing the sleeve while connecting is much easier. I would highly recommend these QD's.

These QD's allow one-hand push-to-connect operation.

 

[toy]

Yes, I am pulling back the locking ring.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but have you by any chance had dirt on the male connectors or connector and tried to hook it up. You may have done this without even paying attention [happens to all of us at some time], but any way when you tried to hook it up maybe dirt has got behind the little bearings in the female part of the coupling and that little bit of dirt is holding you off.

The part of the coupling that pulls back has a small groove in it that lets the bearings drop back in it and that will allow the coupling to connect. If there is a little bit of trash of some kind in that groove that could be your problem.

I believe you are trying to hook up a snow thrower, is it a hydraulic motor that your are trying to hook up or is it the quick attach circuit? I was just curious.

I am going to try to describe something that I don't know if I can, but here goes anyway. You know when you are pulling a cork out of a bottle, you rock the cork back and forth but hold the bottle still or rock the bottle in the opposite direction, well those fittings are close fitting but sometimes you can do a little of that type rocking to help get it to slide up on or in the fitting. I surely hope this helps, if not I'll keep thinking. You might have to get some kind of mechanical device made up that will help you to seat the couplings, but there is a risk of damaging the coupling that way. If there is dirt in the male coupling that is holding you off you might be able to flush it out with wd40 using the straw and spraying back in the female coupling with the ring pulled back, spraying directly on those little bearings.

 

[FAZTRAC]

Gentlemen
I just purchased my PT 425 at the same time as Clumber and it is my disctinct impression that these QD's couplings are not of stellar quality. Mine are made in Italy, and I am wondering if they are made by FIAT :laughing:
They are not even close to the high quality units made in this country the JJ refers to and that I have used over the last 30 years. My suggestion is to regroup and buy some from Surplus Sales or local hydraulic supplier and advance to a new state of wonderfulness in your quick:thumbsup: coupling activities

 

[J_J]

It is probably time to start a new thread, as it has drifted away from the videos of a new Power-Trac.

 

[MossRoad]

Gentlemen
I just purchased my PT 425 at the same time as Clumber and it is my disctinct impression that these QD's couplings are not of stellar quality. Mine are made in Italy, and I am wondering if they are made by FIAT :laughing:
They are not even close to the high quality units made in this country the JJ refers to and that I have used over the last 30 years. My suggestion is to regroup and buy some from Surplus Sales or local hydraulic supplier and advance to a new state of wonderfulness in your quick:thumbsup: coupling activities

Well, I kinda have to disagree with that. I have the same Italian quick connects on my PT425 that is 10 years old. They seem to work fine. Unless they changed something over the years, of course.

 

[Clumber]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but have you by any chance had dirt on the male connectors or connector and tried to hook it up. You may have done this without even paying attention [happens to all of us at some time], but any way when you tried to hook it up maybe dirt has got behind the little bearings in the female part of the coupling and that little bit of dirt is holding you off.

The part of the coupling that pulls back has a small groove in it that lets the bearings drop back in it and that will allow the coupling to connect. If there is a little bit of trash of some kind in that groove that could be your problem.

I believe you are trying to hook up a snow thrower, is it a hydraulic motor that your are trying to hook up or is it the quick attach circuit? I was just curious.

I am going to try to describe something that I don't know if I can, but here goes anyway. You know when you are pulling a cork out of a bottle, you rock the cork back and forth but hold the bottle still or rock the bottle in the opposite direction, well those fittings are close fitting but sometimes you can do a little of that type rocking to help get it to slide up on or in the fitting. I surely hope this helps, if not I'll keep thinking. You might have to get some kind of mechanical device made up that will help you to seat the couplings, but there is a risk of damaging the coupling that way. If there is dirt in the male coupling that is holding you off you might be able to flush it out with wd40 using the straw and spraying back in the female coupling with the ring pulled back, spraying directly on those little bearings.

I try to inspect the connectors before connecting. I think that dirt in the connectors is not the issue. Yesterday I was able to reconnect the QA plate hoses without having to hold down the Aux lever. I do jiggle them a bit while pushing them together.

What I was doing: I had been using the snow thrower for two hours. I attempted to unattached the thrower and attache the power sweeper. The thrower has two hyd circuits: the main 1/2" PTO circuit drives the auger and the stage two motor; the chute activator is driven by the 1/4" Aux circuit. I had disconnected the Thrower Aux lines and was trying to reconnect QA plate hoses to the Aux circuit so I could unattach the Thrower. As I reported, we had to hold down the Aux lever and push the connectors on at the same time to effect a locked connection.

 

[toy]

It is good that you are watching to keep dirt out of your quick couplings. When you are putting off an attachment that don't use the quick attachment circuit you work the lever to release the attachment and then you disconnect from the attachment and then you go and attach to an implement that has a hydraulic cylinder after you have attached it to the quick attach plate and ready to disconnect the hoses from the quick attach, do you shut the machine off and with the machine off do you then work the lever back and forth a few times before disconnecting the quick attach hoses and then disconnecting the quick attach and then hooking up the attachment to the quick attach hoses? If you are doing it that way then okay but if not when you shut off the machine there is some pressure on the hoses to the quick attach and when you disconnect without letting the pressure bleed off then you are leaving some pressure on the hoses and the cylinder to the quick attach and that will add to or cause difficulty in reconnecting the quick attach the next time. You are probably doing it in this order but thought I would go through it again just in case, hope you get it figured out soon and good luck.

 

[MossRoad]

I try to inspect the connectors before connecting. I think that dirt in the connectors is not the issue. Yesterday I was able to reconnect the QA plate hoses without having to hold down the Aux lever. I do jiggle them a bit while pushing them together.

What I was doing: I had been using the snow thrower for two hours. I attempted to unattached the thrower and attache the power sweeper. The thrower has two hyd circuits: the main 1/2" PTO circuit drives the auger and the stage two motor; the chute activator is driven by the 1/4" Aux circuit. I had disconnected the Thrower Aux lines and was trying to reconnect QA plate hoses to the Aux circuit so I could unattach the Thrower. As I reported, we had to hold down the Aux lever and push the connectors on at the same time to effect a locked connection.

Have you tried idling back the tractor, operate the AUX PTO lever a couple times and leave the device (plow, chute, etc...) centered, then shut off the tractor, then operate the AUX PTO lever a couple more times? I find that if I leave the device set to one end of travel I can bind the quick connect couplers. Hope that helps.

 

[Clumber]

It is good that you are watching to keep dirt out of your quick couplings. When you are putting off an attachment that don't use the quick attachment circuit you work the lever to release the attachment and then you disconnect from the attachment and then you go and attach to an implement that has a hydraulic cylinder after you have attached it to the quick attach plate and ready to disconnect the hoses from the quick attach, do you shut the machine off and with the machine off do you then work the lever back and forth a few times before disconnecting the quick attach hoses and then disconnecting the quick attach and then hooking up the attachment to the quick attach hoses? If you are doing it that way then okay but if not when you shut off the machine there is some pressure on the hoses to the quick attach and when you disconnect without letting the pressure bleed off then you are leaving some pressure on the hoses and the cylinder to the quick attach and that will add to or cause difficulty in reconnecting the quick attach the next time. You are probably doing it in this order but thought I would go through it again just in case, hope you get it figured out soon and good luck.

Thanks Toy for posting this. These are really good points. No I was not following that process. I was only "cycling" the Aux lever if I had a problem when trying to connect. I think that not doing this is what caused the last issue I described earlier.

Patrick

 

[toy]

You're welcome , hope it gets you to smooth sailing with the pt and you get to really enjoy it. I have a 425 also it is a 2003 model, bought it the last of the year either in September or October. Mine has the higher torque wheel motors Koehler engine and the gas tank is built into the hood, it makes filling it up a lot easier, and when the hood is raised the gas tank is not in the engine compartment taking up room so you have more room to work on it.

 

[KentT]

You're welcome , hope it gets you to smooth sailing with the pt and you get to really enjoy it. I have a 425 also it is a 2003 model, bought it the last of the year either in September or October. Mine has the higher torque wheel motors Koehler engine and the gas tank is built into the hood, it makes filling it up a lot easier, and when the hood is raised the gas tank is not in the engine compartment taking up room so you have more room to work on it.

IMO, you just may have the best configuration of the 425 that they've made. I wouldn't trade the Kohler for the Robin, at all, and you've got the higher torque wheel motors.

Does yours have 54" of lift on the lift arms or 60" like the newer ones?

 

[Marks481]

...and the gas tank is built into the hood, it makes filling it up a lot easier, and when the hood is raised the gas tank is not in the engine compartment taking up room so you have more room to work on it.

Does any gas spill out of the gas cap when you have the hood up? Does it have vented gas cap, or is there some other vent arrangement?

 

[toy]

IMO, you just may have the best configuration of the 425 that they've made. I wouldn't trade the Kohler for the Robin, at all, and you've got the higher torque wheel motors.

Does yours have 54" of lift on the lift arms or 60" like the newer ones?

Mine has the 60 inch lift which I am thankful for.

On your second post I did initially have problems with gas seeping out which was a concern to me, but at the time I was digging a septic tank hole so it was being run on a slope. I replaced the cork gasket and that didn't stop it[ the replacement gasket was made out of a solid cardboard]. I decided to buy a new cap for it and the new one had cork and I haven't had any problems with that one. On a side note I don't fill it as full as I was initially filling it.

I like the arrangement of mine the best also and filling it up with one of those ventles gas cans is a lot easier with the arrangement that I have, others that have the same arrangement vehemently disagree tho but to each his own.

 

[toy]

Well I was having a little lapse in attention Kent and Tim in Ct. When I fill it up I raise the hood to fill it that makes the opening of the gas tank vertical instead of horizontal and as such you can't fill it any more than the bottom of the fill up hole and that is how I make sure I don't overfill it, works great for me.

 

[Clumber]

Here are some quick photos of the engine tub of tne new machine. I thought it might be interesting to compare with earlier 425s.