PB 400: A rookie's review

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Re: PB 400: A rookie's review

Postby Canadianbombar on 30 May 2009, 00:20

The Version 2 PB 400 tiller has many parts which seem to be a complete rip off of the Bombi/Prinoth BR 350 tiller. Hmmm....wonder why? Throwing a PB 400 into a total BR 350 fleet must be painfull as well where the red tiller lift button is exactly where a blade function button is on the BR. They have the same red button on the 2008 300 Edge (of which we got 2) and I can't tell you how many times I popped my tiller in the air by mistake because I was so used to running the 350.....but it wasn't just me....veterans who ran PB 200's 95% of the time were doing the same damn thing. I think every 4th radio transmision last year was #$#%$#^%^$# red button. The tiller on our 300's worked very well. Why the heck wouldn't PB just go back to the old tiller if the new one is a flop? To me, it's one of the few things PB had going for them....as rear visibility certainly isn't their forte. The tiller on the 300 worked a lot better than the 350 tiller in the hard stuff, one had to really suck to leave a cookie trail even going down even the steepest of steeps (for a free cat) so it didn't matter much that you couldn't see the tiller much. One could darn near set it and forget it. To be fair to Prinoth though...our 350 tiller was 5 years old vs. a brand new PB tiller.
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Re: PB 400: A rookie's review

Postby jy123 on 10 Nov 2011, 17:25

At the mt I work at we got a pb 400 a few years ago and no one likes it. We run br 350s and everyone loves them. Last year I got a pb guy to work with us so we wouldnt have to run the pb 400. Even the pisten bully guy didnt like it he thought the edge's were alot better. We have alot of problems with the tiller and getting a crappy finish. The br350 always leave a great finish with out messing with it all night long. The pb 400 you always have to mess with it to get a ok finish. When the tiller is down it does not like steep transitions it always lifts up off the snow. The br 350s never come off the snow. I dont know if its just are machine or everyone has these problems?
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Re: PB 400: A rookie's review

Postby Canadianbombar on 10 Nov 2011, 20:34

If you got the early 400 tiller you will never get a good pass. Those tillers were $@@t canned. The big outfits that buy tons of PB product got all brand new tillers (that actually work) for free or next to nothing. The little guys were left scratching their heads it seems. If you have the early 400 tiller...call PB and bitch and moan once a day till they work you a fair deal on a new tiller. I've seen 300 edge tillers pop coming up over a sharp transition ...typically it's with the tiller in up pressure. If your're in up pressure you need to float or apply down pressure coming over the transitions.
Canadianbombar
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Re: PB 400: A rookie's review

Postby jy123 on 16 Nov 2011, 12:44

Yes we got the pb 400 its first year out we have different tillers but it seems we need a different tiller for different snow conditions. But the tiller will come off the ground in float the only way to stop it from doing this is by going really slow. Then it will spit snow out from under the comb. It just seems like the tiller needs a lot of work. I just stay out of it and run the br 350s but everyone has their own preferences.
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Re: PB 400: A rookie's review

Postby EQ3 on 01 Apr 2012, 23:36

Hi JY
We have been seeing great success with the new PB Alpineflex tiller! Up here in the NW there are many great reviews from many resorts, managers and skiers comparing the 350/bison tiller to the 400.
I do know your issue with the tiller lifting off the ground while is float and kicked off to the side. We had our 400 aux card software updated that allowed return oils back to tank from the lift cyl. Awesome cat!
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