I've always wanted remote hydraulic connections at the front of my tractor. With remotes there, you can power implements that have their own cylinders, like grapples, tree shears and tree pullers. I kicked myself for not having them installed on my tractor when I worked at a dealership because I got a discount on labor. So, when I was approached by a company that offered a DIY kit to install a diverter valve, I jumped at the chance.
A diverter valve is basically a solenoid valve that uses electricity to change the flow of hydraulic oil from one circuit to another. In practical use, how it works with, say a grapple, is you drive into the brush pile with the grapple open. Hit and hold a button on the joystick an oil flow is diverted from the bucket tilt and curl to a second circuit that moves the grapple down on top of the load. Release the button and the tilt and curl works as normal.
Installing this kit wasn't too hard, but I didn't follow the directions. For some reason, the installation instructions want you to first disable the tractor, disconnect the battery, and work on installing the electrical part. Since I was using my tractor often to feed hay, I didn't want it to be down. So, I installed all the pieces that don't require disconnecting hydraulic hoses or electrical connections first, and put off those activities until the last. It worked well, but I could have done it a lot quicker had I done a few things different. That's the subject of this video.
If I had it to do over, I would have dummied up the valve in the position I was going to mount it, then measured to see how long my new hoses needed to be. Basically, I used the old hoses to go to the valve, then some 2' hoses to come back to the hydraulic lines, then a pair of 7' hoses to run the new circuit to the front of the tractor. After measuring to see what hoses you need, I highly recommend taking the hoses off and taking them to the store where you plan to get the hoses and get all the fittings and hoses at once. If you have an older tractor that may be pretty easier, some of the new tractors are using some British fittings that are not yet common in this country. If your tractor has those, the local farm store may not have the fittings and you may have to travel to a store that specializes in hydraulics to identify them and to order them for you. Because I failed to take all the pieces to the store where I got my hose and fittings, I ended up making three trips. Had I taken the hoses and valve with me the first timeI could have got everything at once.
Those hoses are pretty easy to get off, they'll have fittings on one end and a quick coupler on the other. Make sure you wiggle the joystick around to let all of the pressure off the loader before disconnecting anything.
My next video will look at how the installation went after all of the parts were secured. While I may be the slowest mechanic on earth, the kit went on and performed as advertised the first time.
In future videos I'll look at attachments that can now be used with the front hydraulic connections. This is going to open up a new world for me!
By the way, the kit is available on my website if you'd like to install one on your tractor. Buying from me helps support my video activities and is greatly appreciated!
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3 апр 2019
