MadDog
Platinum Member
Last weekend I took the BH off my B7800 preliminary to attaching the 3ph and doing some tilling and boxblade work. Hooked up and used the 3ph and TCC system for the first time and this is a preliminary report.
1. 3ph setup: This is actually no more complicated with the TCC than re-installing the OEM 3ph after having removed it to mount my subframe mounted BH.
You don't have to disconnect the hydraulic connections on either of the hydraulic cylinders (toplink and lift link between raising arms and right lower arm) - just disconnect them from the tractor toplink and right lift arm and lower link connections. ("right" and "left" in this post is as you are standing behind the tractor facing FORWARD) The cylinders can then be tucked in behind the tractor seat. I may make a small container that can ride behind the toolbox to store them in when the BH is mounted and so that they don't get tossed around or dangle from their hydraulic hoses.
To reconnect, you mount the right and left lower arms on the tractor's pins , connect the right and left lift links between the lower arms and the tractor lift arms (the "tilt" cylinder replaces the right lift link), connect the stabilizer links (a/k/a "chains") between the lower arms and the turnbuckle bolts on the tractor, and mount the toplink cylinder to the tractor toplink mount and VOILA, you're ready to connect a 3ph attachment and go to work!
2. Attachment mounting: I've never done this with a standard 3ph with no TCC hydraulics but it is obvious that this is MUCH simpler and easier with TCC. Basically, you only have to get an exact alignment between the left lower arm and the attachment's pin or holes. If you have the tractor lined up reasonably centered between the toplink and the attachment toplink bracket the right distance on the lower right, that's all you need because you can use the TCC hydraulics to make the fine adjustments in the length of the toplink and the height of the right lower 3ph arm. The TCC joystick controls both the toplink (front to back) and the right lift link (side to side) cylinders, and is roughly equivilent to the FEL joystick and just as easy to use. Using the TCC hydraulics means that you don't need to monkey arround with the attachment or jockey the tractor around at all to get a good allignment so that the 3ph pins slip through the attachment, holes on the lower arms and toplink/attachment bracket pretty easily.
(Irrelevant aside
At that point, and before raising the 3ph or moving the tractor, as a matter of safety practice, I routinely check every attachment point on the entire 3ph system to be sure that each point has a pin properly installed and locked with a linch pin, that the "chains" are tightened down, etc. Sort of like preflighting a plane; you don't want anything in the system cuttin' loose when you have a tractor moving and a 500lb attachment under power since there's no telling where those 22pto horses could launch it to.
From there, you just use the 3ph control (my B7800 has the quarter inching valve, so you can do it in small increments if you want) to lift the attachment off of the dolly, blocks or whatever else you had it resting on and away you go. The only other adjustment that you may want to make is to put the tractor on level ground and then level the attachment to the tractor using the tilt and toplink hydraulics so that a ground-engaging attachment is cutting or tilling at the same depth across the whole width of the attachment (unless, of course, you WANT the attachment at an angle)
3. Use: I have the adjustable OEM lower arm lift link on the left lower arm and am adjusting it so that the lower arms are level when the TCC cylinder on the right lift link is about 1/2 extended. That way, I can use the cylinder to tilt an attachment either to the right or left by extending or retracting it. I also plan on making a simple stick guage to measure the length of the cylinder extension when the lower arms are precisely level. That way, I'll always be able to bring an attachment back level (after using the hydraulics to help mount an attachment or using the TCC to run an attachment at an angle) with relation to the tractor without having to measure anything.
Since I can't think of any reason why you would want to till at other than a uniform depth across the width of the tiller, I don't expect to be actually using the TnT with an attachment until I get to use my boxblade to cut some paths in our woods. In the meantime, I'll take and post some pictures of the set-up next week.
In sum, I am pleased with this enhancement to the B7800's capabilities and usefulness and believe that the cost was money well spent.
The TCC hydraulic set-up also provides capacity for adding further remotes, as I understand it, so that a minimum of further modification will be required in order to use other attachments that have hydraulics of their own. The system is well designed and does everything that Jim McCuan and the Integration Engineering website claim for it. Moreover, Jim delivered what he promised when he promised and was entirely pleasant to deal with.
My dealer said that the entire TCC system installed in about an hour, give or take, and charged me a very modest amount for installing it along with the other enhancements that he put on (bucket hooks and toothbar on FEL and working lights on ROPS) prior to delivery.
I certainly recommend TCC for anyone who uses a number of different 3ph attachments and/or who uses implements, like a boxblade or rearblade, where it is useful to be able to angle a cut and convenient to be able to do so on the fly, without having to stop the tractor and manually adjust the lower arm raising links.
1. 3ph setup: This is actually no more complicated with the TCC than re-installing the OEM 3ph after having removed it to mount my subframe mounted BH.
You don't have to disconnect the hydraulic connections on either of the hydraulic cylinders (toplink and lift link between raising arms and right lower arm) - just disconnect them from the tractor toplink and right lift arm and lower link connections. ("right" and "left" in this post is as you are standing behind the tractor facing FORWARD) The cylinders can then be tucked in behind the tractor seat. I may make a small container that can ride behind the toolbox to store them in when the BH is mounted and so that they don't get tossed around or dangle from their hydraulic hoses.
To reconnect, you mount the right and left lower arms on the tractor's pins , connect the right and left lift links between the lower arms and the tractor lift arms (the "tilt" cylinder replaces the right lift link), connect the stabilizer links (a/k/a "chains") between the lower arms and the turnbuckle bolts on the tractor, and mount the toplink cylinder to the tractor toplink mount and VOILA, you're ready to connect a 3ph attachment and go to work!
2. Attachment mounting: I've never done this with a standard 3ph with no TCC hydraulics but it is obvious that this is MUCH simpler and easier with TCC. Basically, you only have to get an exact alignment between the left lower arm and the attachment's pin or holes. If you have the tractor lined up reasonably centered between the toplink and the attachment toplink bracket the right distance on the lower right, that's all you need because you can use the TCC hydraulics to make the fine adjustments in the length of the toplink and the height of the right lower 3ph arm. The TCC joystick controls both the toplink (front to back) and the right lift link (side to side) cylinders, and is roughly equivilent to the FEL joystick and just as easy to use. Using the TCC hydraulics means that you don't need to monkey arround with the attachment or jockey the tractor around at all to get a good allignment so that the 3ph pins slip through the attachment, holes on the lower arms and toplink/attachment bracket pretty easily.
(Irrelevant aside
At that point, and before raising the 3ph or moving the tractor, as a matter of safety practice, I routinely check every attachment point on the entire 3ph system to be sure that each point has a pin properly installed and locked with a linch pin, that the "chains" are tightened down, etc. Sort of like preflighting a plane; you don't want anything in the system cuttin' loose when you have a tractor moving and a 500lb attachment under power since there's no telling where those 22pto horses could launch it to. From there, you just use the 3ph control (my B7800 has the quarter inching valve, so you can do it in small increments if you want) to lift the attachment off of the dolly, blocks or whatever else you had it resting on and away you go. The only other adjustment that you may want to make is to put the tractor on level ground and then level the attachment to the tractor using the tilt and toplink hydraulics so that a ground-engaging attachment is cutting or tilling at the same depth across the whole width of the attachment (unless, of course, you WANT the attachment at an angle)
3. Use: I have the adjustable OEM lower arm lift link on the left lower arm and am adjusting it so that the lower arms are level when the TCC cylinder on the right lift link is about 1/2 extended. That way, I can use the cylinder to tilt an attachment either to the right or left by extending or retracting it. I also plan on making a simple stick guage to measure the length of the cylinder extension when the lower arms are precisely level. That way, I'll always be able to bring an attachment back level (after using the hydraulics to help mount an attachment or using the TCC to run an attachment at an angle) with relation to the tractor without having to measure anything.
Since I can't think of any reason why you would want to till at other than a uniform depth across the width of the tiller, I don't expect to be actually using the TnT with an attachment until I get to use my boxblade to cut some paths in our woods. In the meantime, I'll take and post some pictures of the set-up next week.
In sum, I am pleased with this enhancement to the B7800's capabilities and usefulness and believe that the cost was money well spent.
The TCC hydraulic set-up also provides capacity for adding further remotes, as I understand it, so that a minimum of further modification will be required in order to use other attachments that have hydraulics of their own. The system is well designed and does everything that Jim McCuan and the Integration Engineering website claim for it. Moreover, Jim delivered what he promised when he promised and was entirely pleasant to deal with.
My dealer said that the entire TCC system installed in about an hour, give or take, and charged me a very modest amount for installing it along with the other enhancements that he put on (bucket hooks and toothbar on FEL and working lights on ROPS) prior to delivery.
I certainly recommend TCC for anyone who uses a number of different 3ph attachments and/or who uses implements, like a boxblade or rearblade, where it is useful to be able to angle a cut and convenient to be able to do so on the fly, without having to stop the tractor and manually adjust the lower arm raising links.
