help selecting hydraulic valves to buy

   / help selecting hydraulic valves to buy
  • Thread Starter
#31  
DFB asked:
I have a question about using dump cylinders. If a single acting cylinder is used the bed will just lower under its own weight using a valve in a float position. Similar to the way my snowplow blade works. Is that correct?


I called Kevin at Princedirect.com and asked this type of question. I asked if a single acting cylinder could be used on a four-way (double-acting) valve. He said yes, but to keep from locking up the valve a person should also plumb the unused port to the return line. This way if you hit the control to the unused direction the oil simply returns to the sump. And yes, the float position will lower the single-acting cylinder. Its nice to get somebody on the phone that knows these answers.
 
   / help selecting hydraulic valves to buy #32  
Both the Cessna and the Danfoss series included valves with joystick control, and at SIGNIFICANTLY smaller dimensions (including weight) than any of the Prince valves. I guess my point is you can have your cake (joystick) and eat it too (small size).
 
   / help selecting hydraulic valves to buy
  • Thread Starter
#33  
My Dad offered me a nice small Cessna 2-spool basic valve, so I brought it home and looked at it. Typical of almost all the valves, it has the work ports on top, 90 degrees from the valve actuation face of the valve block. So I was trying to imagine how I was going to mount it and how the hoses would exit, and then how I would be able to reach the levers or be forced to extend them with linkages to a more comfortable operator position. I then made a cardboard box replica of the Prince LVR, exact size and shape. After playing with that awhile and imagining how the joystick will point forward and the ports will point back, and it will fit in the area between the seat and the ROPS, I ordered one. Its twice as big as the Cessna comparing valves alone, but because its all in-line (couplers, valve body, joystick), it will fit better and hose routing will be perfect. If it was much smaller, the couplers would be too close together to mount direct into the valve. We'll see.
I called Kevin at princedirect.com, and asked a couple more questions about mounting orientation and how that relates to joystick operation. Kevin explained how, no matter how I mount it on the tractor, the joystick can be rotated through 360 degrees in 90 degree steps and control the 2 spools' four functions. He then checked inventory, found one surplus (new, with 3 year warrantee), and gave me a GREAT price on it. AND, offered that if I installed it and for some reason it wasn't right for my tractor, I could return it. Wow!!!
I owe you guys some pictures of my homebuilt material handling attachment with hydraulic thumb/grapple and gin pole accessory (I've been busy this month). But I will get it all painted first. Two weeks, I guess.
Thanks for all the help and feedback in the valve selection process. Hopefully I'm set. Will post photos of valve setup ASAP....
 
   / help selecting hydraulic valves to buy #34  
Bird,

I wonder if the instructions for the port adapter have been updated since the intro of the 2710 and 2910. The 4.3 GPM I believe is what comes out of a B2400, and that's where the part was first used. It would be typical of Kubota to use the part in newer tractors with higher GPM. but never update the instructions.

Who knows.

Peter
 
   / help selecting hydraulic valves to buy #35  
Peter, that's a good point that I really hadn't thought of, and certainly a possibility. I don't know enough to know what the maximum possible flow through a 1/4" tube would be, but that's a pretty small inlet and outlet on that adapter, or even the channels the oil has to follow without the adapter.
 
 
 
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