aeblank
Veteran Member
So my dad would really like a 3rd function on his tractor, but the $600+ ($1,000 even) is hard-ish to justify. Though one guy sells them on ebay for $485, and maybe that's a great price.
I've always thought a roll-your-own would be doable, it is just a hydraulic solenoid afterall.
I feel like I've read enough to be dangerous/know what I would need to spec.
I've never seen anyone post, specifically, what they used. I thought I'd try.
I do know some about hydraulics, but it's more difficult when you don't fully know the system you're tying into.
So anyway, I think I know what I want:
2 spool
open center (allows flow through when neither spool is active)
10GPM capacity
1/2"-ish ports (?)
Standard JIC fittings/pressure (is it 3,000 or 3,500, I can't remember?)
Not sure what it's called, but you want the valve to hold the cylinder when not active.
So basically after the loader valving, there is the return to tank, and it is at pressure. The new valve is in series with that. As such, it has flow available, when the solenoid is active but otherwise the fluid goes back to tank, just through a longer path. The hose that goes to tank gets pulled off and goes on the new valve, and the old tank port is now the feed for the new valve. The outputs of the new solenoid go to the front of the tractor to be hooked to a cylinder, or whatever else. I'd need to sit down to actually draw out the solenoid path functionality (in order to let the fluid out of the non-pressure side of the cylinder).
Sound right-ish?
A quick search (not going back to any of my hydraulic suppliers of old) shows a valve and suggest a block. Seems like a reasonable combo:
12 VDC 10 GPM CC DA SOLENOID VALVE
1 STATION DO3 PARALLEL CC SUBPLATE
From there it is custom hoses, a little wiring, and a switch. True?
I do understand that the hoses/fittings could probably cost another $100 without a whole lot of difficulty. The switch probably wouldn't be as nice as the pre-molded handles either, but I don't think I'd like those anyway, so some stalk-mount switch would have to be made/spec'd.
Even so, that's maybe $250-300 vs well over twice that for a kit.
Anyway, curious what MFG / PNs people have used, or what the kits include for a little reverse engineering.
I've always thought a roll-your-own would be doable, it is just a hydraulic solenoid afterall.
I feel like I've read enough to be dangerous/know what I would need to spec.
I've never seen anyone post, specifically, what they used. I thought I'd try.
I do know some about hydraulics, but it's more difficult when you don't fully know the system you're tying into.
So anyway, I think I know what I want:
2 spool
open center (allows flow through when neither spool is active)
10GPM capacity
1/2"-ish ports (?)
Standard JIC fittings/pressure (is it 3,000 or 3,500, I can't remember?)
Not sure what it's called, but you want the valve to hold the cylinder when not active.
So basically after the loader valving, there is the return to tank, and it is at pressure. The new valve is in series with that. As such, it has flow available, when the solenoid is active but otherwise the fluid goes back to tank, just through a longer path. The hose that goes to tank gets pulled off and goes on the new valve, and the old tank port is now the feed for the new valve. The outputs of the new solenoid go to the front of the tractor to be hooked to a cylinder, or whatever else. I'd need to sit down to actually draw out the solenoid path functionality (in order to let the fluid out of the non-pressure side of the cylinder).
Sound right-ish?
A quick search (not going back to any of my hydraulic suppliers of old) shows a valve and suggest a block. Seems like a reasonable combo:
12 VDC 10 GPM CC DA SOLENOID VALVE
1 STATION DO3 PARALLEL CC SUBPLATE
From there it is custom hoses, a little wiring, and a switch. True?
I do understand that the hoses/fittings could probably cost another $100 without a whole lot of difficulty. The switch probably wouldn't be as nice as the pre-molded handles either, but I don't think I'd like those anyway, so some stalk-mount switch would have to be made/spec'd.
Even so, that's maybe $250-300 vs well over twice that for a kit.
Anyway, curious what MFG / PNs people have used, or what the kits include for a little reverse engineering.