CK20 lift capcity at bucket???

[wallace]

Highbeam, I am a little lost here .. let me tell you what we do and see if it may work for you.
We do use a electronic 3rd function. What it is, is you push a button on your loader joystick and instead of curling or dumping your bucket it will take the flow of hydraulic fluid from your tilt cylinder and put it to your "attachment" but as quick as you let go of the button the flow goes right back to your tilt cylinders.
We use these all the time for power angle snowplows. log grappels, and 4 in 1 buckets.
It is the eaisest and cleanest way of getting power out the front.
I have used stacked valves before but once you position your loader hight and roll angle you have to let go of the loader joystick and grab the other joystick to operate the 3rd function.
With the electronic valve you never have to let go.

 

[Highbeam]

That would be the diverter setup. Where you divert flow from another loader fundtion to the grapple. The other option is to bring another hydraulic circuit to the loader. This is done with a regular Hydraulic Solenoid Valve that is fed hydro from a constant pressure line and return line to the tractor. Sort of an electric remote that offers two buttons (or a 3-way rocker) on the loader joystick to control the grapple circuit while maintaining full use of all loader functions.

Member CT Tree Guy has a write up and photos of this system which he seems to really support in his thread about his Kubota 5030.

I have seen a good CK setup using the diverter but the valve sticks up in the air off of the loader arm and when grappling you lose a loader function. Maybe these things aren't a big deal but they are both compromises.

 

[BigDogues]

Island Tractor, Give this thread a read. I too am going to use a "Thumb" type grapple by Andy Tatro on a project that I have planned. (If I ever get my butt in gear /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) I believe the a "Thumb" type grapple weighs in at only about 80 lbs. I am going to use a diverter valve to get power to the grapple. This is a similar set-up to PineRidge's.

 

[IslandTractor]

Thanks for the link. That was one of the threads I read last summer and was referring to. Very helpful.

I searched Ebay for the Thumb but did not find it. I'll check again another day. It looks pretty much like the other set up however and so I wonder if the weight is really less than 150lbs when put together.

 

[Steve_Miller]

My two cents. I think this is the best setup (as Wallace states) as well for the following reasons. For what its worth, someone mentioned about having control off the loader and the grapple at the same time. Well I don't think you would have this anyway even with another valve piped into the pressure line because, most tractors are a single loop hydraulic system and each function is seriesed together. For example when you lift the 3PH and you use the loader at the same time the 3PH will stop lifting until you release the joystick. The loader functions will mostly work in tandem because there is a flow divider somewhere (usually) that allows both functions to happen at the same time. By using the diverter, you will still be able to lift and grapple at the same time. If you went with a separate valve you would only have one at a time. Maybe someone else could elaborate as I don't have a good way with words sometimes.

Steve

 

[Highbeam]

You are right somewhat in that if you tried to run the grapple and the curl at the same time, the two functions would share the available flow. They would both slow down.

It may not be much of a handicap to divert. Those with the solenoid valves, not diverters, seem to be pretty firm in their belief that it is the right way to go.