Front-End Loader Comfort Ride

[ptsg]

I'll go as far as saying that maybe 90% of the soft rides systems out there uses the bladder type accumulator with great success and I haven't heard of any issues at all.

I bought it at the scrapyard a long time ago. It came with other hydraulic stuff I was looking for. This was over 18 years ago, so who knows how older the thing is. Sometime ago, I found the accumulator and much to my surprise it was still charged and working great.

Mine is charged with about 725 PSI, which I found to be a little too much for an empty bucket or forks. It's mostly effective with a full bucket or something on the forks. Still, very nice to have and it's night and day difference on comfort. The ones I've seen for sale are charged anywhere from 435 PSI to 600 PSI.

 

[jonsstihl]

thanks for the update, to me that seems a little low a charge setting since as soon as your system PSI reaches 600PSI you have no more damping and your accumulator is bottomed out. that leaves a lot of PSI range example 600psi-2630psi for my system with a bottomed out accumulator.

maybe I am thinking about it backwards because if my charge pressure was 2630psi there would effectively never be any damping since the system pressure never exceeds the charge pressure.

there is not much info out there on the web about accumulators in this (static) shock absorption application.

 

[npalen]

Interesting discussion!

Wonder if anyone has tried gas shock lift cylinder connections to cushion. Probably wouldn't work, just a thought.

It would be interesting to experiment with accumulators for the FEL as well as the 3PH top link cylinder to see if the "empty ride" could be improved. My Mahindra 3015 with industrial tires rides like a lumber wagon when roading, in fact its more like "rodeoing". Could the accumulators act like spring suspension on a vehicle in this situation? Sounds like the accumulator system would, somehow, need to be variable pressure. Perhaps two sets of accumulators, one for loading and one for roading?

 

[jonsstihl]

thats kind of what the WR Long system is atleast on the loader. they have one accumulator that is charged based on the empty setting and one that is charged based on the loaded set up so you get more even shock absorption across the entire load range of the loader. I've never seen two accumulators on the 3pt hitch though.

the accumulators I have seen are actually on the three point lift system but I suppose if you really wanted to you could put them on the 3pt lift, loader and top link

apparently they really make a night and day difference especially in roading applications, thats why I really want to get this setup going. i'm tired of the loader banging around on my trails.

 

[Smokeydog]

Agreed bush hogging with a loader and during the transport of materials the harshness of the loader over bumpy terrain is greatly reduced. A system benefits that are felt more than seen. With a gauge on the loader lift circuit can see a significant decrease in pressure spikes when carrying a load. Simple system.

Don’t think a 600psi bladder is bottomed out at 600# or 600psi loader pressure. Doubt if bottomed out at 4000psi+ loader pressure but cushion volume would be reduced. With lift, curl and wheel traction forces have had loader lift pressure approach 5,000psi.

The Kubota Soft Ride (KSR) system is a two bulb accumulators with different pressures. Don’t know if two bulbs at different pressures was to increase damping range? Decrease pogo stick hysteresis in a closed system? Or simply to utilize off the shelf components that kinda meet requirements and fit the tractors limited space? Could be none or all three.

I installed hard tip needle valve in addition to a ball valve between accumulators and tractor loader. Two reasons. If I needed flow control and 2nd, needed another 2-3 inches of piping to ergonomically position the ball valve. Had the hydraulic fittings but not the nipple on hand. Turns out I have seen no reason to have a flow control valve.

 

[jonsstihl]

Do you know what pressures yours are set at or did them come already pre charged. If I remember correctly you got yours off of ebay right.

 

[Smokeydog]

280psi and 580psi precharged. Bought the whole KSR kit off eBay. Only used the accumulators, some fittings and one bracket. Several brackets, hoses, hardline and valve I didn’t use.

Used a digital 10,000psi gauge. Nice, accurate, can tare, change scales, zero and back lighting. Likes to eat batteries. Has option for usb. Handy for my primary testing but now may switch to a simple 6,000 psi mechanical gauge like NoShok. Fun to monitor loader pressure when using a KSR system

 

[jonsstihl]

and what is your loader capacity and max system pressure so I can more accurately guesstimate my required charge pressures

thank you

 

[rScotty]

It's interesting to follow along here. We have "comfort ride" on the yellow JD. It is very nice anytime on the road - and especially so when carrying bucket loads over a couple of tons.

Bought one for the Kubota a year or so ago from Kubota overstock on Ebay. Not installed yet. I rarely road the M59 - but use it daily.

FEL geometry counts for as much as system psi. Most tractors today are capable of 2800 to 3000 psi, but I rarely see half that on the pressure gauge. And a lot of work is done under 1000 psi.

 

[jonsstihl]

I've maxed out my FEL a few times moving stacks of lumber for a deck and more recently pallets of stone for a walkway that I had to take a few off to get them to lift. But my tractor is not an M59. This is not really scientific but I'm thinking of comparing max system pressure to charge pressure to determine a good setting but I don't even know if the relationship is linear and I'm assuming the type of accumulator would affect the settings as well.

I have a request for quote out for several different type of accumulators. would be nice to have one that is rebuildable but if it is three times the price I will bet on the non rebuildable one since I need two for the loader and one for the 3pt hitch.