Earthforce EF-500/I-R BL575 update

[capt_met]

john,
my B300 is not a 2 speed. i have a column shift fro forward, nuetral and reverse. i can reach around from the rear position and shift into forward. if it needs a bit of throttle i have a throttle control at the hoe position that i can raise slightly. usually i just swing around and move the machine. the only times i have tried moving it with wheels from the hoe position was if i was stuck and needed the wheels and hoe to get going again. kind of becomes a game of twister by that time.
the only thing i wish could be addressed on the machine is the aux. hydraulics. mark chalkley was able to address this problem and i have taken reprints of his posts on here to hydraulics guy with the schematics of the machine and they all seem to have a hard time figuring where to install the pilot control valve to control the forward motion with high engine rpm. haven't given up yet and that is the goal for this winter. would like to be able to run a harley rake off the front. if i can get this taken care of it would save rentals for me.
good luck,
metin

 

[John White]

Metin: You say your does not heave the two speed (or braker retarder as EF calls it) I thought all the B300 and IR375 had it. I like the two speed. I just dont like how they enginerred it. With your foot off the speed selector it is in hi speed, which is annoying to me. I would rather it be in the low speed, because in a emergency or when you are occupied with watching something else, sometimes you are inclined to take your foot off the speed selector which automatically shifts it into high speed. I used it today, I am starting to clear out some old down fall trees that I havent had time for. They have been laying there for ten years or more. Many of them I can just take the backhoe and break them into and then haul them out in the bucket, where I am burning them. I am usually so busy in he summer, with my small excv. business, (and the poision ivey) that I just couldnt do it then. And with the other equip. I had, the skid steer just tore the ground up too much, in the winter time, and was prone to getting stuck with my back hoe on it. I would just bottom out after a few trips out. So far the EF4 has worked great. I wish they had put a larger hyd. pump on them. My local Bobcat dealer advised me not to try and run any hyd. equip. I have a hyd. angle blade for my skid steer and he said it would handle that ok. I guess the hyd fittings are metric and the Bobcat dealer said they didnt stock the fittings to use standared Bobcat fittings. He gave me the name of a company I could get them from. Does yours have the posi. traction? I dont think mine does and that sort of worries me if I get into mud. I have heard that they had some trouble with the backhoe boom cracking in the pivot area on some models. Does any one know any thing about it?.

 

[capt_met]

john,
as far as i know mine is single speed. if it is 2 speed i haven't figured out how to shift it yet. also it is not positrack. but still moves pretty well. i am able to use some attachments like the root grapple, but any that require constant flow don't do well. you should be able to use the tilt just fine. i think you will find the more you use it the more you will like it. it is just a few tweaks from being an amazing piece of equipment.
good luck,
metin

 

[davidseaquist]

Hi John I still have my Ingersoll Rand BL370D My high and low speed is controlled from the colum the same foreward and reverse lever has a turn knob to put it in high or low. David I have near 200 hrs on my 2005 David