Going down the Top N Tilt path

[hayden]

I'll let you know. I had some minor leaks the first time out but I think I've corrected them. Only time will tell.

 

[ronjhall]

Peter
Your project sure turned out great./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif What is your next tractor project?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[hayden]

I want a power feed for my chipper next, but I don't think building one is wise. I've got probably a hundred trees to take out which is a lot of chipping.

The TnT still needs some touching up too. I need to paint the welds on teh cylinder ends and dress the hoses with tie wraps.

The big question now is whether my BH seat will crash into the TnT hoses and couplings when I put it on next time. I did the TnT valve placement at home in NH and my hoe is in VT so I was "estimating" and we all know how that goes. I could be looking pretty silly this weekend when I try it.

 

[glennmac]

Peter, very, very nice. I guess I have to recruit another guinea pig for the electro-valves. I noticed you left the nonadjustable vertical arm on the left side of the 3ph. Others have said they put the adjustable vertical arm over there to be able to increase the tilt angles even further.

 

[hayden]

I plan to move the adjustable arm too, just haven't done it yet. My side link, when fully collapsed, is only an inch or so shorter than the fixed link on the opposite side so I have almost no upward tilt in the right side. Once I move the adjustable link to the left I can set it's length to be the same as the tilt cylinder in it's midway position. Then I'll have equal tilt up and down.

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Once I move the adjustable link to the left I can set it's length to be the same as the tilt cylinder in it's midway position. Then I'll have equal tilt up and down.</font color=blue>

I started out that way for awhile, but then changed it so that its length is the same as the tilt cylinder closed. That means it's level when the tilt cylinder is closed and I can only tilt the right side down, but it also means the 3-point can lift implements higher and I can level the implement without even looking back. If you're sitting on the tractor seat, it's a little difficult to look down on an implement behind you and tell whether it's level or not. Something to think about. Of course, if I start a job that might require tilting both ways, then I can manually lengthen the left link 1.5" and tilt both ways.

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Peter and Bird,

Your discussion is frustrating my dreams of tilt. I will vent over on the "Why is Hydraulic Tilt Useful?" thread.

 

[hayden]

Good point. I might try that. It solves two issues very well. I'll have to think about whether having tilt in one direction will be a problem for what I have planned. I just don't know yet. I really haven't used the TnT at all so far.

 

[hayden]

It turns out my backhoe seat does graze one of the hose couplers. It's not too bad but it did chew up the seat fabric a bit. I'll need to track down and order the correct adapters to go from the valve to the couplers so they don't stick out so far.

 

[Leef]

Hayden,

Those pictures are great. I hope you are enjoying the fruits of your effort. Your advice and experience have been extremely helpful. My wife and I had a baby girl at the end of July so my TnT has been put on hold. I'm now starting down "the path" myself.

Mark Greer at V&M is sending me the pieces to build this with an electric diverter solenoid valve to mount below the tractor. He's also found a single spool "midget valve" (12 gpm open center, with reliefe valve set at 2500 psi) to be mounted up near the seat. This has a handle with 3 buttons corresponding to the 3 banks down in the diverter solenoid/valve below the tractor. This will give me a spool valve to give fine tuning/feathering capability in a small single valve operating 3 different cylinders (tip, tilt, and someday a curtis snow blade). That's the plan so far.

I would like to use the same prince wizard cylinders you used, but I couldn't find the phone no. and part numbers from the attachments in this thread. Would you please consider posting the necessary information again? Also, should I consider a different side cylinder to keep the lifting height that you may have lost?

Also where did you find the top link to sacrifice for the end pieces? Carvers is sending me a fixed side link, but only had more expensive adjustable top links (too expensive to cut up).

I don't know how to weld, so I'll have to ask a friend; as long as we use an electric welder, are there any other recommendations you'd make to insure the angles work out properly?

I apologize for being so pesty. I consider myself the guinea pig for the electric solenoid system and am hoping the rest will go fairly predictably.

Leef

 

[hayden]

Re: Prince Page 1 of 3

here's page 1 of 3 for the prince cylinders

 

[hayden]

Congratulations on you new girl!

Sounds like you are on a great track with the TnT. I think you're doing the right thing combining the manual valve with the diverters so you don't sacrafice the fine control needed to made precise adjustments.

I was previously unable to post the scan of page 1 of 3 from the Prince catalogue. I've reposted it in this thread so between the three pages you should have all the info you need to generate a part number. Prince has a web site which I think is where I found their phone number, however to buy, I expect they will steer you to a local dealer. I found one in the yellow pages and they turned out to be about a mile from my office. They ordered the cylinders (with a reasonable discount) and had them drop shipped to me.

As for side cylinder length, I don't think I'd change from the 4" stroke if I were doing it again. Unless you have implements where you find it hard to lift them high enough, then I wouldn't worry about it. I did find that you need to cut the side lift link ends off right snug up against the end bracket. The closer you can make the cut, the shorter the resulting side cylinder assembly will be after you weld the end brackets on the cylinder. Another thing I thought about but didn't pursue is drilling another set of holes in the lower bracket above the existing holes. This would effectively shorten the side link and "fix" the lift question/issue. I never checked to see if there was room to do it so it might not be possible.

The top link that I hacked apart I bought from our local tractor dealer. It's an inexpensive imported "generic" top link and I think I paid $10 or so for it, so I had no problem hacking it apart. I'm sure the kubota link is much more expensive and I don't think it offers anything that the cheap link did not. The side link is different - you're paying for the special end brackets and for something that's already welded at the correct angle.

When it comes to welding, I'd take Birds advice about using wet rags to keep the cylinder and rod cool. When I did the side link I think I overheated the cylinder. It all seems to work OK, but the paint on the cylinder started to bubble and that can't be a good sign.

The only other suggestion I'd make is to work out your hose routing to the cylinders BEFORE you weld the brackets on. Specifically, do you want the hoses coming off the top or side of the cylinders or somewhere in between? On mine the hoses come off the top on the top cylinder, and about half way between facing the rear and the right (about the 4 o'clock position looking down on the tractor) for the side link. It all seems to work well and doesn't interfere with my implements.

The only thing I botched up a bit was the placement of the couplers. One of them rubs the seat of my backhoe, and it's also abraded one of the hoses. If I had been able to find a single adapter to go from the valve body to the coupler it would be fine, but I had to use two fitting together so the coupler sticks out farther than it should.

Good luck,

Peter

 

[glennmac]

Leef, a lot of us will be watching. Good luck. Congrats on the baby.

 

[Leef]

Peter, Thank you for the help. My daughter and family is/are doing well. This TNT business seems pretty tedious but hopefully worth the effort. I only seem to have a few minutes at a time to research and plan this thing out, so your advice is much appreciated. The attachments are very large on my screen, but I'll go through them closer and get on the phone with some hydraulic dealers in DesMoines. Thanks again.

Leef

 

[Leef]

Glenn, Thanks for the support. My wife, new daughter and son are all doing wonderfully. Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. The reason I'm using the electric solenoid diverter is with my children in mind. I want to keep as much of the hydraulic business down away from the tractor seat as possible. Advice from this board really is helpful and in my mind more valuable than one dealership which may or may not be able\willing to help when the task is outside their comfort zones.

I'm just starting to order the necessary parts. So once they arrive and I have more to share, I'll post my progress.

Leef

 

[Cornflake]

I took one pass up and down the driveway and saw how usefull TNT would be to me....thanks alot .... just bought this thing now I am consumed with add-on$.