Hydraulic Crossover on a snowplow

[JBinCentralWI]

Hello all. I’ve been a reader of this forum many times but just joined so I could ask my question… Can some give me some tips on setting a hydraulic crossover for a tractor snow plow? I bought the DCRV45-06N thru Summit Hydraulics. This is the model with 3/8 npt ports. I contacted Summit but they basically said loosen the jam nuts, adjust it, tighten the jam nuts. I need some insight on how and where to set it to.

 

[Gordon Gould]

The cylinders on my plow say 2500 psi max and I read some where that Fisher sets their single blade plows around 1700 psi. So I set mine at 2000 psi. My tractor relief is 3000 psi.

One thing that had me scratching my head for a while when setting mine was that the adjustments were on the opposite side of the block from the ports they adjusted and there was no instruction sheet. I had no clue and just assumed the adjustment and port were on the same side. These were from Surplus Center

gg

 

[nybirdman]

I have one on my plow;never adjusted it and it worked fine from the factory.Note:doesn't help if the plow is fully angled and you hit something with the full angled side.I.E.,if fully angled right and you hit something with the right(short) side it won't help.Ask me how I know!

 

[Gordon Gould]

What I did was tee my pressure gauge into the line I was adjusting then angled the plow that way and held the valve open after the end of travel long enough to make a reading and adjustment. Turning the screw in raises the relief pressure,

Ask Summit what the factory setting is - it may be fine right where they set them at the factory.

gg

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have one on my plow;never adjusted it and it worked fine from the factory.Note:doesn't help if the plow is fully angled and you hit something with the full angled side.I.E.,if fully angled right and you hit something with the right(short) side it won't help.Ask me how I know!

If it is fully angled and you hit something on that side you cause mechanical damage with single acting plow cylinders. Your right a hydraulic relief won't help. Plow trip springs are supposed to help prevent mechanical damage in those cases. Relief valves are to protect from over hydraulic pressure that can occur at times.

When I am pushing back hard snow banks the relief valve opens once in a while and lets the plow swing.

gg

 

[LD1]

Hello all. I’ve been a reader of this forum many times but just joined so I could ask my question… Can some give me some tips on setting a hydraulic crossover for a tractor snow plow? I bought the DCRV45-06N thru Summit Hydraulics. This is the model with 3/8 npt ports. I contacted Summit but they basically said loosen the jam nuts, adjust it, tighten the jam nuts. I need some insight on how and where to set it to.

Do you have a pair of single acting cylinders? Like a truck plow? or is it a double acting cylinder?

 

[LD1]

I have one on my plow;never adjusted it and it worked fine from the factory.Note:doesn't help if the plow is fully angled and you hit something with the full angled side.I.E.,if fully angled right and you hit something with the right(short) side it won't help.Ask me how I know!

Ditto what gordon said. The crossover is NOT intended to protect against any kind of mechanical damage. IT is simply to protect the hydraulics (cylinders and hoses) from over pressurization when you have the extended edge of the plow acting like a large lever trying to compress the cylinder.

 

[JBinCentralWI]

Do you have a pair of single acting cylinders? Like a truck plow? or is it a double acting cylinder?

Single acting. It’s a repurposed truck plow.

 

[JBinCentralWI]

What I did was tee my pressure gauge into the line I was adjusting then angled the plow that way and held the valve open after the end of travel long enough to make a reading and adjustment. Turning the screw in raises the relief pressure,

Ask Summit what the factory setting is - it may be fine right where they set them at the factory.

gg

It says the preset is 1300 psi but everything was loose inside of the package so I’m doubtful that it’s preset.

 

[PreacherM]

My local Napa store makes hoses while you wait. Certainly not cheap, but handy. For a recent hydraulic build I ordered custom hoses from Made to Order Hydraulic Hose Assemblies | Discount Hydraulic Hose they offered a pretty good variety of hose ends for a pretty fair price. The shipping was reasonably quick, maybe 1-2 weeks if I recall. For a no-rush situation I would definitely order from them again.

 

[LD1]

What was loose inside the package?

All a cross over valve is, is a manifold and two cartridge type prv's.

Those prv's come with different ranges of settings. Usually stamped on the sides or can be looked up with a part #.

Find the range.....for example....if max is 2500psi or less, just turn them all the way up because that's well under the rating of any of your hydraulics.

Now if you want a precise setting, you have to buy more fittings and tee into that circuit.....then apply force back against the cylinder until it relieves and make note of the highest reading you saw in the gauge. Buy you have to apply force slowly and controlled. Like with a come-along and slowly pulling the leading edge of the plow

But for most people....they simply buy like a xx-2500psi, or a xx-3000psi valve....back it down a couple turns, and call it good.

You can test it by slowly pushing the leading edge against a tree, rock, something that won't move. See how much tractor force it takes to make the plow move. If you feel it's too much or acts like something's gonna give, back it down til you're happy.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’m wondering If I should do one on the Western 10’ plow I’m fixing up for my Massey.

 

[zzvyb6]

I just hooked up a Summit diverter with push button momentary switching. Chose this for occasional angle control. What I'd like advice on is where to mount the valve. I'd prefer it on the tractor, not on the loader frame because I can use it for added baler control and the loader is not on. Most hookups I've seen mount it to the loader frame.

 

[JBinCentralWI]

It says the preset is 1300 psi but everything was loose inside of the package so I’m doubtful that it’s preset.

What I did was tee my pressure gauge into the line I was adjusting then angled the plow that way and held the valve open after the end of travel long enough to make a reading and adjustment. Turning the screw in raises the relief pressure,

Ask Summit what the factory setting is - it may be fine right where they set them at the factory.

gg

What was loose inside the package?

All a cross over valve is, is a manifold and two cartridge type prv's.

Those prv's come with different ranges of settings. Usually stamped on the sides or can be looked up with a part #.

Find the range.....for example....if max is 2500psi or less, just turn them all the way up because that's well under the rating of any of your hydraulics.

Now if you want a precise setting, you have to buy more fittings and tee into that circuit.....then apply force back against the cylinder until it relieves and make note of the highest reading you saw in the gauge. Buy you have to apply force slowly and controlled. Like with a come-along and slowly pulling the leading edge of the plow

But for most people....they simply buy like a xx-2500psi, or a xx-3000psi valve....back it down a couple turns, and call it good.

You can test it by slowly pushing the leading edge against a tree, rock, something that won't move. See how much tractor force it takes to make the plow move. If you feel it's too much or acts like something's gonna give, back it down til you're happy.

The jam nuts were loose, the caps on the threaded screws… It seemed to me like someone was adjusting on it before. Just enough to make me a little nervous.
I will definitely try pushing on something solid and adjusting from there. Thank you! I was hoping for a feel type adjustment.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I’m wondering If I should do one on the Western 10’ plow I’m fixing up for my Massey.

My neighbor put an 11' plow on his big tractor w/o any cross-over relief. He is not a cowboy and has run heavy equipment for a living but he managed to blow out a cylinder two times. You can get a lot of pressure with a wide plow.

gg

 

[LD1]

I’m wondering If I should do one on the Western 10’ plow I’m fixing up for my Massey.

I certainly would. It's cheap insurance.

It's not that the hoses and cylinders are bank breakers. The problem is breaking down when you need it most.

Look at the diameter of angle cylinders on rear blades. They are so huge in comparison to snow plow cylinders to minimize the pressure because they don't have a crossover valve.

Do some math.....a plow that big probably has 2" diameter cylinders.

The cylinder is probably mounted 1' away from the plows central pivot. Whereas the far edges of the plow are 5.

So for every 1lb of push force on the edge of the plow is 5lb trying to collapse the cylinder.

5lb on a 2" cylinder is about 1.6 psi.

So to exceed a cylinder with a 2500psi rating....you would only need to push with about 1560 pounds of force. And that's not counting any shock loads from momentum spiking the pressure.

I'm sure your Massey, one big enough to handle a 10' plow, can more than exceed the ratings of the hoses and cylinders....probably by more than double with ease.

With hoses and fittings and a valve, your probably under $200 for the x-over setup.

 

[Hay Dude]

I certainly would. It's cheap insurance.

It's not that the hoses and cylinders are bank breakers. The problem is breaking down when you need it most.

Look at the diameter of angle cylinders on rear blades. They are so huge in comparison to snow plow cylinders to minimize the pressure because they don't have a crossover valve.

Do some math.....a plow that big probably has 2" diameter cylinders.

The cylinder is probably mounted 1' away from the plows central pivot. Whereas the far edges of the plow are 5.

So for every 1lb of push force on the edge of the plow is 5lb trying to collapse the cylinder.

5lb on a 2" cylinder is about 1.6 psi.

So to exceed a cylinder with a 2500psi rating....you would only need to push with about 1560 pounds of force. And that's not counting any shock loads from momentum spiking the pressure.

I'm sure your Massey, one big enough to handle a 10' plow, can more than exceed the ratings of the hoses and cylinders....probably by more than double with ease.

With hoses and fittings and a valve, your probably under $200 for the x-over setup.

It has been in the back of my mind to add it.
Even “cheap insurance” now seems expensive with this horrible hyper inflation period we are in.

 

[PreacherM]

My local Napa store makes hoses while you wait. Certainly not cheap, but handy. For a recent hydraulic build I ordered custom hoses from Made to Order Hydraulic Hose Assemblies | Discount Hydraulic Hose they offered a pretty good variety of hose ends for a pretty fair price. The shipping was reasonably quick, maybe 1-2 weeks if I recall. For a no-rush situation I would definitely order from them again.

I just now noticed that this somehow got put in this thread. It was supposed to be in the thread about "who makes their own hoses". Not sure what happened.

On the crossover valves....I put one on my ssqa plow and after plumbing everything up I could not get it to cycle from right to left. I could power it one way, but not back the other. I mistakenly thought it was a problem of trapped air and spent an hour removing hoses and trying to fill bleed the system. Finally realized it had to be the CRV. Wouldn't you know that the two sides were not equally adjusted. Tightened both equally and it worked great!