Backhoe John Deere controls to Cat style

[Tfish]

Hi everyone
Wondering if anyone might be able to help me out. I recently brought a Woods BH80X backhoe and put it on my ck30 Kioti tractor. I brought the hoe off on Craigslist and purchased the subframe from woods to attach it. It works great except it is set up with John Deere style controls. I have run a bit of equipment over the years and I am used to the cat style or SAE. The tech guy at woods said that it can be changed but he has no literature or pictures on the process. He said there is a plate I can buy to put on and restack the valves. The local woods dealer isn't interested in helping, so I was hoping someone could shed a little more light on this! If anyone has done it or has any thoughts I would really appreciate the input!
Thanks

 

[Rustyiron]

Just switch the hoses on the valve(s). Although I am used to SAE (Cat) controls, I think that there is only 1 function that is different (2 hoses). It's funny that I couldn't tell you what (control) did what, but when I get into the seat, the hands just know what to do, no thinking involved.
Welcome to TBN! Pretty sure I've been through Hayden, ID is beautiful!

 

[Tfish]

Thanks rustyiron, but the tech guy from woods made it sound like it was more complicated than that. He said I needed to buy a special plate that basically changed the hoses to the valves. I guess I just need to make the jump and do it. Thanks for the welcome btw. So when were you up in this neck of the woods?

 

[Arc weld]

There may be separate relief valves set at different pressures depending on which function they're for. Maybe not though and you could just change the hoses. Sounds like Woods will help you out though. Hopefully they can explain this plate better and why the hoses can't just be changed. The other option is to get used to the JD controls. The dealer sounds pretty useless, possibly because you didn't buy the hoe from them. Too bad for them as I wouldn't buy anything else from if they weren't willing to help with the hoe. Customer service goes a long way. Lack of customer service, I don't go back!

 

[Tfish]

Yes, you are exactly right. The tech guy will answer my emails but you can tell he's not really interested in helping even after I bought the subframe from them. I have called the local dealer about it and he even said he wasn't interested in doing it. I don't know what the reason is that you can't just switch hoses but I'm afraid to just start trying something like that and really mess something up. I was going to call woods and see if one of the tech guys could a least try and explain the process. As far as learning to use the iso controls, I have been playing with it but I have to stop a think about what I'm doing and it's kinda frustrating. Also at my work everything is the SAE style. Thanks for your input.

 

[TomSeller]

Just switch the hoses on the valve(s).

yep, that is what I would do

 

[Tfish]

Well, if I don't get some kinda answer from the woods guy tomorrow I guess I will just give it a try. I guess if I don't it ain't gonna get done. Even if It doesn't work right I can always put them back how they were.

 

[bcp]

Depending on the hose arrangement, it may be easier to do the switch at the other end of the hose from the valve.

Bruce

 

[Tfish]

That might be a good idea, I didn't even think about that. I'll take a look at that tomorrow as well. Thanks!

 

[TomSeller]

Depending on the hose arrangement, it may be easier to do the switch at the other end of the hose from the valve.

Bruce

I don't see that, they are going to different cylinders. At the valve the hose pairs are right next to each other.

 

[bcp]

This is the type of hose arrangement I was thinking of.



Bruce

 

[Tfish]

That's what I need to look at tomorrow, wasn't sure if the hoses just go to the cylinders at the bottom or to a solid line like that

 

[Tfish]

You are right Tom, the hoses go out to all of the cylinders. I just sent an email to the woods guy this morning, I will hopefully see what he says about this by the time I get off work. Seems like maybe it had something to do with the swing speed control.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

View attachment t159676.pdf old Deere instructions for construction backhoes if that helps.

 

[Tfish]

Thanks for sending that on to me but it appears that it might be a little different application then what I have, I will take a closer look at it when I get home. I seems arc weld was right, you can't just change hose positions because of the relief valves. The woods guy said that I would be bending and breaking things. He said that it was a pretty labor intensive job as far as time goes to change it over. Long story short, I think I might be getting used to JD controls!

 

[Arc weld]

It doesn't matter how long it takes if you can do it yourself. Just need to know the proper way to do it.

 

[jimmysisson]

Amazing how hard it is to unlearn those muscle memory tasks - good luck with it.
Jim

 

[Tfish]

Thanks Jim, like rustyiron said your hands just take over when you sit in the seat. Ya, I agree with you arc weld, I don't mind spending the time to do it, I just wish I had some kind of reference to go by. I've always fixed my own stuff but I haven't messed with hydraulics very much other than changing out a cylinder or something like that. I guess it's not a bad idea to get the feel of the JD controls anyway. I'm kinda surprised that I have never came across them before anyway. I sure appreciate all the input from you guys, hopefully I can be of help to one of you guys on something!

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

Thanks for sending that on to me but it appears that it might be a little different application then what I have, I will take a closer look at it when I get home. I seems arc weld was right, you can't just change hose positions because of the relief valves. The woods guy said that I would be bending and breaking things. He said that it was a pretty labor intensive job as far as time goes to change it over. Long story short, I think I might be getting used to JD controls!

Yep, didn't expect it to be exactly like your situation just wanted to show that just moving hoses may not be the best route to go. But like you mentioned...once a machinery operator knows one system they can typically learn another in a relative short amount of time.

 

[Rustyiron]

So when were you up in this neck of the woods?

My mistake, never been up into the pan handle. Hayden sounded familiar, I had to look at the map, it's been 15 years by now. We made a big southern loop around the state, that was the summer after Yellowstone burned, prolly 16-18 years actually.
Just re-learn the JD controls as long as you don't have to jump on an excavator now & then, but a lot of them have a valve that let's you switch back & forth.