Finished the hydraulic chute upgrade on my B2782B snow blower, turned out well . . . pictures to follow, but here's some notes:
When I purchased the
B3350, I ordered the 3rd function option with the idea of adding chute deflection on the blower. Even though it costs a bit more than Kubota's diverter valve deflector, the 3rd function is more versatile to my way of thinking. Total parts cost to add hydraulic deflector (on top of 3rd function) was $208.
From
Surplus Center
9-7715-4 2" x 4" x 1.125" DA HYD Cyl heavy duty clevis $109
2 ea 9-6901-8-4, SAE 8M x 1/4 NPTF 90 swivel
2 ea 916-14108 1/4" x 108" hydraulic hose (this was just enough length considering chute rotation, but a couple of inches more would not have hurt).
2 ea 9-5406-6-4 3/8 NPT to 1/4 NPT bushing (to fit the 1/4 hose to the 3/8 quick connects used on the 3rd function valve)
I tapped the 1/4" side of the 90 swivels to accept a 1/4 x 20 steel set screw. I heated the set screw to cherry red and let it cool slowly so as to make center drilling easier, then drilled a .052" restrictor hole. Set screw Loctited in place. Without restrictors, I'm sure deflector would move way too fast, as with the restrictor the speed is perfect (there's no way to feather the 3rd function valve as it's controlled by push buttons on the joystick). I also chose to use a 2" diameter cylinder for this reason, figuring the extra volume over a smaller cylinder would slow things down some. (Note Kubota uses a 2 X 5 ram. The extra inch of travel would slow things about 20%, but the 4" ram is more readily available and the shorter stroke is not a problem as far as clearance is concerned - - just that the chute lever arm will be a little shorter.)
When making the brackets to mount the 4" stroke cylinder, it is most important to get the geometry right so the ram travel limits coincide with the desired chute travel (otherwise you either won't have full chute travel, or worse, the ram will over-travel the chute and stress or bend things. A deflector arm radius, measured from the deflector hinge pin to center on the ram clevis pin, of about 4" is a good starting point when laying things out using the
Surplus Center cylinder.
Since I had the chute off to weld on the brackets, I greased the gear teeth and nylon chute bearing surface before reassembly - - works much smoother now.
Can't wait for the snow so I can go play!
Oh, one more thing . . . confirming what was discussed earlier re the "bucket dump" regen function of the 50 series joystick loader valve when used for the hydraulic motor chute rotation. Rotation speed is easily feathered using the non-regen side (left) for counter-clockwise chute rotation. When turning clockwise, moving the lever right, there's no actuation when passing through the regen area of stick travel though you can hear the hydraulic pump loading up as the regen function applies high pressure to both sides of the motor! I try to move through this regen region with minimal delay and then slow down stick movement to feather rotation speed as much as possible. Even though there are restrictors installed on the motor, it still starts up pretty darn fast . . . this will take a little getting used to, but seems workable enough with operator training :c)
bumper
