Kubota Hydraulic Pressure Guage Tester

Artisan · Apr 8, 2012

A- Don't listen to me
B- Don't disconnect a hose directly after a pump and deadhead it w/ a gauge, BAD things "can" happen.
C- You should be OK if you disconnect a hose right at a cylinder because you are after the valve and the valve should have a pressure relief on it.
D- Refer to "A"

Guys do this every day, it's easy, go out on a limb and LEARN, make your
own gauge to start, figure that part out and take a picture of it for us. your
NEVER going to be able to do this stuff yourself till you grow a pair and just
do it, and I say that not being mean. Heck I used to say the same stuff,
then I grew a pair...

Now I am welding and making stuff and making
hydraulic hoses and grapples and this and that, you need to just do it, you
will loose a couple battles but you will win more than loosing and each time
you win you will be more confident. Plus you will save a pant-load of $.

Take a pic of your tractor and a clear pic of the hoses in the area you want
to test, you will get some help here...pics work best here. IMO.

Refer to "A" :laughing:

Delphicoder · Apr 8, 2012

Making the gauge is not why I would rather not do it now, it is the damage to unit I am about to connect it to.

So for now, thanks for pointing out the danger. In regard to the rest of your post, I like option A until I read more about what NOT to do.:laughing:

Artisan said:
A- Don't listen to me
B- Don't disconnect a hose directly after a pump and deadhead it w/ a gauge, BAD things "can" happen.
C- You should be OK if you disconnect a hose right at a cylinder because you are after the valve and the valve should have a pressure relief on it.
D- Refer to "A"

Guys do this every day, it's easy, go out on a limb and LEARN, make your
own gauge to start, figure that part out and take a picture of it for us. your
NEVER going to be able to do this stuff yourself till you grow a pair and just
do it, and I say that not being mean. Heck I used to say the same stuff,
then I grew a pair... Now I am welding and making stuff and making
hydraulic hoses and grapples and this and that, you need to just do it, you
will loose a couple battles but you will win more than loosing and each time
you win you will be more confident. Plus you will save a pant-load of $.

Take a pic of your tractor and a clear pic of the hoses in the area you want
to test, you will get some help here...pics work best here. IMO.

Refer to "A" :laughing:

Gordon Gould · Apr 8, 2012

I like Artisan's advice. To do is to learn. Your idea of reading more to increase your comfort level before you try is good too. I see you are a programer. To me that says you are technical and logical and you should have no trouble in gaining an understanding of what you need to know.
You have not really said what you are trying to do so it is hard to give specific advise. But if you are connecting your guage to a documented pressure test port then that would be thru a tee connection built into the equipment and be a safe thing to do.

EE_Bota · Apr 8, 2012

Listen..I don't know your tractor, but I know my BX2200. If I take the loader off, the valve stays with the loader, making it such that I couldn't use the BXPanded kit very readily. But I still bought the kit because I needed the shims, and I liked the guage, and the case, and the instructions.

So, instead of using the quick connect, I bought a fitting designated as G1/4. It think that is 1/4 British straight threads. Anyway, search G1/4 in Google. I think I got it at Surplus Center. That allowed me to tap into the lift body instead of using a quick connect. I just raised the lift to full up and held it there, and read the pressure.

I think that same G1/4 is the size needed to check your ports for the actual hydro transmission anyway.

But, with your BX23...if your loader valve stays on the tractor when the loader is off, you are good to use a quick connect. If it is like mine though, get the G1/4 fitting and check your pressure in the lift body like I did. The procedure is in the WSM.

Surplus Center - 1/4" BSPPM TO 1/4" NPTF CONNECTOR

Delphicoder · Apr 8, 2012

Wow, this has really taken a swerve. I was just looking for a good quality gauge that others may have purchased for their tractor.

I wanted to check the High Pressure Relief Valve forward and reverse on my transmission. This entails P1 for reverse, and P2 for forward according to my manual. However, since it made references to specific adapters (Adaptor 58 in my case), and the pictures where not so clear, I thought I would ask what others on here have done.

The deadheading issue was a concern, but the manual states when testing not to test more than 10 seconds. The pics are not so great, so I can't see if they have a "T" in it or not. My guess is no since I only see one hose.

Since it looks like these are all under the tractor, I figured I would need a gauge with a good length on it so I can read it while seated on the tractor. All new to me, I was just looking for a recommendation and then I would draw my own conclusions. Then I figured why risk it, just get one from the dealer that was made for it.

I have no aspirations to be a hydraulics guru, perfectly happy with my current career.

EE_Bota · Apr 8, 2012

Delphicoder said:
Wow, this has really taken a swerve. I was just looking for a good quality gauge that others may have purchased for their tractor.

I wanted to check the High Pressure Relief Valve forward and reverse on my transmission. This entails P1 for reverse, and P2 for forward according to my manual. However, since it made references to specific adapters (Adaptor 58 in my case), and the pictures where not so clear, I thought I would ask what others on here have done.

The deadheading issue was a concern, but the manual states when testing not to test more than 10 seconds. The pics are not so great, so I can't see if they have a "T" in it or not. My guess is no since I only see one hose.

Since it looks like these are all under the tractor, I figured I would need a gauge with a good length on it so I can read it while seated on the tractor. All new to me, I was just looking for a recommendation and then I would draw my own conclusions. Then I figured why risk it, just get one from the dealer that was made for it.

I have no aspirations to be a hydraulics guru, perfectly happy with my current career.

Sorry, but someone suggested a gauge from Surplus center, and I suggested the G1/4 fitting, and the site also sells hoses of various lengths. Looks like you are home to me.

If the information about how to check the pressure, depending on which loader valve setup you have, is not helpful, avert your eyes maybe?

Gordon Gould · Apr 9, 2012

As or if you start learning about hydraulics you will quickly find that there are several thread types used for fittings. Like NPT (national pipe thread), JIC (joint industrial conference), boss o-ring seal, British straight thread, etc. Plus all the sizes (1/4", 3/8" ....). This makes it very confusing.
So if you buy or build a general purpose pressure guage you will typically need an adapter to get from your 1/4" NPT guage to the fitting type and size at the port you wish to measure. The adapters are nothing magic or sinister. Just hoses and fittings to get from one size to the other. If it were more it would be called a test set or some such thing.

When you measure your relief valve pressure the hydraulic oil is being forced thru the tiny opening in the relief valve ( you can hear it when it occurs ). This is normal and does not hurt anything but the oil does heat up in the process. The 10 second statement is just a warning. You would not want to leave a hydraulic circuit running at relief pressure for a long time because of this heating. 10 seconds is enough time to take a reading. It would take much longer to cause a significant temp rise in all that oil.

EE_Bota · Apr 9, 2012

Gordon Gould said:
As or if you start learning about hydraulics you will quickly find that there are several thread types used for fittings. Like NPT (national pipe thread), JIC (joint industrial conference), boss o-ring seal, British straight thread, etc. Plus all the sizes (1/4", 3/8" ....). This makes it very confusing.
So if you buy or build a general purpose pressure guage you will typically need an adapter to get from your 1/4" NPT guage to the fitting type and size at the port you wish to measure. The adapters are nothing magic or sinister. Just hoses and fittings to get from one size to the other. If it were more it would be called a test set or some such thing.

When you measure your relief valve pressure the hydraulic oil is being forced thru the tiny opening in the relief valve ( you can hear it when it occurs ). This is normal and does not hurt anything but the oil does heat up in the process. The 10 second statement is just a warning. You would not want to leave a hydraulic circuit running at relief pressure for a long time because of this heating. 10 seconds is enough time to take a reading. It would take much longer to cause a significant temp rise in all that oil.

All good points. When I checked my pressure, I let the system heat up to normal operating temperatures, and tried to be in relief only briefly, and tried the test over only short intervals since heating up a relief sometimes changes it's performance for a little while.