Newbie how does it work question

[pwright]

Long story short... Brother wants to pour some concrete. Bro's friend has a 3-pt PTO driven cement mixer with hydraulic dump. From the description it sounds like this Northern Tool unit:

NorTrac 3-Pt. PTO Cement Mixer — 5 Cubic Ft., Model# 1104S107 | Cement Mixers| Northern Tool + Equipment

The hydraulic cylinder only has one line going to it. That's my "how does it work question". Don't you need two lines to extend and retract?

Before it gets hooked up to my tractor I want to understand how it works.

Thanks.

 

[J_J]

The cyl is probably a SA cyl, that pulls the empty drum back into the mixing position. The drum will fall on it's own due to the weight.

If it is a SA cyl, then you would connect one hose to the B port on one of your remote spools and plug the A port.

If you have QD's in your remote, then just plug the cyl hose into the B port QD.

You could change out the SA cyl to an DA cyl, and power the mixer both up and down.

 

[pwright]

Thanks. The owners description was that it used the cylinder to control the dump but who knows. Looking at the manual for the NorTrac unit it doesn't say one way or the other nor which port to hook to. Guess I'll hook it up and see what happens.

 

[cycle_gator]

I have one of those, different manufacturer. The hydra. cylinder is used to power the dump movement, then you manually push the mixer to upright position. I got tired of that and replaced the factory SA cylinder with a DA cylinder, so I now have power dump and power retract.

 

[J_J]

Looking at the picture of the mixer, it looks like the shaft comes out of the cyl at the shaft end where the cyl port/hose is.

So if you send fluid into the cyl, the shaft will retract and pull the drum up, and probably locks in a certain position.

To dump load, you release the lock and gravity does the rest.

You could also reverse the cyl mount and power dump, but you would then have to manually lift the drum back up to the rotate position.

You could control cyl dump speed by feathering or adding a needle valve and adj for descent speed.

or install a DA cyl as I posted above. .

 

[cycle_gator]

Now that I look at the picture, It is possible this model dumps using the three point. My model does not have the cam action lever at the drum attachment,it is just a straight connection from the top center three point location to the bracket.

 

[pwright]

Thanks guys! I saw a similar unit at a dealer this weekend and he also said it was used to pull it back up. I guess it will just depend on which way the cylinder is actually mounted.

 

[J_J]

I believe I would swap the cyl out for a DA cyl, power up and down, while sitting in the seat.

If your valve will feather well, you will have a smooth dump, and if not, you can add a needle valve or restrictor orifice in the down work port hose.