NorTrac NT254 / Jinma 254 adding front and rear remotes

[JPardue]

In 2020 bought a used NorTrac NT254 (Jinma 254) 25 HP 4x4 tractor with a power beyond loader valve.
Converted the welded bucket to skid steer quick attach and got a set of forks.
Wanted to add front remotes for a grapple.
Studying the hydraulics and looking online, it took some doing to figure out how to do this well.

My acres are far from a hydraulic shop, so 1st was building a hydraulic hose crimper for Eaton weatherhead crimping dies.
20 ton air/hydraulic jack provides crimping pressure.
Ebay for used crimping dies made it a bargain.

First hydraulic project: front remotes for a grapple.

This has worked out great, making it a workhorse for maintaining the property.

In an effort to grasp how the hydraulics function and to save on fittings, illustrating the system seemed like a good investment of time.
Respectfully my efforts may be wrong and incorrect to a hydraulics professional, but they explain it enough to help me.
Attached are some of the resulting diagrams.
Other diagrams have hose information, sizes and types of fittings used.
Everything is Pioneer quick disconnect, JIC and SAE O-ring boss without using any adapters.

Summer 2023:
Adding dual rear remotes for top link and tilt cylinders.
Shortening and rerouting some of the FEL hoses.
Converting to a spin-on hydraulic filter.
Adding more lights, doing maintenance and repairs is part of the process.
Repairing things poorly "fixed" before I bought it.

Perhaps the diagrams created might be useful or helpful to others.
This forum has been helpful to me, trying to post something of use in return.

 

[Ricks284]

Your diagrams look pretty good -- the mods to the hyd system should work well.
Your FEL valve looks like it was plumbed differently than mine (Jinma ZL-20 loader).
Your steering diverter valve is upstream of the FEL valve, while most of these tractors are downstream.

I just replaced the terrible Jinma factory valve with a better one from Prince.
Getting rid of the mish-mash of metric hoses has been great -- all mine are JIC now!
I think that's probably the best part of your mods -- the JIC/SAE fittings and hoses are so much easier.

 

[JPardue]

Rick, thanks for the comments. This NT254 has an NT700 loader. After looking at the details, its not as clean a design or sturdy like your Jinma ZL-20. The P.O. swapped the FEL valve for a floater type with SAE O-ring boss ports. After researching, decided to avoid metric and pipe thread fittings. Using Pioneer couplers, swivel JIC and O-ring boss fittings made it easy to build hoses, and use the tractor.

Not sure exactly how the system was plumbed before I got it, but it works good.

New top link and tilt cylinders have banjos on the cylinders and BPT ends. I'm cutting the BPT fittings off, then crimping on SAE O-ring boss fittings for the Pioneer QD's.

Good effort converting yours to all JIC and a better loader valve!

 

[Ricks284]

I really wish I'd seen your diagrams before I switched loader valves -- moving the diverter valve upstream of the FEL valve would have been an improvement. I'm still learning about hydraulics, so I didn't feel comfortable making that change before. Currently, my power beyond port feeds the diverter valve, and I added a "tank" line with a new tee (similar to your summer 2020 diagram). It's working okay, but I think your routing is better because it gives priority to the steering.

I think your system is laid out really well, and the new top-n-tilt should be a great addition. I can see how that would be extremely useful for grading work.

My ZL-20 loader is pretty old (2004) -- definitely sturdy! (but not as clean a design as the newer ones) This is a photo after the factory FEL valve died while working in the woods. I found out how hard it is to remove a loader without working hydraulics... I'll bet your property is similar to ours, although we've got a lot of junk pine trees that need to be cleaned out. Forest ownership is a lot of work!

 

[JPardue]

I really wish I'd seen your diagrams before I switched loader valves -- moving the diverter valve upstream of the FEL valve would have been an improvement. I'm still learning about hydraulics, so I didn't feel comfortable making that change before. Currently, my power beyond port feeds the diverter valve, and I added a "tank" line with a new tee (similar to your summer 2020 diagram). It's working okay, but I think your routing is better because it gives priority to the steering.

I think your system is laid out really well, and the new top-n-tilt should be a great addition. I can see how that would be extremely useful for grading work.

My ZL-20 loader is pretty old (2004) -- definitely sturdy! (but not as clean a design as the newer ones) This is a photo after the factory FEL valve died while working in the woods. I found out how hard it is to remove a loader without working hydraulics... I'll bet your property is similar to ours, although we've got a lot of junk pine trees that need to be cleaned out. Forest ownership is a lot of work!

Interesting to see the ZL-20 loader off the tractor. Next time I have this one off will get a photo - planning to lighten the skid steer quick attach (bought as a weld-on) by removing some areas of excess metal plate.

I really wish I'd seen your diagrams before I switched loader valves -- moving the diverter valve upstream of the FEL valve would have been an improvement. I'm still learning about hydraulics, so I didn't feel comfortable making that change before. Currently, my power beyond port feeds the diverter valve, and I added a "tank" line with a new tee (similar to your summer 2020 diagram). It's working okay, but I think your routing is better because it gives priority to the steering.

I think your system is laid out really well, and the new top-n-tilt should be a great addition. I can see how that would be extremely useful for grading work.

My ZL-20 loader is pretty old (2004) -- definitely sturdy! (but not as clean a design as the newer ones) This is a photo after the factory FEL valve died while working in the woods. I found out how hard it is to remove a loader without working hydraulics... I'll bet your property is similar to ours, although we've got a lot of junk pine trees that need to be cleaned out. Forest ownership is a lot of work!

I really wish I'd seen your diagrams before I switched loader valves -- moving the diverter valve upstream of the FEL valve would have been an improvement. I'm still learning about hydraulics, so I didn't feel comfortable making that change before. Currently, my power beyond port feeds the diverter valve, and I added a "tank" line with a new tee (similar to your summer 2020 diagram). It's working okay, but I think your routing is better because it gives priority to the steering.

I think your system is laid out really well, and the new top-n-tilt should be a great addition. I can see how that would be extremely useful for grading work.

My ZL-20 loader is pretty old (2004) -- definitely sturdy! (but not as clean a design as the newer ones) This is a photo after the factory FEL valve died while working in the woods. I found out how hard it is to remove a loader without working hydraulics... I'll bet your property is similar to ours, although we've got a lot of junk pine trees that need to be cleaned out. Forest ownership is a lot of work!

The output from the pump on the NT254 feeds straight to the diverter. It outputs into a short hose with female QD for the loader loop. A male QD for the 3PH is placed so the loader can be removed. Only problem is some hoses the P.O. added are too long, so this round of work will shorten those. I'm learning hydraulics, too - and probably would not have moved the diverter. The more I understand the easier it becomes to make changes.

Got a long driveway to cut and grade, plus need a pad for an RV and drains around the shop. A box blade is next on the list, the grader blade on hand cuts good but is hard to level and smooth with.

This photo is how I got the tractor. Shows the bucket with pins, now modded with the the quck attach weldment. The loader frame has bar across the radiator that yours does not have. You must have had a hard time removing the loader with no hydraulics!

My property has a combination of some pasture and mostly trees. Forest management, construction duty, bush hogging and grading are the main focus for now. Not too many pines, lots of old overgrowth and too many saplings. Here's to staying ahead of the projects!

 

[Ricks284]

I see what you mean about that loader frame cross bar -- right in front of the headlights. But that bar would help spread the load across the two front braces (I ripped open the welds on one of my braces). That cross bar would also solve a problem that I've repeatedly had with mine -- the horizontal braces on my loader frame are not tied together, and they move up+down whenever they're off the tractor. The movement itself doesn't bother me, but the hoses spurt hyd. fluid all over the floor every time they move...

It's interesting to see some of the design changes between Jinma and Nortrac -- the edge of your hood looks like it's above the headlights (clean design), while my grill screen and headlights are part of the hood (awkward design). On your loader, it doesn't look like it has any hard lines, which definitely helps eliminate a lot of metric fittings! Also, I can't quite tell, but it looks like your muffler guard is rotated 90* clockwise from mine -- that seems like a weird change they made.

 

[Ricks284]

The output from the pump on the NT254 feeds straight to the diverter. It outputs into a short hose with female QD for the loader loop. A male QD for the 3PH is placed so the loader can be removed. Only problem is some hoses the P.O. added are too long, so this round of work will shorten those. I'm learning hydraulics, too - and probably would not have moved the diverter. The more I understand the easier it becomes to make changes.

Got a long driveway to cut and grade, plus need a pad for an RV and drains around the shop. A box blade is next on the list, the grader blade on hand cuts good but is hard to level and smooth with.

Your hose setup sounds like mine -- very long! I wonder if the PO of yours changed its hose routing to move the diverter upstream of the FEL valve? One thing your setup does is protect the hyd. pump from an inadvertently disconnected hose. With mine, if the first QD comes apart, the pump blows out its seals...

My setup has similar QDs, which do make it pretty easy to remove the loader frame. The long hoses do have one advantage when removing it -- the tractor can be rolled back from the loader while still being connected to the hydraulics for leveling it. YMMV, but I ended up leaving the hoses long and just zip tying them out of the way.

 

[JPardue]

Your hose setup sounds like mine -- very long! I wonder if the PO of yours changed its hose routing to move the diverter upstream of the FEL valve? One thing your setup does is protect the hyd. pump from an inadvertently disconnected hose. With mine, if the first QD comes apart, the pump blows out its seals...

My setup has similar QDs, which do make it pretty easy to remove the loader frame. The long hoses do have one advantage when removing it -- the tractor can be rolled back from the loader while still being connected to the hydraulics for leveling it. YMMV, but I ended up leaving the hoses long and just zip tying them out of the way.

Several hose lengths are excessive on this one, likely from using off-the-shelf hoses. Having a crimping machine enables shorter hoses. Diverter valve plumbing looks original, which may be a Northern Tool configuration. Your setup where the pump can be deadheaded certainly is a downside.

Have been waiting to disconnect the loader before altering hoses. Mounted the grapple control stick in line and aft of the loader stick, allowing easy one-handed operation and left some length in there. You make a good point about hoses long enough to make attaching easier.

 

[mmprestine]

JPardue,
The diagrams are great. I have a 2007 XL254 and would like to convert to QA. If possible can you post some pictures of the new QA loader area?
Thanks,
Matt