Quick Disconnects not so Quick!

[k0ua]

I have two ideas.. One my own, and one I read about. lets go with the other persons idea first..
Since you have two males on your grapple.. Get two females and put them on a short piece of hose, say 1 foot or less. Then on the other end of the hose put on a cap, loosely put on by your fingers. Now as soon as you relieve pressure on your tractor and unplug the male connector plug it into the female "dongle". Do this with both male connectors. Empty the dongles periodically by unscrewing the caps and let the oil drain out. They will keep your connections clean from dust, and pressure will never build up in the lines.

My idea was to build out of a set of channel locks a "squeezer" with a U shaped piece of steel welded to one set of jaws of the channel locks, then another T shaped piece of steel with two holes drilled in the ends for bolts to bolt on a piece of hard wood like oak so that the ball lpresses into the face of the oak in the middle of the span, and the U shaped piece of steel is behind the back edge of the male coupler. This allows you to squeeze the ball back with a lot of pressure to make it "puke".. A rag over the assembly would be a good idea unless you want a shower.

But I think the coupler dongle would be easier to make and work without effort.

 

[k0ua]

There 2 ideas for the low low price of nothing!

 

[the whispering oaks farm]

I think I will try the short hose trick first, that sounds easy and it will also double as a cap on the ends. I could just leave it on until I need to hook it up again. Thanks Guys, sometimes it takes a few good minds to work these things out. too bad mine is fading.

 

[k0ua]

I think I will try the short hose trick first, that sounds easy and it will also double as a cap on the ends. I could just leave it on until I need to hook it up again. Thanks Guys, sometimes it takes a few good minds to work these things out. too bad mine is fading.

Please let us know how it works out.. thanks.

 

[k0ua]

here are the hoses pretty cheap..

1/2" X 12" 1/2 NPTM X 1/2 NPTM 3000 PSI HYD HOSE

The cap could be a simple NPT cap from the hardware store as it doesnt have to hold any pressure.

 

[k0ua]

here are the hoses pretty cheap..

1/2" X 12" 1/2 NPTM X 1/2 NPTM 3000 PSI HYD HOSE

The cap could be a simple NPT cap from the hardware store as it doesnt have to hold any pressure.

 

[murphy1244]

This tool has a fork that holds the body of the disconnect and the other side of the plier type tool pushes in the button to relieve the pressure. Looks like a pair of weird pliers.

 

[murphy1244]

Got this from a old thread posted by JJ

I have mentioned this many times before. You only need one QD fitting. a short hose, and a plug in the end of the hose.

When you remove the attachment from the machine, plug the adapter in to the matching QD. This will let any fluid that may expanded, seep into the adapter hose. This may cause only a few psi of air in the adapter. If the hot attachment ever cools down, it will suck in a little air.

 

[Wagtail]

Murph has it right. Before you disconnect any hydraulic implement turn the engine off and then move the control lever back and forth 3-4 times to relieve any pressure in the tractor or implement. Then disconnect. The next time you reconnect it will be easy. No reason to beat up your self or your machinery.

I've been there/done that and still cursed myself silly... until I remembered that I wasn't also relieving the pressure to those two connectors because, on my control stick, if I'm going to open/close my 4in1 bucket, I have to press & hold in a button = which engages those two couplers.

Once I also held the button in and again moved the control stick back & forth then the couplers engaged/disengaged without a problem.

 

[Rustyiron]

I wish that they had a "schrader valve" type fitting that could go inline somewhere to let the pressure off. My skid steer is not too bad (to hook up) but attachments that warm up in the sun can still make it necessary to break a fitting. My tractor on the otherhand.... I almost wonder if there is hyd oil sneaking PAST the sol.even when not energized. And believe me I have 8 hyd. attachments and know the proper disconnect procedure. I keep an adjustable wrench in all the machines using these attachments. The only ones that do not give me trouble are the one's with motors rather than cyl's. "Quick connect" is aptly named as an "easy out".:muttering:
Almost tempted to switch it all back to the old "Pioneer" type ag fittings, they were easy to "burp" if needed.