snowplow hydraulics

chuck172 · Oct 26, 2014

I just finished mounting a 7.5' fisher plow to the frame of my kioti ck35. Came out great. This year I'll be using my loader arms minus the bucket to raise and lower the plow. That makes sense to me as then all I have to do is remove the ssqa bucket and choke the plow from the loader arms.
Now as far as angling. I have rear remotes, I can run about 2 lengths of 12' 3/8" hose to a cushion relief valve, then to the angle cylinders, or I can use the bucket curl quick connects that are right there. If I use the curl circut, I won't need nearly as much hose. Any advantage to using the remote? Any problems using the curl?

George2615 · Oct 26, 2014

You can use either the rear remotes (which is what I did) or the loader curl circuit. Just don't forget your loader curl circuit has a quick dump mode (usually full right position). Use the curl up for left angle and dump for the right. I have 2 rear remotes and used one set because I don't use either of them at this time. If you use the rear remotes double check the hose length you need to go around all the bends to get under the tractor and up the loader arms to the front. I used 1/2" x 14' ready made hoses from TSC but 3/8" will work fine. Also use quick connect fittings on the ends of the hoses to plug into the cushion valve.

chuck172 · Oct 26, 2014

So using the curl circuit, If I go full right, are you saying the plow would angle to the right quickly. If I go light right, the angle would be slower?

George2615 · Oct 26, 2014

Yes, it would. I'm no hydraulics expert but there are other things happening inside the loader valve circuit when in quick dump mode.

kennyd · Oct 26, 2014

Firstly, 1/4" hose is really all you need, using 3/8" or especially 1/2" hose is just not needed for a plow or grapple. Secondly, not having the curl circuit is a hindrance on a loader plow, especially if your trying to stack snow since the plow will be looking at the sky what you raise the loader.

chuck172 · Oct 27, 2014

kennyd said:
Firstly, 1/4" hose is really all you need, using 3/8" or especially 1/2" hose is just not needed for a plow or grapple. Secondly, not having the curl circuit is a hindrance on a loader plow, especially if your trying to stack snow since the plow will be looking at the sky what you raise the loader.

I have a frame mount, not a ssqa mount. The plow pivots on lugs welded to steel mounted on the tractor frame. No curling of the plow is possible.

kennyd · Oct 27, 2014

Got it Chuck, sounds like using the curl circuit is perfect for your setup then.

Fallon · Oct 27, 2014

Check to see if your loader valve has regen (fast dump). Some loader valves have regen dump & power dump, others only have one or the other. Have to find out if yours has regen & what position its in.

Regen connects the pump to the rod end & cylinder end of a hydraulic cylinder. The larger area of the cylinder end means it will easily overpower the rod end. This is done because you really don't need any power to dump, gravity does all the work. The hydraulic pump often can't keep up with gravity. So the fluid from the rod end makes things a lot faster at the expense of power.

If you have a single double acting cylinder for angle on your plow, things might work. 1 way will be faster & weaker than the other though. Plows usually have a pair of single acting cylinders though. Regen would let you angle in 1 direction, but not the other. Regen won't hurt anything, but it won't work (relevant if your valve has regen dump & power dump, just have to find the power dump lever position).