Jake, A guy who has decades in municipal equipment gave me a neat tip that not only helped me purge the long hyd hose lines for a project I did recently, but it also makes the lines, hoses useful for other things, easier to move and store AND protects the integrity of the hyd "implement" you just created.
the tip: install quick disconnects in each line a couple of feet from the cylinder, male on one line, female on the other. each stub hose on the cylinder has the opposing male or female fitting, ie one of each, so they too can be connected up to eachother when not using the cylinder.
That way, 1) to purge the new lines, you connect the ends of the "extension lines together and cycle the valve at the tractor, until all the air is out of the whole circuit. When you disconnect the lines at the implement end, they are full of clean filtered oil.
Then when done 2)The hoses can be disconnected from the cylinder and reconnected and then rolled up as one piece with the male and female connectors connected to keep eachother clean until the next use, and the length of hose is seperate from the cylinder so it can be moved easy and perhaps used for some other task. Finally as I mentioned, connecting the hose stubs coming from the cylinder keeps them clean ADN out of the way while you handle, move and store that device.
I thought is was a very slick idea and it sure did make me feel better about the purging process with the new hose.nNot only that but i can leave the hose length attached to the tractor, sans the cylinders, without worring about accidently hitting a hyd leaver and "loading up" a dead headed line. For me is saves having to unthread the extension hys lined off the tractor in the winter when I take the power angle plow off the FEL every once in a while during winter.
