I've been doing some thinking on this homemade hydraulic setup that has been of my MF8E since I have had it, and that has been since around 1992. It works, but not well. All it will control it up and down. I can't angle the blade due to the pivot geometry and it doesn't "float" when pushing. I've used it for pushing dirt, gravel, snow and even pickup trucks.
A while back I test-fitted the lift lever and it will hit the hydraulic valve but it is fortunate the guy I got the tractor from so long ago still had it. I sat and studied the setup this afternoon and decided it may be possible to modify what I have, incorporating the original lift lever for the blade angle mechanism (First picture).
If the valve is moved closer to the hood, the lift lever should have full swing so I don't think that will be too difficult. I could use half of that two spool that is much smaller size wise but I have no idea if that valve would work with this homemade setup (Second picture). I know just a little less about hydraulics than the guy that built this setup to begin with!
I would need to move the up-down pivot of the bade up quite a ways, which looks simple enough but then the cylinder would have to attach to the underside of the blade arm rather than the top side (Third picture). The bracket on the bottom would be built with a slot so there is some blade float.
Then the next problem is that would reverse up and down at the hydraulic lever. Can I just swap the cylinder hoses at the bottom of the valve reversing the push-pull of the cylinder (Fourth picture)? I like that forward on the lever is down and pull is up. I also would like to slow the action of the cylinder, but don't know how to do that either. Someone told me about a "flow restrictor" on GTT one time but can't remember the details now.
If all that works, the reason for the lift lever would be for blade angle. I would remove the lock pin on the blade and run linkage from the outer pivot (Fifth Picture) of the original lift lever so it would "lock" the blade at the needed angle. This old International blade has to be angled by getting off the tractor.
Any advice is appreciated!---DAC
.
Any help and advice is appreciated!---DAC
A while back I test-fitted the lift lever and it will hit the hydraulic valve but it is fortunate the guy I got the tractor from so long ago still had it. I sat and studied the setup this afternoon and decided it may be possible to modify what I have, incorporating the original lift lever for the blade angle mechanism (First picture).
If the valve is moved closer to the hood, the lift lever should have full swing so I don't think that will be too difficult. I could use half of that two spool that is much smaller size wise but I have no idea if that valve would work with this homemade setup (Second picture). I know just a little less about hydraulics than the guy that built this setup to begin with!
I would need to move the up-down pivot of the bade up quite a ways, which looks simple enough but then the cylinder would have to attach to the underside of the blade arm rather than the top side (Third picture). The bracket on the bottom would be built with a slot so there is some blade float.
Then the next problem is that would reverse up and down at the hydraulic lever. Can I just swap the cylinder hoses at the bottom of the valve reversing the push-pull of the cylinder (Fourth picture)? I like that forward on the lever is down and pull is up. I also would like to slow the action of the cylinder, but don't know how to do that either. Someone told me about a "flow restrictor" on GTT one time but can't remember the details now.
If all that works, the reason for the lift lever would be for blade angle. I would remove the lock pin on the blade and run linkage from the outer pivot (Fifth Picture) of the original lift lever so it would "lock" the blade at the needed angle. This old International blade has to be angled by getting off the tractor.
Any advice is appreciated!---DAC
.
Any help and advice is appreciated!---DAC