pappyman

I have a New Holland L553 Skid Steer.....and I want to add a grapple hook to my bucket....the unit doesn't have aux hydraulics for added equipment

Can I use a external self-contained 12 volt hydraulic pump.....maybe something like a lift-gate pump......I had thought about a snow plow pump but that will not give enuff fluid pressure

I have worked on Maxon Lift-gates and I know they have a working load of 3500 lbs so I think these pumps mite work

I checked with New Holland to see if they had a kit to add hydraulic but they don't for these older skid steers

I'm open to ideals ???

Crimedog

As far as my experience goes, I would think the snow plow pump would burn out pretty quick. They're good for lifting 1000 lbs for short durations, but it would tax your electrical system, and depending on how carried away with the fork you get, it'd tax the pump, too. If you were nice and light on it I think it would work alright. Tha'ts just my .02, but I don't know about the lift gate one...

Fronty Owner

www.womack-machine.com will set you up with all your HPU needs.

gwhammy

Someone in the know on hydraulics could probably find a circuit to tie into and either use a electric valve or manual to run it. You could also put a electric circuit switch valve in line on either the bucket cylinder circuit or boom circuit. Using the hydraulics on the machine will work alot better than adding a seperate system.

Fronty Owner

the problem with tying in with something like the bucket, is you will have to activate that device to supply power.

You need to tap in at the valve body or between the pump and valve body.
Depending on how big your resovour is, you might want to watch what you add.

tool

Should have plenty of resevoir.....

You just need to find anywhere that has live hydraulics and tap in there. Should be fairly easy....

A grapple won't need super high flow or pressure You are just really holding stuff with it. What are you going to use the grapple for??? Holdingh bales or manure???

Just curious.

Our Bobcat has pioneer type outlets allready plumbed in, I believe you remove a pin nd operate the auxillaries with one of the sticks.

Fronty Owner

http://www.ssbtractor.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html

you might find some better information here...
Other things to consider is what kind of pump is used (fixed displacement vs compensated). If the tractor is usining a fixed displacement pump with center position back to tank on the valves, then you will need to add another valve in series which may require a new valve manifold.

pappyman

Need the grapple for trees and brush removal..... my skid loader gets very little use, so I decided to start a business of lot clearing for new mobile homes in my area

I spend money last year gettin the motor rebuilt and new tires and bought a track setup for it to clear some acreage I have but now its just sitting.....theres a new large mobile home development starting next month and the contractor will give me the business to clear the lots when sold......but I need to be able to move brush and trees to a burn pile so a grapple is needed

I will look today and see if theres a tap I could use on the hydraulic system but I don't think there is

I was thinking a 12 volt lift-gate pump (that flows 4 gpm @2000 psi) mite work that way I could operate the grapple with a toggle switch to engage and disengage the grapple jaw when needed

tool

Hmmm..... I'm not a hydraulics wizard by any stretch... just enough hydraulics knowledge to be a dumb farmer but 4gpm is not much flow, You want speed (flow) more than pressure because you don't need a lot of down force just enough to "clamp" stuff to your bucket, you aren't really lifting or pulling anything, so depending on orifice sizes and cylinder config, that setup might work. You want your cylinders to be fairly fast acting, otherwise you will be severely annoyed waiting for the grapple to move.

We used to have an old 310 Bobcat skid steer, those were some slow hydraulics.

The part about your lift gate setup that would worry me would be the duty cycle for that type of pump, not really made for continuous sort of use, might burn out fairly quick. If you had one cheap it might be o.k to try.

I'd talk to a tractor shop that does a lot of hydraulic work, they will be able to tell you the setup you need.

I know the exact shop that could set that up fpr you with good live hydraulics but they are a long way away from you. They have some hydraulics wizards there.

Fronty Owner

Not all farmers are dumb, they can be a great source of quick fix information on just about any subject.

4 GPM is a pretty respectable displacement for moving small cylinders (under a couple inches diameter). We have 2 ten inch cylinders side by side on our test stand, we can run one cycle of 60" each direction in 30 seconds.

bmoeller

4 GPM won't be fast, but will be faster than something like a snow plow pump. The grapple probably won't have very big cylinders on it, so you should be just fine.

What I would do is, put T's into the lines that go to the OEM control valve. That way you'd have live power. I would also use an electrically controlled valve, with a spring-to-center control switch. That way if you need to stop it quick, all you have to do is take you finger off of it. Don't need anymore "junk" in the operators station, than necessary, with extra hoses, valves, and such.

Fronty Owner

the problem I see with teeing into the lines going to the OEM valve is the valve is probably all ports open in center. this creates a loop between the pump and the tank that keeps the pump unloaded (allways moving fluid, but almost no pressure). This allows the OEM to use a cheap gear pump that is very reliable and very tolerant of contamination. When you shift a valve to a different position, this diverts the flow and thus builds pressure until it reaches the point the relief valve starts dumping the extra flow (like when a cylinder hits the end stop). (confused yet?) There might also be a set of valves called "pilot operated check valves (PO checks for short) this will keep the fluid in the cylinders from leaking back thru the directional valves when the pump is off or the valve is in the middle.

Crimedog

Or... new idea.. you could scan ebay for an old western/fisher belt-driven hydraulic pump. You could pobably play with the pully size to make it pump faster, but you'd need to fab up a bracket for it. But it would be a lot more reliable than an electric over hydraulic setup, and faster, too.

pappyman

Check the spec's needed for this grapple the single cyl is 2" bore 6" stroke it only needs 3 gpm max @ 1500 psi

I bought it from my neighbor he never used it on his skid steer it bolts (or welds) onto the bucket.....I will mount it using quick couplers so I can remove it when not needed and bolt it to my bucket

After checking my machine I don't see any way to use the machines hydraulics without mounting and plumbing in another operating valve.....so I'm still leaning toward a 12 volt external hydraulic unit that I can operate with a self centering toggle switch mounted on the steering lever I have plenty of battery power since my machine has 2-900 cca 12 volt battery's

Checking on the web I have found external units rated for continuous use with built in 2-3 gal reservoir's most of them use a ford starter motor ?? (puke)

mikmaze

well one thing, that ford starter should be rated for extended cranking I like the idea of the belt driven pump, like the one they used on trucks to run their winch, lifted the jeep straight up off the ground with just the engine idling. for controls you might find some old large snow plow stack, electronic but might be rated for the presure you are generating.