Hello, looking to add aux Hyd to my cat 311b! It will be used for a thumb. Anyone have experience with the hkx kits? I have also been looking for a parts machine with these parts with no luck.. My machine is grey market not sure if that makes a difference .. Thanks
Is your machine plumbed forward at all or are you looking to add a whole new section to the valve bank? if You are adding a section it costs about $3000.00.If you have forward plumbing for a Wrist you can use a diverter valve to run your thumb
Not sure what I will need. There are no controls in the cab or boom plumbing.. Any chance my machine would have the provisions in the valve bank w/o the cab control?
What's your serial?
Serial # is 2MS00***. I also read that this machine should have a blade? Mine does not!
My aux valve ports are plugged off. There are two pilot lines capped off under the cab where the foot pedal would mount.. Could it be that simple? Also not sure how to tell if this would be for a single or double acting. I am wanting to have double acting.
No cat specialist out there?
Not a specialist on this type of machine but know my way around Cat systems pretty well, more for larger machines than this size. PM me your exact Serial Number and I can find out exactly how the machine was configured when it left the factory. Knowing what it has now (or at least what it had when Cat first built it) will help identify what it needs to install a thumb. If you do not have auxiliary lines on the boom that's one thing that will need adding for a kick-off. Is your machine not a 2LS prefix, I can't find 2MS listed ...?? There are millions of options (known in the Cat world as attachments) especially for smaller machines like this one. It appears as though the blade is one of those attachments, so some machines would have it, others not. If your machine does not have a control installed in the cab for the blade then I would say it's a fair bet that the original owner bought it without.
Thanks nige pm sent..
aux hydraulics on cat 312 hi at 311b we had the same prob with our cat 312bl uk spec machine,we needed to run a hydraulic winch and are going to put metal wrist on it so we needed to put a double acting function on.After doing a bit of research we found out if your cat has a aux spool fitted and ports blanked off it has a double acting slice inside as standard. So all you need to do is put some pipes to your valve slice and put a servo peddle in your cab from a cat breakers yard (tee off the feed and return of your tracking peddles and take the a and b port servo pipes to the servo clynder on the top and the bottom of the aux valve)there will not be a pressure relief fitted and you wont want to pay for one from cat so put a cross over relief valve inbetween your a and b pressure lines and set to your pressure reqiured. Hope this is some help. Please could someone help mewith a wireing diagram for a cat321bl ?
A Serial Number & crossing my palm with silver would probably help ..!! PM me if you don't want to post the complete Serial Number here.
That's a good one Nige!:bouncegri Thank you for the knowledge you share on HEF!:thumbsup
Thanks for all the help! I think I have a pretty good handle on it now.. Trying to locate a used foot pedal with pilot valve right now and any of the boom plumbing!
Nige, you seem very knowledgeable about this. I have purchased a cat 311b excavator. Serial Number 8HR02357. It is equiped with a foot control and the aux hyd lines at end of boom for a jackhammer. I have no use for a Jackhammer. It had a stiff arm thumb on it, but I have replaced the stiff arm with a double acting hydraulic cylinder and connected it to the jack hammer hydrualic lines. Much to my chagrine, I've found that only one of these lines is pressurized. Thus, I can connect the lines to either open the cylinder, or close it - but not both. Do you have info on what I would need to do in order to pressurize both the hydrualic lines, so that I can make better use of my hydraulic thumb? Or - might it be better to totally forget about using the existing Jackhammer lines, and try to tee off other lines? If so, I would need instructions no how to do that as weel...and I do have a little silver. :~) my email address is [email protected] . cell is 423-402-6728, Very Respectfully, Stacy Whetzell
Hi slwbid, while you are waiting for Nige all i can say is that i dont think you can operate the thumb which looks like it needs 2 way hydraulic off the hammer piping which is one way, i.e. one side is pressurised and the other is just the return line. I reckon you will have to tee off something to make it work or maybe there is another waybut it will prob require additional valves etc to break up the flow from the one way aux hydraulic port to make it 2 way. The equipment i have seen so far with a hyd thumb seemed to take the pressure lines from a quick hitch etc and never seen one operated out of the aux port output yet.
I need to look into this but IIRC there are 3 different types of auxiliary hydraulic installations. The type required to run a thumb with 2-way operation will be different to one required to run a hammer where one line is permanently flow and the other is return. You are most likely looking at some control valve and pilot control modifications. Can't find prefix 8HR, are you sure you didn't mean 8GR ..? Assuming your prefix is 8GR I've sent you a bunch of hydraulic system schematics. The one you need is among them, you just have to figure out which one it is ..........
Thanks Digger, I've found that if I reverse the two hydrualic lines around (switching ends of the cylinder they are attached to), I can reverse the direction that power is applied (ie, retract, or extend). In both cases, I press the pedal the same direction. (The Jack Hammer line on the left side of my stick, seems to be the one that is pressurized). This leads me to believe it possible that if I could come up with a way to simulate the reversal of the lines quickly, I would be good to go. Thinking further, I wonder if I could not just install some sort of 4 port re-direct valve that I can control from the cab. In my minds eye, I would use the 4 port valve to effectually reverse the hydrualic lines, without actually having to take the lines loose. Am I oversimplifying this? What am I missing? Thanks for help from any and all. Stacy
Thanks Nige, Got the schematics.... now if I can just understand them. :~) I'm pretty postive that serial number prefix is 8HR, but I will check tomorrow again, to make certain.
Freedom digger (or anyone who can help). Thanks so much for your phone call. I have now traced the two hammer lines back. I find that indeed one of the lines goes into a 3 inch cube of metal and splits. Ie, there is 1 line going in and twice coming out. There is a nut or bolt sticking out of top of metal cube. It appears to be seated in another bolt or plug. It appears that the top bolt could be turned. Could this possibly be the quarter turn valve you mentioned? Could it damage anything if I turn this bolt to see if it will maybe my "hammer"lines become a twoway system si I can use it with my thumb? I
THANKS to all!. Freedom Digger - you were right on about the 1/4 turn valve on my hammer hydraulics. I found the valve, turned it, and my uni-direction hammer hydraulics are now bi-directional Thumb hydraulics. All it cost was the turn of a wrench.....not the $3000 to $10000 that the local Cat Company estimated - and they wanted me to haul it to them (not a modification they could make in the field, they said). They sold the machine to the man I bought it from, yet they never even mentioned to me that it might possibly have a valve that could simply be turned to make the one way hydraulics into two way. Go Figure.
hi all, I should have updated this long ago. Some nice man from Northern US or Canada called me on phone about this issue. He told me to follow the lines from end of stick back to where they go into tank, etc and that I might find what is known as a quarter turn valve. Sure enough I did and by turning the 'nut' on top 1/4 turn, I instantly had 2 way auxiliary hydraulics. Pretty cheap fix when Cat Dealer was telling me I would have to bring it to them and could cost as much as $10,000. I still thank the man who called me about this, though I have forgotten his name. If you are that man, please post a quick reply. Thanks and best wishes to all Stacy
Hey everybody. I've got a similar issue with a 308C Cr I'm working on. S/N is KCX01744. I, too am putting a thumb on a "single-acting aux" machine. I've read all the posts(Thanks!) and am almost ready to assemble. The only issue, even though I have the schematics, is the physical location of a return port that I can use for my "return to tank" line. At the reservoir there is a block near the top with a -20 line and -04 line hooked to it. Is that it, or is there a better spot? (I don't specialize in one brand, so I know there is a Cat guy out there that can steer me in the right direction!!) Thanks for the help.