Hello, been lurking for a little while but this is my first post. I would like to know if anyone has added a tachometer or hydraulic flow meter to thier SS? Reason I ask is I recently purchsed a brush cutter to run on a Case 450. When I bought the cutter the advertised flow rate was 14-22 gpm well when it shows up the flow rate is 14-20 gpm. My understanding is that my machine puts out 22.1 gpm at WOT. I feel that I will be fine running the cutter but it would be nice to have some idea of engine rpm or hydraulic flow. I have looked at the Tiny Tachs and they seem easy enough to install and are allot cheaper than flow meters. I may be over thinking all this but would like a few opinions.
I guess more information is always better but why do you feel it is necessary? Fecon I believe mounts a flow meter on their mulcher attachment, but I don't know that it is necessary on brush cutter.
I'm just a little concerned with the hydraulic motor getting too much flow. The replacement cost is for a new motor $1,200. I did find a website earlier that listed the "loaded" flow of the 450 @ 18gpm, which does make me feel better about not ruining the hydraulic motor. I think the tachometer deal is just me not being used to running equipment that doesn't have one. This is my first SS and I feel like I have been setting the hand throttle at 2/3 to 3/4 and use the foot throttle when needed but would like to know for sure. Like I said in the first post I may be just over thinking these things.
I think your over thinking it. The 450 is a strong machine and makes good aux. flow, but it is not going to overspeed your mower on aux flow. Now if you were running a high flow 450 at 40 gpm into your mower that would be different. However either way good luck you have good SSL.
Thanks for the help. Not many people around here run Case machines so I was a little concerned with reliability when I bought it. It's an '07 with C/A and had 1,063 hours. I bought it to do some land clearing and figured I would sell it once I finished but we use it so much we'll probably keep it. I can't believe how strong these machines are they're built like a tank. I am a little disappointed in the cab but can live with it.
The cab on the original 400 series is not very good, especially compared to what is available now. The Series 3 machines had a better cab.