I'm building a flail mower head which works best if you float the bucket so the flail roller just rolls along in contact with the ground. I usually borrow machines including a bobcat, case and a cat SSL. Do all of them require the bucket to be at the lowest level before you can engage the float feature? I'm pretty sure the Case was like that. It will determine the position I will weld the QC frame onto the flail head if that is a hard requirement to get FLOAT to work. Thanks!
I don't recall ever running a skid steer/CTL that required the boom to be completely lowered to float. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of float? The float function is on the boom circuit after all.
All implement hydraulic systems on a machine like this should float from any height, even max rasie, if the control is moved to the Float position.. If Float mode is engaged without the work tool being on the ground first then the result will be a very fast drop and a loud bang.
I got to visit the bobcat to look again. To engage the float function, you press the button while simultaneously pulling the stick in the boom down direction. My guess is that want a 2 step routine to prevent inadvertent boom release. I was probably always initiating float with the boom almost all the way down and confused the required condition as being "all the way down" instead of "on the way down" Initiating it up high resulted in the boom dropping at a controlled rate, landing with a soft thud. cold hydrofluid though... Thanks to all
On my cat 259d3 if I do the procedure to engage float the bucket and arms go straight to the ground then the bucket rides the contours of the ground
If you have "ride control" on your machine, then you can raise the boom to any height you want, turn on the ride control and that will let it float "some" on the Case machines that have that option.