Hi -- ASVSR80 track machine - just got a new bushhog mower - low flow MD3 from Skidpro. I do have it hooked up on the correct connectors on my machine. It seems that unless I really give it the fuel (rpm) the mower doesn't turn very fast and when using the mower and moving the machine the machine is not responding. Like all the hydraulic fuel is going to the mower? I started off using the little thumb roller to test the mower (it allows me to use the mower but the blades weren't on continuously) while I learned. Today I tried the continuous switch and nothing happened. I don't have any equipment I use this on often but it has worked in the past. I really cannot see through the lense for my hydraulic level but last time any was put in it was over full, not low. I am not mechanically minded and do not yet have a mechanic to assist with my machine (Lincoln County, NC) so if you know anyone in the area or know anything I could check myself.... Any help would be appreciated Thanks!
Does it run properly when you are at full throttle? If you want max hydraulics capability you will need to have max power. I have a PT-110 and when I am mulching it is always at full power so that I get full hydraulic flow and pressure. You state that unless you "give it the fuel(rpm)" so I surmise you are not at full power.
full throttle? wow, I didn't realize. And yes, the machine itself seems to run great but I don't think I've ever even had it at full throttle. And won't I be just moving fast when I travel ? I really think I need lessons I have had the machine a couple of years but I use it for hay, the bucket and a nice digging tool but just nothing that runs the hydraulics while I'm moving it would appear. Do you know whether that would affect the continuous flow switch? Thanks for your help !!
When you ask if it would effect the continuous flow switch I am not certain what you are asking. If you are asking if it effects how the switch is actuated then the answer would be no as it is electrically actuated (at least on my machine) however if you are asking if it would effect the continuous flow hydraulic in gpm the answer would be yes. I don't know what year you have and have not actually operated the smaller ASV 80 but at a minimum you can control the speed/velocity with how you use the hand control. Most likely the unit has a feature that you can adjust the speed so that full control is less than max speed. Your unit may not have that feature but I would bet it does. Do you have a user manual? My unit can be adjusted with the control panel so that full hand control can be adjusted to provide anywhere from 20% to 100% of max rated speed. With that adjustment full throttle does not really have much impact on speed as it is adjusted/biased down. As an example I can adjust my full power speed from less than 1 mph to 10 mph. I would guess that the 80 only has the low flow option so you will only have maybe 20 gpm max hydraulic flow but that can run a rotary cutter adequately.
Thanks for the answer. My machine is a 2006 and I don't see anything in the user manual that allows me to adjust the speed when I'm at full throttle so more research and/or practice is in the cards for me. I do have a turtle and rabbit speed control but max even on the turtle seems faster and harder than I want to run or maybe I've just gotten used to running at lower rpm. And the continuous flow switch is electrical in my machine but doesn't seem to be working; I was wondering if I needed more rpm's when flipping that switch? I have not checked fuses on that as yet but since I haven't used that continuous flow (just turned it on a few months ago to test it- worked then) I just trying to cover my bases. I might try hooking up another piece of equipment and flip the switch to see if somehow it's something to do with this attachment. Not sure how that could be but, well, with my luck. I might need to find an experienced user to ride around in my machine .... Thanks for your help !
Here is a link to get an SR70/80 manual if you don't have one. https://www.manualslib.com/download/859562/Asv-Sr-70.html A quick perusal looks like there is a high flow option so you could have high flow hydraulics and if so that is very nice. I presume you bought this unit used and are not the original owner.
As a thought on your continuous flow switch. Mine I have to hold it down for 3-5 seconds so that it goes through a safety logic check before flow starts. That is to prevent an accidental actuation of hydraulic flow and hurting someone by accidental switch activation. It takes a determined and deliberate action. Mine are push buttons with three lights. Hold the button depressed then the first light comes on then the second and then the third before the flow starts. Again not that familiar with the 80.
Yes it has high flow option but I don't have any high flow accessories :-( Yes, used very low hours thanks for the link
Ok, let me test that - mine is a switch that just pushes down (upper or lower depending on which way you want the flow to go) and has a slide you have to push before you are able to push down the button but perhaps I haven't held it down long enough. Something to try !
Well I just did a quick read through of the 80 manual. Saw nothing other than the fast/slow mode nothing that allows you to adjust it incrementally as I can do on my unit. The hydraulic flow switches look like they have a safety slide and then are just rocker switches, so holding them probably won't work as they don't return to neutral but have a rocker up, rocker down and then center off neutral position. I know that my Fecon head will only take the flow one way and if I try flow the other way it is blocked. Make certain you are flowing the correct way to get rotation. Of course you said you had rotation just not much power so not likely that is a cause.
thanks for looking at the manual.... I couldn't see anything about speed control but perhaps I can learn to move the control easier - with the rpms up I feel like I'm jerking around but again, self taught so who knows what I'm doing wrong. I have a roller thumb control for my hydraulics - that is working but the continuous flow isn't. I should be able to rotate both ways since the mower is rotary with direct drive (not gear box) ... with my other equipment like the grapple I rotate one way to open and the other close but using the thumb roller not the continuous. I hope I don't have electrical issue with the continuous. Let me tell you, holding the roller over continuously to mow will get old like right now ! with that wonderful mulching head I'm sure it's only meant to turn one way. I really like the work those things do.
A brush mower is usually designed to turn in one direction only. Have you tried your continuous flow swith in BOTH directions with the engine at idle or just above idle to determine which way turns on the mower? Once you determine the proper mower direction / switch position then you are ready to operate. I run my ASV and Cat machines with the continuous flow switch on , petal to the floor and contol ground speed with the travel joy stick. One word of caution is to let the engine rpms drop to idle befor turning off the flow switch and do not flip it into reverse.
Interesting, I had not heard of that technique before. I always start the high flow then rev up but will admit that while I normally power down before I stop high flow (just seems logical) I have on occasion shut down flow before reducing rpm when there has been a mini-emergency shutdown (I have "found" old logging cables with the mulcher at times unfortunately. Nothing in the manual about it that I can find. What is the reason if you don't mind.
Have you tried both the low flow and high flow continuous switches? Just for giggles....
High flow won't work unless your hooked up to the big flat faced couplers. The rabbit high speed is for moving fast point a to b. Not for working.
Look like the SR series is not dissimilar to the RC series and very different to the PT series that furu has. The SR should have 2 switches, 1 for hi flow and the other for continues low flow. With the low flow switch on there is no need to use the switch on the joy stick. If you think your mower is not spinning fast enough in low flow then couple it to the hi flow and use the engine revs it control the speed to your satisfaction.
I'm sure you could change the fittings and connect it to the high flow but I'm not sure if the hydraulic motor on the mower can accept the higher flow volume. I'd check with the manufacturer. I have a high flow diamond mower. When I bought it they ask me if I wanted high or low flow. I'm just not sure if the only difference is the couplers. If he's running it in the rabbit mode on the drive he will loose a lot of flow to the implement. Also make sure you are running the mower in the right direction as already said.
On a ASV RC85/100 low flow is 18 GPM, hi flow 36 GPM at max engine speed. Cat 299 D2 XHP is 23 low flow, 42 hi flow. When you run the low flow brush mower on the different machines you can tell the difference.
I don't know on the rotatory cutters as I don't have one but the drum type I have from Fecon is set up with the internal components matched to the flow that you order it for. They specifically want to know what machine you are going to run it on and what flow and pressure. I would suspect that FAE and DENIS CIMAF are the same. The heads are "tuned" for the machine. If rotary cutters are the same then f311fr1 comment in post 18 can be explained easily as it was set up for one and thus it works different on the other and there is a big difference between a Cat 299 D2 XHP and a RC85. I know my Fecon maintenance manual has pages upon pages that address reconfiguration that are not for "the faint of heart" for different flow/pressure rates. It would be interesting to see the specs for flow requirements on the rotary head MD3 from Skidpro that kckc has. All I can find is an HD3 which has a range of 16-25 gpm. When I google Skidpro MD3 not much comes up other than this thread. Google Skidpro HD3 lots of links.
Rotary bush hogs are usually designed for a flow range. My CID is 17-27 GPM low flow. They offer a high flow 27-35 GPM and 30-48 high flow. These three are SAI piston motor direct driven. The SAI motors handle the spin down best. CID also offers low flow heads in 14-20 GPM and 20-30 GPM ranges with a gear box driven by a Parker low speed hi torque geroler motor. The geroler or disc valve motors do not handle spin down very well and reversing hardly at all. Blue Diamond learned about the reversing the hard way. When I toured there factory they had a pile of Char Lynn disc valve motors back in for warranty off of there reversing mowers.
Thanks for all the posts. Here's where I'm at ... the mower is supposed to be correct flow rate for my machine on the low flow (I didn't want high flow). I definitely have the connections on the low flow connections. And since there's no case drain definitely wouldn't want to hook up to the high flow connections. And there's a lockout whereby you can't flip the highflow switch when are hooked up to the low flow. (or some such safety thing) The mower works with the thumb hydraulic control but nothing with the continuous switch. I did try ramping up the rpm's and that does make it work well (turns fast as it's supposed to) but still only with the thumb roller. So I took one of my other attachments and the continuous flow switch worked with that attachment ! So put the mower back on and still nothing with the continuous flow switch. The only thing I can think is that the continuous flow switch has an intermittent issue. Can't think how the continuous flow doesn't run the mower but the thumb controller does. Tomorrow will be adding more hydraulic fluid just to make sure it's not low. I'll write the manufacturer to see if they have any ideas. I am so very aggravated. Oh and it truly is my understanding the mower will cut in both directions - one of the benefits of direct drive but I haven't tried it yet.
oh and furu, as mentioned in prior post the rotary mowers comes with a range for high flow or low flow. I don't have much more info on the mower than what shows under their spec page on the website. Nice people to talk to; we'll see how they act when I call with an issue oh & on this machine the "rabbit" speed is only for traveling, not work.
Have you taken the low flow switch and checked it for proper function with a multi-meter? It might as you say just have an intermittent problem since it works with another implement. There is not an electrical connection to the rotary mower is there that you don't have with the other implement?
I dont' think there's any other electrical hookup on the mower and yes, I will check the switch with multi-meter - that's a good idea. I just can't think of anything else that could be an issue since it works with the thumb roller. Do you know how tired my thumb got ??? because geez I had to try out the mower
I can only imagine! You are one dedicated person. But the mower ran fine with the higher power setting, yes? Hopefully you don't get the thumb equivalent of trigger finger. To me the issue is confused by the other attachment working fine on low flow with the switch. What is that other attachment and how long did it run on continuous low flow? I recently had an idle validation switch issue on mine in which it threw an error code at 1255 rpm every time I accelerated the engine after normal warmup. Trouble shooting pointed at the electronic throttle control module ($300) and the wiring from the throttle to the ECM. If I did not let the engine warm up but just went to full throttle no problem. Of course who want to do that on a regular basis. Long story short after a very frustrating troubleshooting and finding nothing I ran it to full throttle cold and left it there for one hour generating heat. Since then no problem no matter what I try to duplicate the original issue. Must have been some moisture somewhere that got cooked out with the heat. The electrical systems on these things can be tricky.
yes mower seemed to do fine with the rpm's ramped up - I didn't enjoy trying to learn how to control my travel speed with the rpms ramped up but well, guess that's just something new to learn. I really didn't let the continuous flow go too long on the other attachment - it's a grapple and once it came on and stayed on for probably 20 seconds I shut it off. Then I tried it again and it worked again. Guess that's something new to try too. Thanks for the suggestion. Talked to the mfg - they have no idea what it could be so apparently all on me and my machine. Just getting someone to check the switch and system is going to be a real PITA. Know any mobile mechanics in NC... *sigh*
I am confused. Why did you hook a grapple up to the continuous flow? That is one implement that the thumb switch is great on. I would actually be concerned to hook the grapple up to continuous as it would try to push fluid even with the actuators at max retract or max extend and would result in an overheat and pressure bypass relief at actuator limits. Maybe your grapple is different in design than any that I am used to. I would almost suspect a pressure relief valve except the cutter runs fine with the thumb switch held continuously.
Because he had it, because the couplers connected up, and because it allowed him to test the operation of the continuous flow switch in a way that demonstrated actual oil flow.
Ok
yes furu - thanks. I didn't know how else to test the flow. But I appreciate the info that I shouldn't use that continuous flow on the grapples - never have used that with the grapple before.
I don't know if this would be possible, but maybe the hydraulic hoses attached on the mower side are reversed.
You do know that the continuous switch has three positions. Have you tried both directions on the switch?
Hey, sorry for the delay in qetting back to you - the mower seems to work with the thumb roller so I don't see how it can be the hoses??? I'm trying to find someone to look at my switch (although it worked with another piece of equipment). Ugh....
Yes, two and neutral ... I wonder if I could put my auger on the machine and try the continuous flow switch? It worked with the grapple but I couldn't leave it on long (because it's a grapple and I didn't want to blow up anything). Any thoughts?
Give it a try with the post hole auger with continuous flow.
If your auger is either a grain auger or a post hole auger that would be a very good piece of equipment to try it on. That has a motor that is designed for continuous or at least semi-continuous flow unlike the hydraulic cylinders on the grapple. You should have no issue at all on running it with continuous flow.