Howdy everyone. I'm not sure where to post this question. Hopefully it can be moved easily if this isn't the correct place. Anyway, couple questions about hydraulic priority hammer valves. The machine I'm working on is a timber king tk350. Same as a hydro ax 570 feller buncher. I'm wanting to put a mulcher head on it. The machine has the hydraulic capacity from the main pump. But the auxiliary pump, which runs the saw, isn't enough for a mulcher . So if I install a priority hammer valve to rob some flow from the main pump, will that not create a situation where I lose or at least slow down my other functions. ? The way I understand it, the machine has two pumps. The main and the auxiliary. The main powers the hydrostatic transmission, bunching fingers, up, down, and tilt. I would only need about 10 gpm from the main pump. Does this sound doable? Or will I end up with a very unperforming machine? Thanks for any and all help and advice. I've solved so many problems in the past just from reading threads on this forum.
I believe there would be three main pumps on that machine. Aux pump runs lift and steering, hydrostatic pump for travel and the attachment pump. I have a Prentice 2670, basically the same as your machine. It has a dedicated 100cc pump that runs the head. I think there may already be a priority valve but I dont know the specifics of the circuitry. What head are you looking to run?
You should really have a large, dedicated pump, with proper filtration capacity, to operate a cutterhead IF you want to get production and long term service out of it. Failure to filter is a fast road to self destruction for any hydraulic system but even more so with the demands of a cutterhead system. Trying to modify and share flows is a recipe for disaster, IMHO, unless the system was engineered that way. In my experience, anything less than 60 gpm at 5 ksi is painfully slow and unproductive.
I'd agree. My prentice runs a 100cc pump and a variable speed 160cc motor at 5k psi. I am guessing it is pushing 65GPM? It's less than I'd like for sure but it gets the job done. Eventually I would like to uprate the engine and change my pump/motor combo. OP's theory of robbing hydro from different circuits sounds like a mess waiting to happen.
Fecon is the head I was wanting. I agree with guys. I'm just gonna sell this machine and try for a dedicated mulcher I guess. I was hoping to be able to switch from the feller buncher head to the mulcher head so that I could keep the machine busy to justify it's cost. From what I understand, I could put a mulcher on this machine if I worked at it long enough and spent enough money, but would never have half as good of a machine as a dedicated unit and would basicly just be wasting money . Thanks for your opinions on this matter. I had already made up my mind but you guys settled any doubts I might have had.
I believe you could put a larger pump to run the mulcher head on the machine and use some type of diverter valve e to reduce flow when using a feller buncher head. The hydro-ax 764/864 and prentice 2764/2864 have this capability I do believe. They have an electronic monitor that you can scroll through to use different hydraulic settings depending on the attachment tool you use. Your machine would be a great mulcher with the appropriate pump and return filter plumbed in.