calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question.

   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question. #1  

ssddx

New member
Joined
Apr 27, 2025
Messages
4
Tractor
870,2350
i'm hoping to find an owner of a JD870 (or 770/970 i believe are the same) who has one of the following: the rear hydraulics package, a backhoe or ideally a front snow plow blade who can tell me which ports JD is using for the output and return lines as we have tried everything.

in detail.. our situation...

we currently own a JD870 which does not have the rear extension/power beyond kit nor any additional hydraulics from stock. we have the rock shaft lift and that is it. this past fall we wanted to install a hydraulic lift snow plow. we managed to snag a JD plow off a similar tractor (required minor frame alteration but almost a bolt up) and found an aftermarket cylinder and a directional control control valve (input dumps into output except when lever is activated in which case it then pushes into one of the two ports going to the cylinder for up/down). we had no luck getting it to work so delved a bit deeper.

after ordering a hydraulic flow meter (why are they so expensive.. we got lucky on that big auction site) we discovered our pump was not the best (it was original and we had noticed our rockshaft being sluggish and not staying up) and after installation had great pressure from pump the pump output but could not get any more than 25lb at the rockshaft test port. since then we have replaced all the o-rings on the pressure relief valves (one seal was missing on the main relief... from before we bought the tractor apparently...) and finally installed a new o-ring on the rock shaft piston which helped much and now it holds and can lift 2 people fine. with that fixed... we decided to try hooking up the front plow again.

what we have tested and know:
-with the plow input connection disconnected the rock shaft operates fine. i'm not sure if pressure is up to spec but performance on the rock shaft seems to be notably better.
-if i connect the input of the control valve up to the port to the left of the rockshaft case block (which seems to be directly connected to the input via a 90 degree space) the rockshaft stops working (my thoughts are given the valve type we are just getting all the pressure relieved down into the reservoir). the rockshaft does work if i pull on the lever for the front plow and operate the rockshaft lever at the same time (most likely since its blocking the flow through the control valve normally has). if i have weight on one side or the other i can get the one with no weight operating (which makes sense if i'm basically putting a tee in a hydraulics flow diagram but isn't what i want).
-if i connect up to the right side of the block below the rockshaft pressure relief (the test port) i get nothing.
-connecting the return line to the rear left and front left ports instead of the reservoir does not improve things .

mostly i had four main questions

1... am i connecting up to the correct port for pressure out to aux attachments? from what i can tell i am.
2... am i connected up to the right return ports
3... am i missing something in order to have each lever (rockshaft and front blade) operate without touching the other lever or being affected by the others weight (basically how to make both systems work at once)
4... am i using the correct type of valve for the front bucket (directional control valve. flows input->output when not in use and flows input->portA/portB when lever is in A/B position to operate cylinder.

if anyone has pictures of the hookup, diagrams, etc that would be most helpful. i've looked and have found diagrams for the rear aux connections and they *seem* to suggest the port in the front i use for pressure is correct and the one behind it is for return (but that doesnt seem to work). i have seen the JD backhoe manual and it just states to connect up to existing rear aux connections (helpful i know...).
 
   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question. #2  
Welcome to TBN
Post some pics of what you have and what you might plan to do. Give out members something to help them help you.
Get on JD parts to see if that may help you some.
Sorry that I cannot answer directly.
Do you have a pressure gauge so you can check pressure at the quick connections ??

Link to JD parts for 870
 
   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question.
  • Thread Starter
#3  
attached are pictures.
1. showing from behind tractor from right. shown are the hyd oil fill port and part of the lift lever control. there is 1 port here which i think is only for return (as it shows this getting used as a return for some attachments)
2. showing from left side of tractor. showing rockshaft pressure relief valve and bottom port which was labeled as a test port in our manual which we had originally used for testing the psi.
3. from front right side of tractor. showing hydraulic cylinder with chain lift. both hoses go to the control valve outputs
4. prince spool valve. has casting number 9065 that doesn't match up to anything but the important thing to note is that its an open spool so has flow through.
5. from right side of tractor. pen is on what i believe is the output for pressure.
6. from front of rockshaft casing. basically looking left from the right side of image 5. shown is the main input from the pump and the main pressure relief valve.
7. right side of tractor along the bottom frame. showing return line to reservoir.

with a bit more research i've seen it written that instead of an open spool (flow through) valve that instead i should be maybe using a closed spool valve since pressure doesn't return to the rockshaft otherwise?

psi testing will have to wait a bit but i'll see if i can get a few measurements.
 

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   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question.
  • Thread Starter
#4  
i got the pressure gauge out and measured on what i believe is the the correct port for outputting pressure to attachments (photo 5 where the pen is pointing and the port directly to the right of it, which are connected) and at idle it shows 0 but if i throw a board under the lift arms (to test full power) it hits around 2000psi. the tractor specs say 2200-2300 so i'll call that good on that front.
 
   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question. #5  
Easier solution is using loader circuits with curl doing plow angle (no loader involved).
 

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   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question.
  • Thread Starter
#6  
figured out a solution, listing it here in case anyone else can make use of it. any of the loader circuits or rear take off are $1500+ which isn't a solution at all for what i wanted to do. i replaced the hardline pump to rockshaft case hydraulic line. i made a new flange for the bottom of the pump with an o-ring tapped for 1/2 npt (i had this from my testing phase) and ran a hydraulic hose from there to a 3-way valve coming in from the left side. the rear port goes to the rockshaft case and the front port goes to the new hydraulic control lever i had installed. i can operate the rear hitch with the normal lever when i have the valve to handle to the left and i can operate the front plow lift when i have the valve handle to the right. its an either-or situation. basically a manual version of what the fancy oem equipment does (which as far as i can tell is a hydraulic valve with an electrical sensor and solenoid shut of valves on the other inputs depending on your selections). everything now works fine for under $150 in hydraulic hardware (not counting the new pump here or the new o-rings which the tractor had needed anyways).
 
   / calling JD 870 (or 770/970) owners, snow plow hydraulics question. #7  
On my 870 i just added the power beyond kit and a fender mounted dual valve. Problem is, several years ago JD stoped supplying the power beyond kits. I had a friend try and find one for his 1070. JD said they have not been able to get those for several years.

I thought you could get any jd part forever, heck, you can find parts for a 60 year old JD. My tractor was only 20 years old at the time.

The JD mechanic to,d my friend he was out of luck. Id tell him what you did, but he ended up buying a new TYM tractor/backhoe with cab. Hes a happy camper.
 

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