3-section valve?

[davesisk]

Hey guys:

I was just talking with Terry about how to add control for a 3rd cylinder to my old PT1418. I was asking about if it was possible to replace the valve that operates the main PTO (which on my old model is the right-knee lever, mine doesn't have an auxillary PTO), and Terry said that wouldn't work because the flow is just too high. (However, I said couldn't you just turn it part way on, and he said yes, but you'd have to be careful about it). He said the best way would be to replace the 2 section joystick valve that raises/lowers the lift arms and curls/uncurls the bucket with a 3 section valve that that does those two plus provides the auxillary PTO.

Even after several questions, I still don't have a good understanding of how you activate the 3rd section? Terry mentioned it would add another lever by my right knee, but I'm really fuzzy on where.

So, question: is the joystick valve and auxillary PTO lever all one valve on the 400 series? If so, does anyone have a closeup photo they can post that shows me where this 3rd lever actually is?

Thanks!
Dave

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, the joystick/aux pto valve is all one unit on my PT425. It is bolted to the firewall(front wall) under the joystick. The right two spools are connected up, through the dash board(if that's what you'd call it) to the joystick. The left most spool has the little knee lever that comes out under the dash in front of your right knee. In this picture you can see the location of both the joystick and the knee lever. They are connected to the same valve assembly.

In this picture you can see the dark square behind the knee lever. That is the bottom of the valve assembly.

In this picture you can see where all of the hoses go behind the right(left to you) lift cylinder. There is acually a large opening behind the valve body(about 4 or 5 inches square) for all of the hoses to connect directly to the back of the valve body.

Sorry, those are all of the pictures I have of that right now.

 

[davesisk]

Thanks MR! You gave me exactly what I needed.

Terry called me back with a price: over $500 for the 3 section valve. Ouch!

I asked him if I could just add a single section open center valve in series with the current 2 section valve, and he said yes, that should work fine. So, I think that's the direction I'll head when I get ready to start on this project. Or perhaps I should go ahead and add another 2 section valve? I don't think I need it now, but since I'm already in there maybe the flexibility would be a good idea? What do you think?

Thanks!
Dave

 

[MossRoad]

If I was going to do surgery on my beastie, the first thing I'd add is an electric diverter valve to the left/right function of the joystick. Less plumbing and such. This would give you one additional function. Joystick maintains normal operation until you hold the button down. With button held down, it activates the solenoid and the left/right function does something else, like close a grapple, angle a snow plow, etc...

For bigger $$ you could get one of these with the cool 5 button handle that would be really expandable. Very cool, but pricey. Last time I checked it was over $500.00. But if you were going to add several circuits, it might be cost effective.