BX23 PHD Down Force Kit Valve

[AussieMike]

I have a WorkSaver 300 PHD for my Kubota BX23 tractor (great machine for my small alpaca farm). The dirt on top of the Rocky's foothills is rock hard in summer and I have a no down force on the Cat 1 3PH. So I have ordered a Down Force Kit from Worksaver (DK-50) that has a single throw cylinder. I have searched and asked a lot to find the correct manual hydraulic control valve to connect to the Kubota rear hydraulics to manually control the output to put down force on the PHD. No clear answer!
The BX23 has 2 connection points for the rear hydraulics (they normally drive the BH) but there are no built in controls on the tractor for this auxilliary hydraulic outlet. I assume one is always pressure and the other is the tank return.
When I move the valve lever, I would like pressure to be applied to the cylinder. When a spring returns the control lever to neutral, I would like the pressure to be released. It would be great f the pressure was proportional to the lever position. I would like the PHD to be able to be raised with the neutral position so the oil would need to be able to flow freely back to tank. I think this is called open Neutral.
The only maybe is a Prince Standard 3-way Control Valve Model# RD-2575-T3-ESA1 but I have had problems finding simple descriptions of how it works.
Any suggestions if that may work? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Junkman]

Here are three posts that might be of some value to you..

Post 1


Post 3
Post 2

 

[AussieMike]

Junkman,
Really appreciate the links - I realize now how much I didn't know. Because I will use the PHD with the BH off, I think I can treat my PHD valve as at the "end of the line" and thus no "Power Beyond" requirement. Thus I am hopeful to connect to the existing BX23 rear quick releases with just 2 hoses from a standard 3-way valve. With an "open at neutral" valve, it should act like the loop configuration required when at neutral. It should push the Down-Force cylinder through the one inlet when activated. When returned to neutral, the pressure should be off the cylinder and the oil can flow back through the open position back to the sump.
Or so goes my theory.
Maybe I should put this effort into a valve on the tractor rather than just on the backhoe but I am a bit shy of bolting bits on yet to my new tractor.
Thanks again.

 

[Junkman]

Your valve must have the return to the sump in order to work properly. Don't know what you have against clamping a valve onto the ROPS but it is your tractor to do with what you please. I can tell you that it was simple once I had figured out what to do. You have the advantage of my experience, which I didn't. Kubota engineers couldn't even get it right the first time.