Hydraulic Pump in Reverse?

[toivo1037]

I have a little project and require some advise.

We have an OLD Kubota B6000. This is the first tractor that Kubota brought over to the US, and it did not sell very well as apparently the PTO works in reverse to the common US implements. We purchased a Kubota backhoe from a old machinist, and he mated the subframe to the tractor, and actually took the pump apart and reversed the central plate so the pump would work properly in reverse. Backhoe works great, and the other implements we have were made for this tractor, we have just resolved to the fact that we can never get other implements for it.

So for the actual question:
I recently got a sweepster broom at auction, which came with a pump and small hydo tank. I am going to remove the loader bucket and install the broom, the tank goes on the 3pt. I am certain that the PTO pump would be for a US tractor though. It does not have parts like our backhoe pump that come apart and could be reversed. Can I just swap the suction and pressure lines and run this thing as-is backwards? Or am I going to have to borrow the pump from my backhoe to make it work properly and hope the GPM is high enough?

 

[Opti-Mist]

I would think that reversing the return and pressure lines would be very inefficient at best. What kind of pump is it that came with the broom?

 

[Scotty370]

I'm going to say "No", but there's lots better Hydro-Guru's on the board! This pump appears to mount either way for a possible reverse application, but your not reversing the designed flow, just the mounting, with the through-hole!

Prince PTO Tractor Pump 11.4 GPM, Model# HC-PTO-2A | Pumps | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[JoelD]

Why not get a counter clockwise pump? I did for my B6000E to run my backhoe. Found at surplus for somewhere around 100 bucks.

Good luck,
Joel

I would see no reason to try running the pump you got, just reverse the lines as mentioned above, you'll probably need to get a couple of hose size adapters to do it.

Joel

 

[toivo1037]

Got it to work, and everything went beyond well!!!!
The pump was strapped down to the pallet with the rest of the stuff so I could not really see everything about it. Once I got into the project, I lucked out - in a major way. It is a prince pump, and the PTO shaft hole went all the way through the pump! All I had to do was rotate the hydo lines, and put the pump on back wards (observing the nifty arrow) and I was in business!

This was all for a 5' sweepster broom attachment, which according to the mounting brackets, was on a slightly larger tractor. Boy did I luck out, the brackets turned out to be adjustable. I dropped the loader bucket, and got some 4" bolts, and hooked it right up! Put on the pump, and 3 pt hydro reservoir, and with the quick connect lines, I was up in running in a matter of hours.

I used it all weekend on a clean-up project I had to do. The B6000 was a bit under powered for that size broom. I knew that was a possibility, and gambled on it a bit. I could not run with the broom fully down, I had to float it a bit, but it still worked wonderfully. The project to to cleanup and rake a bunch of old rental yards. This baby piled up all of the old leaves, swept the rocks and dirt into windrow and piles, and probably saved me 20+ hours of back-breaking labor.

Now the dilemma, do I keep it? It is really too big for this tractor, but I am planning on selling the old B6000, as well as my full size Deere 310c backhoe after construction of my house next year, and I want to get a bigger compact. Maybe it would fit on that tractor!? Who knows. I guess time will tell.

 

[Opti-Mist]

Congrats on the stroke of good luck! It sure is gratifying to have things work out so well.

 

[Scotty370]

Duh..........almost like "Scotty" said!

 

[J_J]

Some hydraulic pumps will run equally well in either direction. For instance, the same pump could be connected shaft to shaft as in a gas engine to pump coupled configuration. That same pump could also be connected with a belt, side, by side, to run in the same direction. The pump could also be belt driven in the opposite direction of the engine, by mounting it to face the engine, but off to the side.

 

[IceStationZebra]

FYI - Some gear pumps vent the shaft seal to the inlet port. If you run the pump backward it will pump, but as soon as you generate pressure the shaft seal will blow out! (yes I did this once!)

And if that doesn't happen, most gear pumps have floating side plates to keep leakage to a minimum. Oil is ported from the pressure port to galleries behind these plates. The higher the outlet pressure the more force there is to keep the wear plates against the gears, which minimizes bypass leakage. most pumps can be reversed by taking the pump apart and flipping the center section. This is why most gear pumps are symetrical - the manufacturer doesn't need to make more parts to make CW and CCW pumps.

ISZ