Hydraulics; hard line vs. hose

Anonymous Poster · May 5, 2003

One of the only things (if not THE only) that annoys me about my B7500 is put together is the plumbing for the FEL.

The tractor's stock hydraulic line, from the pump to the lift on the hitch, is hard line, with the hydraulic block in the middle. On the FEL, there are four hard line manifolds running down the right arm and across to the the other side. There are relatively short hoses connecting the cylinders to these manifolds. Also, there are hoses feeding these manifolds from the quick connects at the valve. So far, so good.

The part that annoys me is that the valve, which is permenently installed and not removed along with the loader, is plumbed into the tractor's hydraulics with hose instead on hard line. There are three lines; pressurized in from the hydraulic block, pressurized through (power beyond) back to the hydraulic block and on to the hitch, and the return out directly back into the sump. Given that there is no relative movement between the end points of any of these hoses, shouldn't they be hard line as well? I particularly do not like how close to the front tire they come. Since the LA-302 loader appears to be sold specifically for the B7500, i am at a loss for a reason for this method of plumbing in the FEL. The closest to an explaination I have been able to come up with is that the tractor is made and engineered in Japan, while the FEL is made (and presumably engineered, given the non-metric hardware) in the US.

Is this normal for all brands? I do not recall now if the NH or Deere units had hard line to the valves on not. I didn't have a chance to shop the other brands, but would be interested how they compare in this as well. (See, this wasn't a brand specific post after all... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

Can anyone give me a good reason why it is better this way? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif Are there specific advantages of hard line and hose, other than flexibility? Has anyone tried replacing "fixed position" hoses like these with hard line? Any estimates on cost / difficulty (If I decide it annoys me enough...)?

As always, thanks to all!

bgott · May 6, 2003

I blew a hole in a hard line on the loader of my TN 65. I haven't had a problem with any of the hoses. It's your call.

Egon · May 6, 2003

Best be sitting down when you get a price on one of the four hard lines that are mounted to your loader. The hoze is definetly cheaper. I've had a hole in a hard line and blown a hoze on the loader of my B7100. I now carry a spare hoze that is long enough to repalace any hoze on the loader.

Egon

Anonymous Poster · May 6, 2003

I would think the hoses are there to allow for the loader to adapt to model changes on the tractor and to allow the loader to work with different tractors. There might also be a bit of flex between the loader and the tractor frame during use, which would break a hard line over time.
Yes they don't look as cool but work fine and sometimes better than the hard line.

Richard · May 6, 2003

I second the thought on cost. I ran over a branch section once and it stood up on end, spearing the hard line section on my backhoe.

At the valve body, it has 4 pipes welded together to create a "manifold". Each section is 12 to maybe 18 inches and all it does is hold the flow of the oil firm around the swing pivot of my hoe. I have hoses to all the connections on either end of this.

Seems this log broke one of the 4 hard lines, no problem, I called the dealer to replace that line.. in my case, seems all 4 are welded togther and come as a unit... $1,000. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I said tyvm and had a hose created for my needs and just circumvented this hard pipe. I"ll fix it later again, when the hose leaks from rubbing on the pivot.

Richard

MarkStewart · May 6, 2003

I read somewhere that the hard lines dissipate heat better than hoses. Other than that and they look tidier. I think the hoses will work just as well. Maybe easier to cut a hose.

longway5 · May 6, 2003

I don't know too much about this subject, but I think that anything that is supposed to be flexible will fail over time. I've seen what happens when the hoses give on some of the mowers we use at work. The result is hydraulic fluid everywhere. I've also seen hardlines fail. We had an old Case 580E where the hardline to the hydraulic cooler started to leak underneath one of its mounts. I guess the years of hard use had wore through the line right there.

JATO_RaT · May 7, 2003

Look at all the industrial equipment, steel line everywhere it is possible. Excavators use a ton of it. Overall, I would say steel line has a lifespan greater then that of hose and its connectors. Rat...

Soundguy · May 8, 2003

( Maybe easier to cut a hose. )

I'm guessing the opposite. I can be through a 1/2" or 5/8" hydraulic conduit in less than a minute with a good hacksaw... nothing but a mess with a hose, unless you have one of those nice specialty hose cutters. Even the 2 wire hoses are a pain to cut.

Soundguy

chrisjbell · May 8, 2003

Best be sitting down when you get a price on one of the four hard lines that are mounted to your loader 

Yeah, no kidding. I bent one of mine a while back - didn't break it but thought it would be "nice" to replace it and make it all purdy again. That was until I got the price - for some reason I'm thinking it was $40 - $50. I've learned to live with it, there haven't been any problems with it, and by golly, I think I like it now /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.