Long hydraulic extension

shui5612 · Jul 12, 2014

I got the idea of attaching a hydraulic pump on the PTO; with a large reservoir and a really long hydraulic line (tucked in a pipe).

I am talking a 100 foot long line..
It would be used to run equipment far away from the tractor...

Would this idea work?
Assuming you have a pump that puts out 20gpm @2000psi; what kind of pressure do you think will be on the end of the line ?
has this been done before?

boggen · Jul 12, 2014

if tractor already has hyd remotes on it, for example the rear for 3pt hitch stuff, there is no need for a PTO pump or large tank. once the hoses and/or pipes get the initial air out of them and filled with hyd oil. there will be no need to add any more hyd oil to the main tractor hyd tank. beyond having misc hyd leak some place.

you have 2 pressurized hoses, pending on which direction you move the lever on the valve and which way the hyd oil moves through the hoses.

you may find some long hoses with hyd chain saws.
or perhaps on a "forgets technical name* trailer lake pump. long boom that sticks clear out into a lake, with pump on end of it. tractor just backs the implement into lake. turns the rear hyd remotes on via generic 3pt hitch lever, and pump starts a pumping water.

most things i can think of for actual equipment, might be a grain elevator and using a hyd pump vs electrical motor, or drive shaft off of the PTO, maybe in a machine shop / manufacturing plant, were there are a lot of robitic arms and stuff moving and doing there thing.

regular tools though, most of the stuff i can think of can be done with generic "air tools" or using a generator and electrical tools.

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what is the equipment you had in mind?

shui5612 · Jul 12, 2014

Well the whole thing would be removable and if the hose is 100ft then it would take a lot of hyd. fluid out of the tractor.

Plus a pto hydraulic pump would out perform the tractors hydraulic system (My tractor has 7 gpm pump (as far as I know) and a pto one would run up to 16-20gpm).

My idea was like a really portable dolly that had an attachment to be used as an auger and/or post driller.

The long line and dolly is to make the whole system reach hard to reach areas where the tractor wouldn't pass or cant.

boggen · Jul 12, 2014

post hole digger....

there be a reason why the have gas engine 2 man augers, that you can buy and/or rent. i would imagine most equipment rental places have the 2 man gas post hole diggers. there are also smaller 1 man post hole diggers.

i would imagine hyd hose alone would eat a small chunk of change. not to mention dolly, frame work etc... and then dealing with 2 hoses and dragging them around coiling them up and back off the spool each time... *arghs*

if you need power, and a post hole digger, a "skid steer" with post hole digger attachment, can come in a pretty small package width and length, and can get into some pretty ugly locations were a tractor may not be able to. you should be able to rent these from nearly every equipment rental place out there, with a chance of getting a post hole digger attachment for it.

a MINI EX (mini excavator) more so a track unit. and instead of a bucket, a hyd post hole digger attached to boom. can also get into some pretty harry locations. you can most likely rent a mini ex at many equipment rental stores not so sure about a post hole digger for it though.

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20 GPM at 2000PSI, for a post hole digger huh? select the correct hyd motor and/or use some pulleys to adjust RPM's as needed for auger....7gpm can do a lot. if things are properly sized for a given task. there be many folks that use hyd post hole diggers, mount to there FEL (front end loaders), skid steer units that use HYD post hole diggers, to mini excavators. to even 3pt hitch version of post hole diggers that use hyd motor vs PTO shaft. and use the same GPM and PSI from the tractor itself. and i would imagine some do use a PTO hyd pump.

boggen · Jul 12, 2014

i forget "technical/brand name" there like a self propelled walk behind tiller. but you can swap out, the tiller for different type of attachments, bottom plow, rakes, sickle bars, maybe even a post hole digger.

shui5612 · Jul 12, 2014

Where I am from we have a lot of Lake houses that were built and have only 24-ish inch walkways between houses (or fences and bushing).
Because it is very narrow and the people tend to have "nice" grass/patio/flower bed in the way.. tearing up the lot in a skid steer would be a major no for the owners.

I was looking into making a dolly (100-150$ with a set of wheels).
100ft hyd line (100-150$)
hyd pump and reservoir (300$).
And lets add another 300 for fittings, a filter and valves.
This would cover most expenses.. (plus attachments like a post hole digger).

The dolly would be 2 feet wide. 4-5 feet long with a boom.

The post hole digger would be portable enough to move around and more powerful than the two man post hole diggers.. plus you could attach almost any other hyd attachment to the dolly.. while the tractor was parked on the street/driveway.

Other possible attachments would be a post pounder and an attachment to screw in metal posts/support columns.

The pump I was looking at is 20gpm; which I know is a lot but it would compensate for the losses caused by the long hydraulic line..

For now it is just an idea I have because a lot of people here need to have their water fronts redone.. 97% do not have access to their backyard in even the smallest of excavators.. they would need to cut down their trees or bushes or disassemble a part of their fence.. etc.

Edit: Not to mention those that have redone their water fronts have had to level their land and plant new grass.. its additional expenses to run any equipment.. (one even hired a flat deck pontoon and the excavator was on it for the work).

Most of this hassle and additional work could be escaped in the creation of the portable system like I said..

shui5612 · Jul 12, 2014

boggen said:
i forget "technical/brand name" there like a self propelled walk behind tiller. but you can swap out, the tiller for different type of attachments, bottom plow, rakes, sickle bars, maybe even a post hole digger.

I have seen a simmilar system.. im unsure if we are talking about the same brand but Ive see a walk behind system that is mainly a lawnmower/bushhog that offered as options : a tiller; snow plow/dozed blade; snow blower; stump grinder; one of those spinning brooms and I believe a trailer hitch option (to park trailers into garages and so on).
The system alone was 1300-1700$ with the bushhog (depending on engine) and each option was 400-600$ plus.

The dolly could even have like a stump grinder attachment..

Endless possibilities; seeing how that equipment can easily be purchased used; the dolly frame would look like a small trailer with 4 wheels. and a boom that only goes up/down.

BukitCase · Jul 12, 2014

By my calculation, you would need at least 1" ID hose to maintain 20 gpm (loop velocity of 13 ft/sec

Surplus Center

200 feet of 1" hose is a pretty good load to pack around... Steve

Your 20 gpm pump could only maintain that flow with a low enough loop restriction, which would be more a function of internal friction losses in the long lines. This would cause the pressure across a hyd. motor to drop as flow increased, which is why you'd need large diameter hose to compensate.

Power of any hyd. motor is a function of pressure available AT THE MOTOR and the FLOW thru the motor, and the more flow thru any system, the more pressure drop - so maintaining low restriction is important.

Surplus Center

Not saying it can't be done, only that you'd need to take all losses into consideration.