Turning up an S300

[Amer Pine Straw]

Is it possible to turn one of these machines up to get a bit more hydraulic flow out of it?

Jason

 

[jgl1962]

Jason,

You can have a dealer (or someone with a flow meter) check the aux output for you. Not uncommon for them not to be set to spec, then yes they can be turned up.

 

[radman1]

Do you want more flow or pressure? Pressure is not too hard. The main pressure relief valve is usually located on the main hydraulic control valve. Pressure is set at 3000 psi but can usually be changed. The S330 uses 3300 psi, so that is probably a reasonable pressure to try on a S300.

 

[john_bud]

Pressure can be changed by the relief. Volume is set by the rpms of the engine and the physical size of the pump. If you want more flow, you need more rpm's or a larger pump.

jb

 

[Amer Pine Straw]

I want more flow. I was hoping for another 1.3 gallons worth. Seems that if I get a bigger pump then I need to get a bigger reservior and cooling system, is that right?

Jason

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Why do you want more flow? I'll take an educated guess, a mulcher. What mulcher are you running? You have a very small window as to how much you can turn the pressure up before it becomes detrimental to the cooling. Meaning it can't cool properly. A couple hundred is okay.

 

[radman1]

I doubt if 1.3 gallons of more flow will be noticeable. I think your holding back on some info. 1.3 gallons more flow is an odd number to request. Are you trying to reach the minimum recommended flow rate for an attachment? Most minimum flow rates are just that, the minimum. Often performance is less than optimal at a minimal level.

 

[Amer Pine Straw]

I'm not running any mulcher yet. I'm very interested in the Denis Cimaf low flow. The machine that I was looking at was a low flow. I was looking at a Davco and the minimum GPM is 22. Radman1 answered my question. I don't want to hit the minimum if there is a loss of performance. If I want a low flow machine I have to get a smaller mower that will be low flow. I get it.

Jason

 

[vegman]

Jason, If I recall you are wanting to mow 6000 acres!!! Again, 6000 acres!! Why are you even thinking of a Bobcat S300. Are you going to have a fleet of 50 machines? They will not hold up in a pine plantation. Way to much trash will wind up in the engine compartment and the machine will burn up. Not what I would call a controlled "prescribed" burn either. Look back at your first post. Take in some of the info provided to you.

 

[john_bud]

Jason, If I recall you are wanting to mow 6000 acres!!! Again, 6000 acres!! Why are you even thinking of a Bobcat S300. Are you going to have a fleet of 50 machines? They will not hold up in a pine plantation. Way to much trash will wind up in the engine compartment and the machine will burn up. Not what I would call a controlled "prescribed" burn either. Look back at your first post. Take in some of the info provided to you.

6000 acres???

My non-mulcher brain tells me that will last longer than an all day sucker! Like a full time job for a year with a 300 hp machine.

jb

 

[Amer Pine Straw]

I've had a mulcher in there and a mower in there. The stuff is 90% 3" stems or less. Since my first post, I have walked every stand in depth to make sure of this. Mostly brambles and things.

The giant dedicated machine that I'm an all day sucker for not getting is not maneuverable in the 6' rows and **** costly, especially for how slow it is.

The little machines and mowers zip right through the rows all day long with no problems at twice the speed and can zig zag between the trees and do everything I need.

In addition, even the small mulchers are slow. I had a guy come in with an FAE for 2 days. In comparison it is cheaper and faster to bring in a manual labor crew and use chainsaws to take out the 10% of the undergrowth that is large enough to slow the pace.

The maximum that total cleaning/clearing should cost is $90/acre and no less than 1.5 acres need to be cleaned per hour. Outside of that standard, mechanical methods for clearing are not feasible and manual labor is a better choice.

I know I asked which skid steers were the best choices. I'm not getting a machine with tracks that I have to rotate and lube and do whatever else too while it tears up the ground in the stands. I certainly don't want any un-Rx burns, I know Cat has bad problems and New Hollands have some and overheat a lot. Other than that, I have scoured this site and have not found anything bad about Bobcat. So I was looking there.

Thats the deal.

 

[radman1]

Have you considered using a tree shear rather than a mulcher or is that even a possibility? I clip a lot of cedars and pines with my dymax tree shear. Then return later with grapple, stack and burn later in piles. I can cut 14" trunks. Mulchers in my area are rare but we don't have the dense thick vegetation and trees like some areas. Could you mow the small stuff first, then later shear the bigger stuff? Tree shear doesn't require high flows or big machines to run. I can operate a skid steer and shear faster than chainsaw and work a lot longer with the skid. Most shears will run in the 5-6K range. IMHO, Dymax makes about the best I have seen. I will even grab a down shear tree with the shear teeth, bite half way through and pile them with the shear. They even make accumulators. After the tree is sheared, the accumulator can grab 4-5 sheared trees to pile later.

Lots of opinions about skid steer models. I try to stay clear of the arguments who is better. Kind of Ford vs Chevy arguments. Pro and cons with each. Everyone raves about the track loaders until they get a bad cut, slip off, wear out rollers or need to be replaced. Less than 5% of the time do I wish I had tracks. I did have a bobcat 873 and now 2006 S300. Bobcat still makes a good skid steer. They still have about 50% of the skid steer market. My repairs on both were extremely low.

 

[vegman]

I can solve your problem. If your 6000 acres is as you have described, and you want 6' rows mowed. I will do this for $90.00 an acre. Give me a contract on 1000 acres and I will get it done this winter. That lets you worry about raking, baling and marketing straw. Leave the mowing to me.