If you're going to add hydraulics..........

[gator gar]

I said awhile back that I was going to add hydraulics to my LT28. Well, I still am. I've been working quite a bit away from home and have had it at a friend of mines house and he is supposed to be adding it all. I really didn't understand the stand still, untill I went over there today.

Man, there is alot of fittings, hoses, of all different sizes. You have to make sure that you match up the port size, NPT,or SAE etc. Look at the ports on your cylinders. 90s, couplings, nipples, T's. Building brackets for the pump, valve body and battery box.

I'm having it all installed a section a time. The log turner first, along with the dog. Then the log loader, backstops, toe boards and anything else I left out.

You pretty much have to do it this way, to build around and fabricate around the other stuff in front of you. It's just not a cut and dry task as I thought.

It's going to take time. Thank God for the Surplus Center. A real savings on all this stuff compared to buying it in town. .39 an inch for hydraulic hoses to be built in town. That's without the fittings on each end. CRAZY!!!

Just letting anyone know who is deciding to do it , to give it some thought and be prepared.

[Coon]

Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to upgrade to a hydraulic model? Alot less cogitatin' an a whole lot more sawin'.  ;D

[weisyboy]

iv built enough stuff to know

always allow twice what you thought.

twice the time, twice the effort, twice the stress and twice the money.

and you will still be way off.

[gator gar]

Wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to upgrade to a hydraulic model? Alot less cogitatin' an a whole lot more sawin'.  ;D

Coon, I think I will save quite a bit, versus upgrading to a hydraulic model. The guy that is doing this for me, is using the saw, some, as his labor payment. But yes, If I had to pay labor to install all this and fab it up, it would have been a lot less time and headache, to just upgrade.

If we had a good fab shop with all the right tools, it would be a breeze. But, out there under the tree, with a Dewalt grinder, a portaband and a half inch hand drill. It takes a little more time. We do have a welding machine and a torch set up, too.

As far as the sawing goes............I don't know when I'll be able to saw again. If my job plays out like they're talking about, I'll be busy for awhile and won't be remotely close to my sawmill. It'll be pretty sitting under my building though. I'm sure someone will want to borrow it and keep it in shape, while I'm gone.

[bandmiller2]

Its the old story "if you want to play you gota pay" Hose expence can be reduced by using steel tube for the long runs,also cools the oil.If your friendly with the guy at the hose shop look in his trash I've got alot of replacable fittings off old hose.Sometimes you can get a long, good piece of hose with one end abraded.My classic supply of 1/2 " HP hose is catch basin cleaning trucks,you know the ones with the hyd. clam.They have about 50' of hose on the reel and when they replace it only the first 10/15' is abraded.

[gator gar]

Hose expence can be reduced by using steel tube for the long runs,also cools the oil.

I'm "Hard Piping" alot of the runs and coming out of the ends with flexible hydraulic hose.

[pineywoods]

Gator got it right. The real hassle is all the plumbing. The pineywoods hydraulic  will require 11 runs of pipe/hose. I used ordinary old 1/2 inch black gas pipe.

[Buck]

Mark, did the valves turn out to be a help? Cant wait to see your pics. You know if there arent any pics it didnt ever happen. ;)

[gator gar]

Mark, did the valves turn out to be a help? Cant wait to see your pics. You know if there arent any pics it didnt ever happen. ;)

The valves are mounted, as is the pump, the log turner and the cylinders. I'm trying to buy all the hardware to hook it up, as we speak, but I can't get to the Surplus center web-site. It's been down all day. As soon as I can get to it, I'm about to order a load and we'll see if the valves work.

I completely tore down those valve bodies and added new O rings. Then re-assembled everything. There is new 45s and 90s screwed in to those too. I'm hopeful that they will all work just fine.

When it is done, it's gonna be pretty cool.

[gator gar]

Alright......The valves are in place, the pump is in place, the battery has a box to sit in and it is in place. The log turner has been tweaked and is squared with the mill, as is the dog. The cylinders are in place. All the fittings and hoses are on my table and a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid is in the back of the truck. I even have a toggle switch to kick it all on tomorrow.

Hopefully, when I get it all hooked up, it will come to life. I bought a cheap ratchet threader for my hard pipe at Harbor Freight and it did a great job threading my pipe. If those valves that Buck gave me work, we'll see some action tomorrow.

[pineywoods]

Hey that's great. I talked to member jrkimroxie over in mississippi yesterday. He has his all hooked up but had one problem. Pulling any valve handle stalls the pump drive motor. We think he has the inlet and outlet hoses to the valve body reversed. That would definitely lock things up. We had a structural failure on the mill pictured in the ff posts last week. Broke the claw arm on the turner/clamp in half right where the 1 inch pin goes through. Talked to the operator, says he got a big old swelled but cypress log up on top of the backstops and it fell off on the turner claw. Be aware that if you position the claw under the log and lift, you can in fact roll the log over the top of the backstops. Not recommended. You will find the best way to turn a log is to place the teeth of the claw about 1/4 way up under the log, lift a little bit and use the in/out cylinder to pull the log away from the backstops. A 2-handed technique. After a little practice, it quickly becomes quite easy.  Take pics.....

[Buck]

Got my fingers crossed Mark.