hydraulic flow meter needed

Northern hyd. used to sell one. I was going to buy one and never did. I have not had much use for one , but they are very important to have if you do much hyd. work.
It was just the meter you have to add a gauge and shut offs to it.
 
As you have found aout already a basic meter is going to be expensive. There are some out there cheaper, but they typically aren't going to be rated for the pressure like your needing. Unfortunately even at places like Northern Tool (see link below) they are in the $300 to $400 range, and that is about the most basic, pressure rated meter you can buy. Looks like their's is made by Webtek so it is a quality, name brand tool that is worth the cost. I've got one on my service truck that I've had for nearly 12 years and it always works when I need it to.

Now, the problem with a meter like that is that it has no way to put a load on the system. In many cases a pump will show an acceptable flow rate at low pressure but will drop off as the pressure gets higher. I had one the other week on a skid steer doing just that. The flow was like 20 GPM but it slowly dropped off as pressure rose and by 1000 psi it was at zero. If I had not loaded the system it would have appeared like the pump was OK resulting in a bad diagnosis, and alot of headaches looking for another problem that didn't exist. Anyway, in order to load the system like I did you also need to get a high pressure needle valve and install it on the outlet from the meter. With the valve in place you can slowly close it and apply a load to the system. ----------WARNING HERE-------With this setup you have to physically insure that you don't close the valve to far and dead head the pump. Doing so can cause a sever over pressurization of the system resulting in damage to components or lines rupturing.---------

If the need for a rupture disc is there, and when checking variable displacement pumps it is a very good thing to have, then you are going to need a different style meter. Below is a link to Webtek's site and one of the meters similar to the other one I've got that has a disc. The reason I say a rupture disc is needed with variable displacement piston pump is that it's possible for the pump to be acting up and for you to close the load valve down too far and causing a pressure spike if the pump reacts and starts putting out more flow. I was checking the pump on an excavator once when that happened to me. The swash plate was sticking (the problem) causing the pump to not respond like it should. I had closed the load valve nearly shut trying to build pressure and couldn't because of the low flow from the pump. Just shy of completely closed on the load valve the pump decided to respond and went to full stroke. This resulted in about 45 GPM trying to go through what would amount to a pin hole so the resulting prssure spike would have been huge had it not been allowed to bypass the meter by blowing through a 6000 psi rupture disc.

Ultimately you may find a decent used meter, but it will still probably not be as cheap as your wanting. Even then, without the accessories like a load valve,(and they aren't cheap either) the meter alone won't do you any good.

Good luck.
Northern Tool flow meter

Webtek
 
I'm probably going to order one from Northern,already have needle valves and gauges.Will be used to set some pressures on a 2390 Case.
Maybe able to borrow one from a nephew who is a Cat service tech. He has been out of state recently.
Was wanting to find a used one somewhere.
 
A good one like mine will set you back several thousand bucks . as i can flow 50 gal. a min and pressures to 5000 lbs. And i was lucky to get mine when i bought out the service dept of a closing I H dealer. Sure makes my job easier when working on most of the I H tractors.
 
I have an OTC set that I bought years ago. They have since went sky high. I have mine insured for $4500 and that would not buy all of the adapters.

I have seen some cheaper ones with just the flow meter but you will still need a pressure gauge and a valve/bypass setup to test your system. You maybe cheap to pay someone that has a set to come and test your tractor out with theirs.
 

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