This morning I have been bush hoggin with the 8N that I installed one of my LIVE THANG live hydraulic systems on after I discovered that the guts in the belly pump were all scrambled. I left the pump chambers with their vaves and the control valve and relief valve intact and plumbed the belt driven pump into the system. It worked like a charm to begine with but the hotter the oil got the weaker the lift got. It would still raise the heavy duty five foot bush hog up but the engine had to be revved up in order for it to do it. I have not checked it out yet but I am thinking that the pump is leaking somewhere internally. Maybe the pump chamber valves??? Maybe the pump housing is cracked???? I don't think the relief valve or the rings or leaking but it is possible the relief valve is. I don't see any leak of concern out of the cylinder. While bush hogging this morning I was trying to think of how to fix this latest problem (weak) and I came up with what I think may be the answer to a prayer for somebody like me who has a bad pump. This is the idea. First install one of my LIVE THANGs. Then remove the pump completely and make a steel plate blank to cover the hole where the pump was with a drilled passage to attach the input oil to the ram cylinder. Install a single action control valve with a relief valve encorporated in the line from the front pump and then back into the pump blank that has been drilled and tapped to accept the pressure hose from the control valve. The pressure line could also be tapped in at the top of the lift housing where the pressure line gallery is on top and then you could just plug the gallery coming out of the pump and use it as a cover for the bottom only. Install the control valve in the same location as the original touch control handle and connect it to one of my ZANE THANGs so it will still have position control. To keep it from going to high and pushing the ram cylinder pistion out of the cylinder or jamming the rocker against the housing I would install another position limiting block to prevent the lift from going to high. This set up would not have any draft control at all though. (Bad!)But it would give you a very responsive position control system. If this stupid thing keep giving me fits I plan on trying out this theory some time in the near future. Stay tuned!
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