hydraulic pump size for loader on a TO-20 Ferguson

Whats a good size pump to mount on the front of the tractor?

You are working on it backwards. What size cylinders are on your loader, How fast time wise do you want them to extend? At what RPM will the tractors be operating when you are doing most of this loader work. Tell us that, then we can calculate the pump size you need. More questions? J.

5 gpm worked fine for my MF-236 loader with 2.5" lift cylinders. Even then I often kept the engine speed down so I didn't have to work hard feathering the valves. I'd rather be a little slower than to jerk the loader and tractor around with insensitive valve motions.

Gerald J.

TO-20 like most ford need about an 8GPM pump. More can cause problems and less be very slow. I have 3 fords with Vickers vane pumps rated at 8GPM and they work just fine. Not to slow but also not so fast as to flip the tractor on its side
Hobby farm

What J Schwiebert stated is right-on. It depends on the loader and what size cylinders it has. The bigger the cylinder, the more longer they take the fill and the bigger pump needed for speed. Generally, the bigger the pump the better - since it will work a lot nicer when the engine is running slow. As long as you have an open-center system, and the valve is big enough not to obstruct full-time oil flow, a big size hurts nothing.
Also keep in mind that when you cite GPM figures - they mean nothing without RPM. One pump will be rated at various GPMs at different RPMs. Cubic inch displacement is a more reiliable figure. Generally speaking most good loaders use with engines that run a max of 2400 RPMs use 23 GPM pumps. Some light duty loaders with small cylinders use 9-13 GPM pumps and work kind of slow.

My IH 3414 backhoe loader uses a 9 GPM pump and is just barely adequate.

My IH B-275 with a farm loader has a 7 GPM pump and is very slow.

My Ford 4000 loader uses a 23 GPM Cessna pump and it works great.

My Ford 641 with a farm loader has a 23 GPM Cessna and works very well.

My Deere 420 crawler-loader has a 13 GPM Cessna pump and is slow.

My Deere 1010 crawler-loader has a Webster 23 GPM pump and works great.

My Case 580 CK loader has a Cessna 23 GPM pump and works great.

My Oliver OC4 loader has a 23 GPM pump and works great.

All of the info. given is good especially the point that jdemaris makes regarding low speed(engine rpm.) performance............

Most loader work is done at low/medium engine speeds and that should be taken into account as well when sizing the pump.............a 20 gpm pump at 2000 rpm becomes a 10 gpm pump at 1000 rpm(give or take, depending on pressure and style of pump)...............

Here's a handy link you can play with to see cylinder cycling times:

http://www.baumhydraulics.com/calculators/cyl_speed.htm

Remember though! If you input your cylinder dimensions you need to multiply the cycling times by the amount of cylinders in your system!