float function operating technique question

Hey guys quick question about operating in float mode.

I own a 5 ton excavator and a mini motor grader and I do a lot of driveway work up here in the Northeast. I recently bought a front mounted skid steer land plane to help speed some jobs up. I've been renting and borrowing a variety of skid steers to decide what best suits my needs, for an eventual purchase. Anyways yesterday I was running a newer A770 (EH pilot) with my new land plane mounted on the front and the float function operated different than I remember on other skid steers I've run. when back dragging it would function just like you would expect with the loader arms floating up and down, but when going forward... Whenever I was at a stop the arms would "build pressure" and lift the front wheels off the ground but as soon as I started driving the wheels would come back down to the ground but the arms would still not "float". They would always have a little bit of downforce unlike when going in reverse. this is a newer low-hour machine so I imagine nothing's wrong with it and it's just the way this thing functions. Anyone have any insight? I'd like to be able to push my land plane forward in float mode on a skid steer and have it only be gravity weight of the arms and the land plane on the surface of the road. Is there a skid steer that will function in float like this? I seem to remember most other machines I've run in the past functioning like I want. Although I was just using a bucket in float

No knowledge about your specific skidsteer, but I run a snowblower on my ASV PT50 skidsteer in float (running forward, of course).

Maybe ask the place you’re renting it from if there’s something additional you need to do on that specific model.

On my S650 with pilot controls, I know it floats in reverse. I seem to remember it also floats going forward too. I would think it's similar to the A770 in how float works.
The only time mine stops floating, is when you manually lift the arm with the controls. When you do that you can here a click as the float valve closes.

Thanks for posting guys, maybe the A770 I was running actually does have an issue despite being a low hours newer machine. I thought it was pretty odd that the float was affected by sending power to the drive motors (only while moving forward)

seville009- when running your snowblower in float, does the blower track the ground just as well in both forward and reverse? (not that you would run in reverse much)

tech1234 said:

seville009- when running your snowblower in float, does the blower track the ground just as well in both forward and reverse? (not that you would run in reverse much)

Click to expand...

yes it does. I snowblow drifting around the house and in some spots have to backdrag away from the house with the blower first, so will do the backdragging in float

Lifting the front wheels up in float while using a land plane is normal mine does it too. If you look at the lift arms when the plane is flat on the ground you'll notice they don't sit all the way down on the stops. So when you try to push the implement forward through the floating arms the path of least resistance is for the front end to come up. Just a consequence of the light front end on skid steers. A snowblower won't have this issue because there is much less friction between it and the snow then there is between the plane and the dirt.

When the arms are floating and the attachment is on the ground, all the sudden your rear end is heavier than the front , since the arms are not pushing the machine down in front.