It would sure be nice if JLG were willing to allow their engineers to discuss technical details with individuals that own their equipment... I have tried to contact them repeatedly but got nowhere. Also, Bucher techs told me I am a consumer of one $800 valve and they normally don't provide technical support to user.
So the on going plan to make the 40h 2wd a more suitable off road machine has some minor complications that I am just going to have to deal with. Just a little background... This unit was bought used by a buddy of mine a few years back. I think it was built in 2000. The existing counter balance flow splitter allows this machine to spin one wheel with no help from the other side (perfect differential)- in other words, low pressure gets the flow. It is not very tractable off road despite the way it looks with 4 atv tires. The Bucher diff lock valve is a solenoid activated flow splitter that splits one flow into two independent flows- ie. both wheels will always turn together. The valve has 2 modes- differential and locked, activated by a 12 v solenoid. The JLG drive hydraulic valves are all frame mounted with the necessary hydraulic lines going through a swivel valve. So whatever hydraulics I need for the Bucher valve will need to come out of what is available at the swivel. The Bucher valve has two auxillary ports, a shock relief and a makeup port. the shock relief goes back to the tank-that line is on the swivel valve. The makeup line requires intermediate pressure (aux) flow- that flow is not available through the swivel. The plan now is to just take the output flows from the JLG flow splitter and recombine with a tee into the inlet of the Bucher valve. I will tie the antishock back to the tank and just cap the makeup port. Now the problem is how to get switched 12 V from turntable to chasis? I either make some sort of slip ring connection or use a wireless relay and provide a seperate battery on the frame. Any Ideas?
