Snowblower chute angling problems

[Jay in Massachusetts]

I just bought a BX5450 snowblower for my new (to me) BX2670 tractor, as well as the hydraulic chute rotator. So far, I can't get the rotator to work correctly, and I'm stumped.

The hydraulic motor rotates in one direction only ! I tried switching the hoses between the two connections, with the same result. I tried attaching the hoses (temporarily) to the up/down ports, with the same result. Very frustrating !

Is there some kind of check valve in the motor, to cause this? Or any other ideas?

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BTW, this installation was far worse than other equipment (e.g., Deere) that I've owned. The hoses supplied (both for up/down and chute rotate) are way too long, and the supposed color coding for hookup is utterly wrong. The mounting pad for the rotation motor placed the motor too close to the chute, so that the pinion gear would not install. I had to file and grind the mounting plate, to move the hydraulic motor about 1/16" further away from the chute. Very disappointing.

 

[BAP]

If it moved to the left ok, but not to the right, then what you need to do is to push the control lever to the right harder. The control had 2 positions to the right, the first being a slight push, the second is a harder push past a detent. The motor on the chute only works to the right when you push the lever hard to the right. I hope this helps and it works for you as I am sure you will need it today.

 

[Jay in Massachusetts]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. What an odd arrangement ! Meanwhile, I'll have to use my Ariens walk-behind to clear the immediate mess.

 

[Jay in Massachusetts]

BTW - does anyone know what the two fittings are on the rotator motor, that are directly under the hose hookup points?

 

[BAP]

I believe that it is for the optional hydraulic cylinder to control the spout deflector angle.

 

[thebicman]

I think those are the cross over relief valve limiters. I have a bx2755hd and I'm almost positive your blower has the same setup.

 

[Jay in Massachusetts]

I tried pushing the lever to the right, past the detent, with the engine wide open. The hydraulic motor twitched a bit, but did not turn. I'm suspecting that the flow restrictors are a little too restrictive, and that there is some further restriction in the system, when the lever is pushed to the right as compared to the left.

So my plan is to get one or two spare flow restrictors, and bore one or both out to (say) 0.075" from the stock 0.063", about a 40% area increase. I am a little puzzled as to why there should be restrictors on BOTH sides, inasmuch as what goes in one, has to come out the other. Could have had a flow restrictor on just one side, it seems to me. I had built a homemade chute rotator on a previous John Deere snowthrower, and had just put a variable restrictor on one side. And that worked fine.

 

[Jay in Massachusetts]

I got back to tackling this problem .....

I removed both flow restrictor fittings and replaced them with M6 to 1/4" female NPT fittings, no restriction. Then replaced the 6' long stock hoses with 4' long hoses, to tidy up the installation.

Now the motor turns in both directions, a bit more slowly CCW than CW. However, the motor rotation is VERY slow, maybe one rotation every 2 seconds. So the chute rotates VERY VERY slowly, but evidently that is the design, as imposed by the cu in / rev of the hydraulic motor.

So it is useable for now, but I am not happy with it. The hydraulic motor ought to rotate much faster, maybe 6 rps, and not 0.5. Maybe next summer I will engineer my own hydraulic chute rotator, and sell the factory one.

PS - does anyone know the specs of the stock hydraulic motor? The ID tag on mine is not very legible.

 

[eserv]

The hydraulic motor is 32cc per revolution. There may be a problem with one of your quick couplers. any problems I've had with rotators has been coupler related. without those restrictors the motor should be way to fast!

 

[Jay in Massachusetts]

Well, I'll try some math here:

The tractor hydraulic pump puts out about 6 gal/minute. One gal = 231 cu inch. One minute = 60 sec. So the pump puts out 1386 cu inch / min = 23.1 cu inch /sec. 33 cc is about 2 cu inch. So the motor ought to be turning at 23.1 cu in / sec divided by 2 cu inch / rev = about 11.5 revs / sec. Way faster than what I see.

 

[eserv]

Well, I'll try some math here:

The tractor hydraulic pump puts out about 6 gal/minute. One gal = 231 cu inch. One minute = 60 sec. So the pump puts out 1386 cu inch / min = 23.1 cu inch /sec. 33 cc is about 2 cu inch. So the motor ought to be turning at 23.1 cu in / sec divided by 2 cu inch / rev = about 11.5 revs / sec. Way faster than what I see.

You will only ever see about 4 usgm because the flow divider takes 2.1 usgm to operate the steering. even so that motor should be going way to fast without the restrictors. something else is restricting oil to it. I suspect a problem with at least one of the couplers. if the loader works ok it is likely the couplers on the end of the hoses.