# Hydraulic Hookups on New Sweeper



## NBSnowGuy

I just bought a pickup sweeperat the auction to mount on my skidsteer for spring cleanup. I was expecting 2 hydraulic hoses off the motor, but this one has 3. Two out the side and one out the back. Didn't come with any instructions. Anyone know what the third hose would be for?


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## White Gardens

Where does it go to? Out the back? Sounds like a by-pass of some sort in the motor.

...


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## NBSnowGuy

Here is a picture to show the hoses a bit better. I suppose it could be an overflow back to the resivoir... That will be a pain to hook up.


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## icudoucme

That's a case drain. Normally that runs back to the skid steer. If you have 3 hydraulic ports it's the one that doesn't have a flat faced port.


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## NBSnowGuy

I don't have a third hose, but I can rig one up I suppose. Any idea why it would have a case drain in the first place? I suppose if there was too much flow, some could be bypassed, but it would seem easier to just reduce the amount of flow to the motor in the first place.


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## icudoucme

do you know who the manufacture of the pump is (might be stamped on the top or side) if not who made the sweeper and I can get more info for you.

As to the why. They normally put drains on the motor to reduce pressure or flow.


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## NBSnowGuy

I looked into case drains a bit more, and it turns out the purpose of it is to prevent build up of pressure on the seals inside the motor. As the motor runs there is some internal leakage and it can build up pressure on the wrong side of the seals and pop them out. The drain will let the oil go back unpressurised. Sounds like something I defiantly want to have hooked up.


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## edgeair

That is a high flow motor, and yes you DO want to hook it up to a purpose built connection on the skid steer. I really don't know how you would go about that on a standard flow machine (which is what it sounds like you have). So you have 3 choices. Sell the sweeper. Install a proper case drain connection. Buy a high flow machine. Or I guess the fourth choice would be run it as is and see how long it lasts 

Even if you have a case drain installed, you may not be happy with the performance on your machine if your flow rate is low. It really just depends on the motor on that sweeper - what its intended for in gpm.


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## White Gardens

What about swapping out the hydraulic motor for one matched for the machine?

.


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## NBSnowGuy

I wound up rigging this up on my compact tractor. Flow is a bit more than 1/3 less than spec on the motor, but it works really well. I just ran the case drain into the rear diff on the tractor.


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## grasskeepers

Did you ever get this hooked up? I ended up with the same unit


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## FredG

icudoucme said:


> do you know who the manufacture of the pump is (might be stamped on the top or side) if not who made the sweeper and I can get more info for you.
> 
> As to the why. They normally put drains on the motor to reduce pressure or flow.


I have a high flow hookup 3 port on my skid, We only use a mill head attachment. It also has a 2 port hookup. Does this mean it has 2 pumps?


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## Aerospace Eng

FredG said:


> I have a high flow hookup 3 port on my skid, We only use a mill head attachment. It also has a 2 port hookup. Does this mean it has 2 pumps?


Not necessarily. It could easily be just a different set of valves pulling off of the same hydraulic pump. There are an infinite number of ways to accomplish similar things with hydraulic systems (gear pump, variable piston pump, open center, open center with power beyond, closed center, etc. etc.) On my mini-excavator (KX057-4), the number of pumps depends on the options it is configured with. Your service manual is the best resource to answer your question. The operator's manual might, but likely will not, have the answer.


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## FredG

Aerospace Eng said:


> Not necessarily. It could easily be just a different set of valves pulling off of the same hydraulic pump. There are an infinite number of ways to accomplish similar things with hydraulic systems (gear pump, variable piston pump, open center, open center with power beyond, closed center, etc. etc.) On my mini-excavator (KX057-4), the number of pumps depends on the options it is configured with. Your service manual is the best resource to answer your question. The operator's manual might, but likely will not, have the answer.


Yes I have all the manuals, I'll check it out,


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## sluggish

I know this is an old thread but I'm in a similar situation. I have a low glow machine(17 gpm). Can I just block the extra line and run it like that?


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## jonniesmooth

From what I gather from the above posts, it will run until the built up pressure ruins the motor.
I don't know how you would plumb that back into your reservoir to collect the fluid. Nobody else ( who are far more knowledgeable on this then me) seems to have explained how to do it.


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