fully hydraulic curtis plow

R

robuta

Member
I just wanted to tell every one who has the curtis plow with hydraulic angle. That for around $350.00 you can get rid of that slow ass electric actuater and make your lift fully hydraulic. This week end I will take pictures and show you how I did it. I just got done plowing, it took two hours and it worked great.
 
I was thinking of using my dump bed hydraulics to lift. Will this work? Take hoses off at back, have 2 hoses running through the RTV to the front for the plow to connect to. WHat cylinder did you use? Have suggestions on how to get one?</p>


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This bad boy is can retract and fully extend in about one second. It iswith in a quater inchfit as the old actuater 10 1/8" retracted and 14 1/8" fully extended. Now you may be looking at this cylinder thinking its tiny, it is. The rod diameter is only 5/8" and its 1" bore and 4" stroke. How ever this little puppy has a lift force of 1700 lbs. and pull force at over 1000 lbs. So this hydraulic cylinder is more than three times as powerfull as the actuater it replaced. Speaking of replacing do you know how hard it was to replace the actuater well I will tell you pull the pins on the actuater throw in the new cylinder and reinstall the pins. </p>
 
Sorry this picture is not so good but this the electric selector valve. This valve alows you take one hydraulic circuit and make into two with out the need for an additional spool valve. This was the most expensive part of the modifacation at $ 227.00 but well worth it in my opinion. You simply pull off the cross over block leaving the old mount plate. Set the new electric selector valve on the plate. And then I squared it up as much as possible. Then grabbed a 4" nail to mark the holes to drill. It fits on the plate barely but it does fit on.
 
</p>be patient dig ill tell ya let me just finish uploading my pictures and the at the end I will post where to get supplies and detailed parts needed.
 
This is my new handle I eliminated the use of the plow lift switch on the dash. Now every thing is controlled off of the dump handle. If you look closely at the picture you will notice a push button on the top of my new handle. So the wayI have set up is when useing the handle without pressing the button this lifts the cylinder up and down. When depressing thebutton on top of the handle and moving the handle this energizes the selonoid on the electric selector valve opening the circuit to the hydraulic angle.</p>
 
This is the top off of my handle showing the momentary push button. This was the hardest part of the whole project in my opinion. I ended up makeing my handle form an old milwaukee drill handle andthe top of aold air hockey handle.I was trying to find shifter knob with a push button but was unable to find any locally. How ever on Jeg's website they did have some avalible they are pricey.</p>
 
This is the left over parts from the handle Air hockey handle and Millwaukee drill handle. I think some pvcparts would work just find something your switch will fit into.</p>
 
Here ya go dig the stuff you have been so patiently waiting for.</p>


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http://www.surpluscenter.com/home.asp?UID=2008112516352481</p>


parts needed </p>


Quanity 1 9-1782 is the selector valve</p>


Quanity 1 9-7257-4 is the hydraulic cylinder</p>


Quanity 8 9-69-01-6-4 sae 6m x 1/4 nptf 90 swivel connectors</p>


Quanity 2<span style="font-size: x-small;"> 916-1436 1/4 by 36" hoses nptf male ends</span></p>


<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></p>
 
You will also need 2 3" 1/4 20 bolts with washers and nylon locking nuts.
the switch i bought was a ideal brand part # ide774022
and a rubber boot to go over the switch i beleave the brand to be mcgill part # mcg00909973
You may want to go to the electrical whole sale house in your local area they should have these items in stock.
teflon tape for your fittings and cable ties for the wire, some misc. electrical connections for switch and selector valve.


And I forgot to tell you the easiest way to get power to your switch is to pull the the two middle wires off your plow switch the wire is more than heavy enough to run the selonoid. And there alot ways to do this modifacation you dont have to use a push button on the handle. you could use a on off switch on the dash that way you dont have to mess with makeing a handle.



Now my disclaimer I am not an expert by any means nor do I claim to be do this modifacation at your own risk. I am just showing you guys what I did and my opinion is it works awesome I think it was worth a little over 350.00 and four hours of labor. Now I have $ 2300.00 into this plow and it is all hydraulic power just like the ones that are $ 3500 to $4200.00 and works fantastic. It might not be as beefy as some of of them but I was not easy on the other day plowing 8" of heavy wet snow and she held just fine.


That being said if any one has questions I will be more than happy to answer. Also any one who does this mod please upload your pictures so I can check out your plow.
 
Great job, making new function out of stuff lying around (drill handles and air hockey parts)! Install looks great, especially if it works for you. Also excellent directions on how to do what you did - very detailed.</p>


I still am working on getting used to switching back and forth between the gear lever and the joystick Blizzard control.:-) </p>


Doug</p>
 
Excellent Buddy. Hats off to you! I just spent an hour plowing and that electric lift could be much better. It does not work with a wet snow load on the plow as when you are trying to lift It does not have the power and the clutch in it skips. Your system appears to be the answer. Unfortunately it may have to wait until next year. It makes me wonder....why did they not build it your way in the first place. Are there any downfalls to this mod?</p>
 
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