Our 2010 NH L185 has the left side two hydraulic steel lines with quick couplers but I see no ON-OFF switch in the cab. At the rocker switches on the right pillar there is one designation that says "High Flow" but there's no switch below it, just a blank black plug that looks factory. Below the other rockers there's two more places for switches but they're blanked off too. Seems like if it has the lines, there would be a factory cab control too. Anybody have a clue?
Auxiliary Hydraulic Control Question
- Thread starter JDWY
- Start date
If you have foot controls, then the right drive lever controls the aux hyd. The top of the handle pivots up and down. There is a lock pin that you need to pull down to free the handle. If you have hand controls, then the left foot pedal controls the aux hyd. There is a lever at the front of the tunnel between your feet that locks the pedal. I think you push the lever down to free the pedal.
Thanks Mike, but no, I've got the joystick pilot controls. The only foot control is a small rt. hand throttle pedal above the footrest to over-ride whatever the hand throttle is set at to further increase RPM when desired. It was previously owned by a large landscape company, I wonder if the owner had the rocker switch removed for some reason so his employees couldn't use it? I still think it's something obvious that I'm missing.
According to the operators manual, if the unit is equipped with mechanical or pilot hand controls the left foot pedal controls the aux function. The lever or knob needs to be in the raised position to unlock the foot pedal. If nothing else remove the panel between your feet and look at the control valve and see if the third spool is electrically controlled or mechanically controlled.
Thanks again, Mike. When it warms up later today I'll take a look. Meanwhile I'll look in the manual again. The operator's manual is really complete and if I skimmed right over how to engage the hydraulics I'm going to feel pretty stupid.
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After checking the manual yesterday, it appears that the aux. hyd. controls are rockers on the left pilot control joystick. On mine, I only have the 2 speed rocker switch. Seems odd the factory would produce the machine with the steel lines, quick couplers but no way to activate. But who knows what the previous owner did, maybe the joystick was replaced at one time.
I just noticed something interesting that caught my eye. I posted above at 8:38 AM Mountain Daylight Time, but the forum says 12:38 PM. That's a huge time difference, just where does this forum originate from?
I had to look at an older manual, but still for the 2008 and newer models. The latest manual does not spell it out for pilot controls like it did in the previous book. The switches you are referring to is for other hydraulics, not the boom hydraulics.
Well I went out this morning and felt around at the very most forward edge on top of the center "hump" and WAY out of sight I felt a handle. I could barely feel steel lines below it so that must be the hyd. aux. on/offvalve. However, the handle appears to be stripped, it turns freely without opening or closing the valve. I managed to get a wrench on one of the two locknuts holding the handle on the shaft and couldn't get the valve to turn either direction. Don't know how you'd get anywhere near it without raising the cab. Odd part is, there's no mention of a hand operated control valve being there in the operator's manual.
The handle moves up and down, not side to side. See my last post on which way to move it to unlock the pedal.
Second last post. Raise the handle to unlock.
Thanks again, Mike. Up and down for engagement makes sense. The thing is so hard to see and access that I had to use my little mechanic's mirror and a small flashlight. No way you can get your head low enough to see it from the seat side. I can barely get a couple fingers on the handle since there's only a couple inches between the floorboard "hump" and the steel panel above. We have to make a quick trip up to Billings, MT today so I won't get to check it out until tomorrow.
The mystery deepens. Just went out feeling confident that as you said, the valve is engaged by moving the lever up and down. Turns out maybe that's not the case, now I'm really stumped. I tried to move it both up and down with a decent amount of force and no go. I can't really feature a hydraulic valve hanging up too badly just from lack of use. I think there's enough room I could get a small prybar under the lever near it's base for more leverage but I hate to do that not knowing for sure that's how it functions. What say you?
You are not moving a hyd valve. It is a mechanical lock for the foot pedal. Remove the center panel so you can get a good look at what is there and then you will understand how it works. The rod the handle or knob is attached to is bent at a 90 degree angle on the bottom. This slips into a notch of a plate which is attached to the foot pedal and the control valve. In the down position the rod locks into this notch so the foot pedal can not be used. In the raised position the rod exits the notch and frees the foot pedal.
If the aux hyds have not been used for a while, the spool in the control valve may be stuck. Lubricate the end of the spool you see and gently tap the spool in to free it. First you need to make sure the pedal is not locked by the rod.
Thanks to you and to a lesser extent the manual, I think I've got it figured out. In the operator's manual section on manual bucket hand controls, NOT joystick pilot controls like I have, they show an actual photo of the easily accessed area with about 6" clearance between the center hump and top panel with a large round knob to lock the left pedal out. However on my model you can barely squeeze the flat of your hand between the hump and a steel upper panel. And as I said, due to lack of clearance, instead of a knob, there's a flat handle like used in truck/equipment shop plumbed air lines for air shutoffs. It's like on my particular model the lockout and handle was added on the assembly line as an afterthought with almost zero clearance to use it. And after prying the handle up and working with the left foot pedal for quite a while I was able to get it to pop back and forth into a detent with a lot of toe pressure as you said. I should have noticed before that the left pedal had a pivot mount whereas the right one is a solid mount. I just went out to look again, and unfortunately there is no bolt-on panels to remove to see how the lockout mechanism works on my model (2010 L185) like you suggested. The seat is easily raised and when it warms up I'm going to go out and with the seat and it's mounting panel up, light and a mirror I might get maybe a look. Mike, I sure do appreciate you walking me through this, working on it basically blind I never would have figured it out without your help, thanks again.
The clearance is tight at the front. The panel is removable. I would think you have a cab model, so you will need to raise the rubber mat to see the bolts. Raise the seat and there will be four bolts directly in front of the opening, two more down the front of the panel pretty well in line with the top four bolts and about 2" down. There are two more bolts at the front where the lever is. You will need to loosen the lever and move it to the side so the panel can come out. If there were no panel, it actually forms a tunnel over the control valve and linkage, you could not get to anything in there.
Great to know, I did partially pull the mat but did not raise the seat. Thanks to you I've got it functioning but as you suggested I want to pull the panel to actually see the linkage plus it definitely needs lubed at any pivot points. I doubt if the old owner ever used the aux. hyd. by the looks of the caked on dirt, etc. However, I'm going to wait for a warm spring day, get it out from the shed where I can see better, have access to tools, air compressor and all at the garage door. I got my hands frostbitten years ago and my hand muscles are real weak especially in cold weather.
And yessir, I've got the fully enclosed cab.
