FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

As SeeNebraska pointed out, winter is coming. So I finally got around to start fitting the meaningful but overly large tire chains I bought from a forum member at least a year ago.

Shortening ladder chains to fit is easy, this type takes a bit more thinking I've noticed.

I also picked up a set of the military surplus Pewag brand chains for MRAPS that need to be shortened. The Pewags are regarded as a premium brand and the price was right. I haven't attempted shortening them yet but it does look like a puzzle.

Take good notes

Well, first you'll need to take a complete section off. Then I found that shortening the inside by about a foot makes them fit somewhat well...except that it can't be done by shortening it in only two places.

If memory serves me, I now have five places with three links eliminated and one with two, which "spreads the shortening" more evenly and seems to work.
Once the inside is done, getting the tensioner geometry good with the smaller diameter circle of the tensioner chain will be the next obstacle. I think I got it figured out.

Ordered 40 cold shut repair links the other day, most of which will be used up between the six chains I have. For testing purposes I'm using tiny shackles.

When/if I get a set of four done for the Winter SEE, it should be a bit easier to complete a pair for the Summer SEE's larger tires.

Hello all,

I am a new FLU419 Owner and eager to put it to work. It seems like the perfect vehicle for working on our hunting property. I have a question I cannot seem to find an answer for. I would like to put a hydraulic bush hog on the front for cutting trails through the woods and maintaining the trails I have. To mount it on the front it looks like I will have to fabricate a quick attach system which looks doable. The bigger problem seems to be how to run the hydraulics. The bigger bush hogs require up to 30gpm which of course I would need to be able to turn on and off. Does anyone have any idea if this could be done?

Thank you in advance for your help,

Jim

Jim, naturally I can't remember the max flow and pressure numbers of the rear hydraulics now, but 30 gpm sounds close.
I use the rear circuit for a snow blower and ran "extension hoses" from the backhoe's connections to the loader. It's somewhat described in this thread if you go back two years.

For turning the 'blower on and off I just engage and disengage the PTO.

One potential problem I can foresee is that with a large bush hog you'll have to keep the rpm up to power it, making the already somewhat fast speed in 1st gear, low range, too fast. With the snow blower I can go back and take a second (or even third) slice, but that may or may not work for you.

The FLU farm said:

Jim, naturally I can't remember the max flow and pressure numbers of the rear hydraulics now, but 30 gpm sounds close.
I use the rear circuit for a snow blower and ran "extension hoses" from the backhoe's connections to the loader. It's somewhat described in this thread if you go back two years.

For turning the 'blower on and off I just engage and disengage the PTO.

One potential problem I can foresee is that with a large bush hog you'll have to keep the rpm up to power it, making the already somewhat fast speed in 1st gear, low range, too fast. With the snow blower I can go back and take a second (or even third) slice, but that may or may not work for you.

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i remember seeing 30 GPM called out in the manuals for the rear circuit.

Skywagon180 said:

Hello all,

I am a new FLU419 Owner and eager to put it to work..................

Thank you in advance for your help,

Jim

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Welcome from overSEEs.

SeeNebraska said:

i remember seeing 30 GPM called out in the manuals for the rear circuit.

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Yeah, that's what I thought. In which case I'd try to find a brush hog that's made to run on about 20 gpm.

Can I have the rear PTO engaged while driving forward to use the brush hog?

FLU419 Running a Field Mower on the Front

Skywagon180 said:

I would like to put a hydraulic bush hog on the front

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The short answer is yes, it can be done. Turns out I just finished with proof of concept yesterday evening--just got the last adapter shipped that allowed me to hook it all up front to back and turn on the PTO to look for leaks and let those big blades spin. I have to tell you it felt pretty nice to see it all work. Such an amazing solid piece of equipment!
I have a Titan quick attach on the front, an 82" Prime mower (great deal compared to other mowers) and got all my hoses and valves and such from Surplus Center. The FLU Farm was a great help in all this, as he has hooked up a snow blower and has some pictures that got me started. The first realization I got from him was that I did not need any "controls" to switch it on and off--just put the PTO in gear and it runs, kick in the clutch and take it out of gear and it stops.
Now, the thing you have to realize is that the FLU does not have a two stage clutch or a live PTO like a tractor does, as the thing is either on or off. This means when you come up to a fence post at the end of the row you can't inch up and cut at the same time (better to pull up to the post then start it all up and back away). You'll have to be creative and/or super exacting (and very, very slow) when cutting with finesse. You'll need to switch your brain to tractor mode where the hand throttle will be your friend and you'll be kicking it into neutral a lot.
So, down-and-dirty description is that you unhook the backhoe, hook in to the backhoe lines, route hose to the front, hook to the mower lines and you're in business. I elected to put in a two-way valve for each line set so I can switch the fluid to either go to the front or the back so I don't have to unhook and hook the lines when I want to run things on either end. I used hoses with JIC 12 ends, JIC 12 to 3/4 NPT adapters and 3/4 flush-end fittings. I also changed out the Pioneer fittings on the hoe side so there is not so much oil slobber when I do unhook. There was one oddball on the female fitting for the hoe that needed a JIC 14 to 3/4 adapter.

If I was to order the mower today I would have had them fit JIC-end hoses and 3/4 fittings (they sent it with 1/2 SAE ends hooked to 3/4 hose--no big deal, just should have done JIC 12 with 3/4 fittings for consistency) and may have gone with the slightly smaller mower (will have to use it more to see; smaller would be lighter and more maneuverable).

To get your imagination started, I routed the hoses from the area behind the cab down underneath the passenger side and out just beside the front skid plate. They follow the same path as two existing lines along the frame. Not sure I like them where they emerge from the front yet as it was very hard to tighten fittings once I had the bracket attached, and they stick down a little low once tight. There are the two valves just behind the cab moved "passengersideward" to keep them out of the way of the spare.
Yes, I will have pictures but not until this weekend some time. I still have a bracket to make to attach the blocks of the two valves up and out of the way behind the cab, and I have to get two shorter hoses to re-route supply and drain lines to the valves (currently using down-and-dirty-connect-directly-to-hoe-hoses method). I'll try and add a list of all the parts I used as well.
In the meantime I have it running enough so I can mow some pasture and try and test the promise of obliterating 3" red alder like the specs say the mower will.

SeeNebraska said:

i remember seeing 30 GPM called out in the manuals for the rear circuit.

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24 gal/ min at 1800rpm sticks in my head. But i dont have the TM in front of me.

Edit: after lookign at TM
"26 gpm @ 2450 psi (98 Ipm @ 167 bar) @ 2000 engine rpm" copied from ..224-20-1.

Got some more feed for (primarily) the FLUs.

I'm sure this is posted here somewhere. So sorry for asking. I've mentioned before that my flu419 is about 3 hours away and I can't ever get much work done on it. I have a shipping company picking up my flu419 in the morning to deliver it to my home. They want me to raise the loader bucket. It does not run (yet). I can use a jack to jack it up. Would anybody please be willing to tell me how to get the bucket to float so that it can be jacked up? They will chain it in the raised position.

Push the lever down, to float position. Or loosen the fittings on the cylinders. Then they can lock the loader in "drive position" with the small brackets at the cylinders.

Now I will lose sleep trying to figure out how I could chain the loader in a raised position.

Push down all the way on the left lever. You should feel a detent. The lever may or may not stay there, so you might need something or someone to hold it down while you jack... up.

2 min too slow....

Thank you both. Chain up and over the headache rack of course.

mberetta said:

Thank you both. Chain up and over the headache rack of course.

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Umm, have you considered the geometry of such a chain-up? LOTS of stress on things unless you lift the loader up above the cab by a bit.

Actually I thought I had remembered a large hoist ring up there. I really had no clue how we were going to do it. I just figured I would get there and check things out in the morning. Thanks for teaching me. Once I get this home I should be able to to get a lot more familiar with it.

No need to chain it in the up position. There are special travel locks on the loader arms that are pinned in place with C clips to hold the loader up off the ground when traveling. Once the loader arms are raised, pull the C clip and the locking levers will rotate out and then can be locked in place with the c clip. The bucket is then dropped down until it sits on the travel locks. Page 2-87and 2-88 of the operations manual covers how to set them but the illustrations are poor. Mine were partially painted and stuck in the closed position and required some playing with to get them to swing.

Probably worth a YouTube video on engaging them as its how they work is not intuitive but once you stand there with the loader raised high enough to swing the locking levers out of the stowed position it should make sense.

Hello, has anyone removed or replaced one of the front axle shafts on the FLU. I broke the driver's side CV joint behind the portal box over the weekend. I'm trying to guage the work involved to replace it. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.