Horsch Sprinter - wings losing down pressure

[Steevo]

Anybody else had this before?

Unfold drill and pressurise wings down. Switch to up/down and markers mode. After a few acres the pressure gauge has dropped from 200psi to 0psi.

I’ve isolated the ram seals to check they are all ok.

 

[bravheart]

No use to you I suppose but get this with a CO all the time, after folding out the pressure drops as you go down the field, it needs repressurising two or three times and will then stay at full pressure till the wings are folded again.
Sorry no cure but if you let the pressure back to zero you will get uneven seed depth on the wings.

 

[solo]

I've had the same issue so this autumn after drilling removed the valve block and replaced the seals on the unfold solenoids after speaking with the horsch service engineer. They do a seal kit for them, but be prepared for a shocker. £164.90 for two seal kits. I had a Victor Meldrew moment when the bill came this week.

I will tell you if they are worth it next spring.

 

[Steevo]

Ouch!!!

I was minded to stop the solenoid block down but it looked a hard place to get to so was gonna let the expert do it. My usual engineer suggested there may only be seals either end of the valve to stop external leaks, but the internal flow was a solid metal piston/metal valve seal so it could be a case of either replace the block or the valve rod.

He suggested I spoke to the dealer....and I thought TFF might be a better option!

Glad I did not rather than getting stung on the seal kit.

Any chance you could get a pic of the block/valve when you do the job please?

 

[solo]

Sorry, job finished a while ago. I marked up all solenoid and hydraulic pipe connections and then disconnected them all. There are 2 10 or 13mm bolts holding the plate to the frame that the block bolts to. The solenoids I have done are the two bolted onto the side of the block nearest to the hopper. Once the block is off its quite easy to do. Without marking the pipes I would have got in a pickle. The second picture shows the solenoids on the left hand side of the block. It’s a separate block which can be removed from the main block.

 

[solo]

Just to update. The seals have done the job of retaining pressure in the unfolding system.

 

[Steevo]

By the way I tried to find the Horsch drill thread without success. FYI The expensive seals I fitted in the valve block seem to have worked, keeping pressure in the rams once unfolded.

I had my engineer out to look at this recently. He was a bit nervous about taking the block to pieces as he didn't think there were seals in it, despite our conversation on here. He thought it was machined metal on metal at fine tolerance I believe.

He thought it could be pressure being lost in the ram seals, so we disconnected them individually and bunged the pipe and then pressurised it. Gauge kept dropping - in 5mins you could see a drop in pressure by approx 1/5th of a full turn. Quarter past until getting on for vertical.

We then tried pressurising it and putting it into "working" mode which seemed to help quite a bit. Seeing your comments I'm now sure that it's the seals that are the issue.

 

[Steevo]

Shows I should read this back myself before posting - by "had my engineer out recently" it appears I started this topic after that(!!) so no real news to report. I've just emailed the dealer for a price on the seal kits. I'm guessing from your location it's probably the same (green) dealer you used.

Knowing what manufacturers are like I'm guessing they're not standard size seals...! That said....perhaps it's worth me speaking to @Mr Happy about on the off chance.

 

[Mr Happy]

Shows I should read this back myself before posting - by "had my engineer out recently" it appears I started this topic after that(!!) so no real news to report. I've just emailed the dealer for a price on the seal kits. I'm guessing from your location it's probably the same (green) dealer you used.

Knowing what manufacturers are like I'm guessing they're not standard size seals...! That said....perhaps it's worth me speaking to @Mr Happy about on the off chance.

Ok l have had a look @Steevo and the price of the seal kit is rather steep. The pictures posted by @solo do help. The picture of block shows a name plate but I can read it properly. The picture of the seal kit shows a white label stuck over another white label. Once you expand the picture you can see the name Hydac. So I'm thinking all the solenoid cartridges and made by Hydac and then screwed into the manifold block. I would remove a solenoid cartridge to see if there is a part number on the hex. If there is Google it and see if it's a Hydac part number. Again if it's a yes and it's a Hydac reference find a Hydac supplier and get prices for each solenoid seal kit. You could save yourself a bit of cash.

 

[Steevo]

Ok l have had a look @Steevo and the price of the seal kit is rather steep. The pictures posted by @solo do help. The picture of block shows a name plate but I can read it properly. The picture of the seal kit shows a white label stuck over another white label. Once you expand the picture you can see the name Hydac. So I'm thinking all the solenoid cartridges and made by Hydac and then screwed into the manifold block. I would remove a solenoid cartridge to see if there is a part number on the hex. If there is Google it and see if it's a Hydac part number. Again if it's a yes and it's a Hydac reference find a Hydac supplier and get prices for each solenoid seal kit. You could save yourself a bit of cash.

Wow, that’s amazing! Talk about forensics!!!

I’ll do just that. I’m not getting my hopes up at the stage though-so many parts like this turn out to be protected parts that can only be supplied by OEM to the manufacturer. Still very much worth a try though.

 

[Steevo]

Just looked at the photo and you’re dead on. Am I correct in the number being 319017?

If so.....

http://www.mercateo.co.uk/p/2476H-3...ame=live_gb&switchToCountry=gb&chooseGeo=true

 

[solo]

Shows I should read this back myself before posting - by "had my engineer out recently" it appears I started this topic after that(!!) so no real news to report. I've just emailed the dealer for a price on the seal kits. I'm guessing from your location it's probably the same (green) dealer you used.

Knowing what manufacturers are like I'm guessing they're not standard size seals...! That said....perhaps it's worth me speaking to @Mr Happy about on the off chance.

Tag leominster

 

[Mr Happy]

Just looked at the photo and you’re dead on. Am I correct in the number being 319017?

If so.....

http://www.mercateo.co.uk/p/2476H-3...ame=live_gb&switchToCountry=gb&chooseGeo=true

The part number you want is 3119017 and that's for a Hydac seal kit 06020-NBR. It should your valves but please check to see if there are any reference numbers on the solenoid cartridges.

 

[Steevo]

Thanks again for the help with this. Finally getting around to sorting it out. Ordered two seal kits up today with Mercateo on the above link - £46.38 + VAT each and shipping £9.39 + VAT so grand total of £102.15 + VAT.

Phoned dealer for a comparison price.....£91.62 + VAT each.

 

[Steevo]

Finally arrived today.

This is what you get for your £46.....

 

[Michael3112]

Finally arrived today.

This is what you get for your £46.....

View attachment 828462

That worked a treat on my sprinter

 

[Steevo]

Looks like I'm unlucky on this one.....seal kits haven't fixed the issue.

Guessing there must be a small leak across the seals of one of the rams.

 

[bitwrx]

Is there an accumulator in the system? If that's lost its gas, the pressure will drop like a stone with only the smallest amount of leakage (whereas with its full complement of gas, it'll take a fair bit of leakage to drop the pressure).

 

[farmer steve]

What is the correct way of building up pressure in the wings on these drills? New to us 6m st has recently arrived but the pressure guage seems stuck on zero. Folding the wings down and keeping the hydraulics pressurized doesn't seem to do anything.

 

[Mr Happy]

What is the correct way of building up pressure in the wings on these drills? New to us 6m st has recently arrived but the pressure guage seems stuck on zero. Folding the wings down and keeping the hydraulics pressurized doesn't seem to do anything.

Is the gauge ok?