Horrible Valve Bodies

[The Metal Butcher]

Hello. I am designing a class for metal additive manufacturing, showing a case study on how redesign a part to make best advantage of the technology. After thinking it over, I knew some hydraulic valve bodies on old tractors could be pretty poorly designed.

So, I am asking you to tell me about the worst valve body (or other suitable part) that you've seen. The harder it is to assemble, mount, or rebuild the better. The more components, fittings, and miscellanies brackets and junk bolted on the better. Cooling fins and weird lumpy shapes are all the more desirable. If you've ever seen one and thought "WTF is that?!", I want to know about it haha.

Pictures or part numbers would be sublime, but I know those can be involved to dig up. I will take what I can receive.

Thanks in advance,
TMB

 

[DRussell]

Hello. I am designing a class for metal additive manufacturing, showing a case study on how redesign a part to make best advantage of the technology. After thinking it over, I knew some hydraulic valve bodies on old tractors could be pretty poorly designed.

So, I am asking you to tell me about the worst valve body (or other suitable part) that you've seen. The harder it is to assemble, mount, or rebuild the better. The more components, fittings, and miscellanies brackets and junk bolted on the better. Cooling fins and weird lumpy shapes are all the more desirable. If you've ever seen one and thought "WTF is that?!", I want to know about it haha.

Pictures or part numbers would be sublime, but I know those can be involved to dig up. I will take what I can receive.

Thanks in advance,
TMB

I don't have pictures , but take a look at the hydraulic valves on the 30 series Case tractors. This valve is certainly not the worst out there, but it could have been better designed. The hydraulic pump is in the back of the tractor rear end housing and the pressure comes off the pump via external steel/rubber lines to a filter mounted up by the inside of the fender where it is hard to get to, then back to the valve which is above the pump on the top of the rear end of the cover that houses the rockshaft/3 point. The pressure then feeds the hydraulic remotes first within the valve, which is normal, then the flow goes into the rockshaft cover, through a nylon seal between the valve and rockshaft cover housing, then the flow exits the cover housing and into another steel line that runs up the side of the housing to the 3 point hitch/draft control valve up on the top front of the rockshaft housing. Between the valve and cover it mounts to is both a gasket and the nylon seal. It's a biggish job to remove the valve if there is a problem with the seal between the valve and rockshaft cover. The flow could have just as easily exited the valve directly into the steel line then up to the draft/3 point valve rather than through the cast/machined channel in the cover with the nylon seal, etc.

Case part number for this valve is A57571

As an aside, parts for this valve are expensive, possibly due in part at least to the poor design issues.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

I’ve been rebuilding hydraulic cylinders of all configurations for many years, and the biggest deficiency I see is the lack of chrome. All the jap machines have seemingly impenetrable chrome, while American hydraulic components have barely enough chrome to go for more than a few years before rust pits begin to appear.

It costs too much to build any decent products in this country.