JHEnt
Guest
I've toyed with this idea too. You can easily get a valve from salvage yards off any 4420, or 6600,7700 combines. The plumbing is straight forward. Nows the hard part. What type of cylinder and where to mount it. The 4420's use a very long cylinder from the step platform up to about half way down the auger housing. They work real good but the last time I saw one in the salvage yard they wanted $400 for it. (To tell the truth I wish I had bought it) last year I did some figuring and if a cyl was mounted from a similar position as the manual catch lever on a 6600_7700 and the 4400's normal tension springs were left in place then the other end of the cylinder would have to mount about where the current manual rod mounts but would be to the top left of the auger tube(folded back). I had worked out the length of stroke but I don't recall it now. Basically a welded type cyl with a swivel eye at the base 1-1_2" dia and a threaded rod end would work. A short rod would make up the difference from the cyl rod to the auger tube and provide length adjustment. I contacted cross mfg about it but it would be a special build for them and they would require 20 cylinders as a min order. I think they priced them at under $200 each though.