Parts of an excavator
Cat skid steer hydraulic quick attach couplers play a critical role in powering these versatile machines and the many attachments available. The right hydraulic quick coupler on your skid steer equipment will provide improved performance, reduced downtime and prevent environmental contamination. A faulty or damaged hydraulic quick coupler, however, will create big headaches in addition to lost productivity and profit.
There are dozens of Cat® skid steer attachments available to improve efficiency and productivity in a multitude of applications worldwide. Skid steer attachments available from Cat include:
- snowplows and snow push equipment
- tillers
- augers
- backhoes
- rakes
- buckets
- loaders
- blades
- mulchers
- many other attachments
The flexibility in utilizing many attachments allows skid steer equipment to handle almost any job site application. Utilizing various attachments with quick and easy changeover is important to maximize productivity. Easy quick connect and quick disconnect of Cat skid steer hydraulic quick attach couplers promotes quick changeovers, maximum power and efficiency.
But what if you attempt to hook up your skid steer attachment and the hydraulic couplers won’t connect? When you’ve got deadlines to meet, the last thing you want to encounter is problems with your Cat quick coupler. When this occurs, it is usually due to trapped pressure in the line.
There are a couple of things that you can do to solve this problem and prevent it from occurring in the future.
Hydraulic Quick Attach Solutions
1) Relieve the pressure.
If you are having trouble connecting your Cat quick couplers, relieving the pressure before disconnecting the implement will usually work. Serious jerks to the hydraulic system, however, may cause it to lock up. You must turn your machine off, check your surroundings and clear the area near your loader, disengage the parking brake and release the pressure by moving the levers.
Some newer skid steer machines offer a feature to bleed the pressure outside of the equipment. Either way, dealing with problems in your skid steer hydraulic quick coupler system will reduce productivity and potentially cause safety issues to workers and the environment. There is another option which is to utilize skid steer quick couplers proven in connect under pressure applications.
2) Choose the right Cat quick coupler for your attachment.
The flexibility in utilizing various attachments and auxiliary equipment make skid steer machines a valuable asset in many applications. Cat skid steer loaders are designed and engineered for maximum safety and performance. While hydraulic systems vary on different machines, most equipment is of a similar design with compatibility among hydraulic couplers. Although compatible, not all quick couplers are made the same.
Choosing the right hydraulic coupler for your skid steer equipment will prevent many quick connect problems. Stucchi offers proprietary, connect under pressure quick couplers proven in skid steer applications worldwide.
Stucchi Offers Skid Steer Hydraulic Quick Coupler Solutions
Stucchi offers a wide selection of hydraulic quick couplers for any application, including several top choices for skid steer equipment. You can rely on hydraulic solutions from Stucchi to keep your equipment operational and hard at work. With six decades in business designing, engineering and manufacturing hydraulic connection solutions for virtually any application, Stucchi excels in problem solving tough configurations.
Our wide selection of hydraulic quick couplers includes:
- flat face couplers
- threaded flat face couplers
- high pressure couplers
- poppet interchange
- threaded poppet interchange
- multi-coupling plates
- skid steer hydraulic couplers
- specialty couplers
- accessories
Stucchi offers a wide selection of various quick couplers with many port options, sizes and finishes to meet the demands of any application. Our experienced technical team provides process analysis and custom designed hydraulic solutions to meet challenging configurations. Our skid steer quick couplers are proven in standard and high flow hydraulic systems.
Whether replacing legacy couplers, broken or malfunctioning quick couplers, Stucchi is known for providing the hydraulic connection solution which improves overall operational performance. Our skid steer quick coupler product line includes flat face, threaded flat face and specialty couplers:
- A Premier Series – flat face coupler with superior flow characteristics and lower pressure drop over comparable couplings.
- A-HD – flat face coupler designed for easy connect by hand under residual pressure.
- APM Series – flat face coupler solution where thermal expansion causes pressure or where trapped fluid develops, the APM is designed to relieve pressure within itself only.
- VEP Series – threaded flat face coupling ideal where residual pressure or high pressure impulses exist.
- VEPHD – the VEP with heavy duty material and QPQ plating.
- VEPHDL – this locking version of the VEPHD provides a heavy duty quick connect solutions with a failsafe, locking mechanism.
- Saturn Block – provides a user-friendly relief system with simple quick connect and quick disconnect.
Stucchi offers these quick coupling solutions for skid steer equipment and a multitude of applications. We help our customers in the oil and gas industry, construction, mobile equipment and agricultural industries to achieve maximum efficiency, productivity and safety. Contact us with any questions and to learn more about our Cat skid steer hydraulic quick attach solutions.