Volvo BL60B: hydraulics, backhoe buckets and service

BL60B controls and hydraulics differ from the BL70B brochure photos

Volvo pairs the BL60B and BL70B in its literature, but the hydraulic descriptions are not interchangeable. The BL60B has a fixed-displacement gear pump with a flow-sharing valve. The BL70B uses a variable-flow, load-sensing installation.

Flow sharing lets the BL60B divide oil between excavator movements; it does not turn its pump into the larger machine's electronically controlled system.

The loader controls need the same distinction. Volvo describes mechanical levers on the BL60B and a separate lever for a fitted multipurpose bucket. The pilot-control joystick and its extra switches shown for the BL70B cannot be assumed to come with a used BL60B.

Ask to see the actual cab and auxiliary lines before selecting a breaker, thumb or auger.

A rear trench bucket was wrongly labelled as the loader bucket

The small bucket in the original reference data belongs on the excavator end. Volvo's schedule identifies that standard backhoe bucket separately from the much wider front general-purpose and multipurpose buckets. Measure the attachment in the seller's photograph and identify its mounting.

A capacity without “front loader” or “backhoe” beside it can otherwise lead to the wrong purchase.

The extendible rear arm adds reach but changes arm tearout performance. Compare its retracted and extended columns for the same attachment. Maximum depth is also different from the depth of a level-bottom trench.

For a drainage job, the flat-bottom dimension and reach from the swing post are more useful than combining unrelated maximum figures from the drawing.

Identify the engine edition before choosing an exhaust procedure

The D3.8H brochure covers a Tier 4 interim engine with cooled EGR, an oxidation catalyst and a cleanable particulate filter. Volvo also published a separate Tier 3 BL60B brochure. A procedure taken from one emissions edition should not be assigned to the other merely because the body panels match.

Record the engine plate and the installed exhaust components first.

The published operating-weight endpoints are minimum and maximum configurations. They are not a two-wheel-drive weight followed by a four-wheel-drive weight. Include enclosure, extendible arm, front bucket and fitted attachments when identifying which machine is being hauled.

The brochure's standard wheelbase should likewise stay separate from a rounded reference measurement.

Volvo lists both the full hydraulic installation and its smaller reservoir capacity. Cooling fluid has its own service-fill entry. The Tier 3 brochure shows a hydraulic cooler that tilts forward for radiator cleaning; confirm the installed arrangement before applying that access instruction to a D3.8H machine.

Debris behind a cooler can escape an outside inspection. Use the compartment-specific figures in the corrected table when arranging service.