Volvo BM 4600 to L220D specifications

Separate the 4600's mechanical layout from the later Volvo loading controls

The BM 4600, L150 and L180 generations and L220D span different engines, transmissions and hydraulic arrangements. Their model letters are not trim packages for one machine. Establish the engine and attachment configuration first, then compare the corresponding loading envelope and service requirements.

The original 4600 has an engine-number break

Volvo's archive identifies a change from TD100A to TD100G at the machine-number break shown in its historical record. The TD100A brochure below belongs to the earlier engine arrangement. A later machine needs its own engine sheet; the shared 4600 name does not establish identical engine parts.

The earlier brochure describes an HT170 powershift transmission and air-over-hydraulic service brakes, with a mechanically operated parking disc on the output shaft. Those components differ from the later loaders' enclosed wet-brake and accumulator systems. Identify the brake arrangement before commissioning an inspection or ordering service parts.

L150D steering and bucket pumps are different circuits

The L150D uses a variable-flow axial-piston pump for its load-sensing steering, while its open-center working circuit uses a vane pump. Calling the entire loader's hydraulics load-sensing obscures that distinction. A steering complaint and a slow bucket therefore need the applicable circuit identified, rather than a pump ordered from the broad system description.

The L150D equipment list makes boom suspension, Comfort Drive Control, a long boom and a hydraulic attachment bracket optional. Inspect the installed arrangement. The long-boom schedule changes the working geometry while retaining the same cab-height dimension, so extra loading reach should not be mistaken for a taller cab or an unchanged lifting allowance.

The L220D adds load-sensing implement hydraulics and APSII

Volvo describes both working hydraulics and steering as load-sensing on the L220D. Its HTE300 countershaft transmission uses APSII mode selection and PWM-controlled shifting. Demonstrate the selected mode and the response under the intended loading task; an older 4600's transmission description cannot explain this control arrangement.

ContronicII includes brake-wear indication and a brake-test function, alongside service information. Read the machine's operating instructions with that display; a warning message is not proof that an accumulator or transmission component has failed.

The L220D sheet also separates maximum engine output from output at rated engine speed. Keep the speed beside the rating when comparing it with the smaller loaders. Its hydraulic-oil tank refill is separately named, so that quantity should not be presented as an independently measured whole-system capacity.