Frequently Asked Questions

While turning the adjust screw in (CW) to lower the setting of a counterbalance valves may seem counterintuitive, this follows the history of load holding products.  Long before Sun Hydraulics was founded, pilot-to-open check valves were ubiquitous in the industry.  This predates cartridge valves with parts-in-bodies assemblies.  These often times have an ‘”adjust screw” to manually release a load by pushing a check ball off of a seat by turning the adjust screw clockwise into the valve.  When Bob Koski and John Allen founded Sun in 1970 and started working on valve designs, they thought it was best to keep this same thought process on Sun counterbalance valves of turning the adjust screw clockwise to release a load.  This was further refined later on by making the adjust screw non-rising.  All of Sun’s counterbalance and load holding products follow suit with turning the adjust screw clockwise to release a load and many have the non-rising adjust screw.