Last week I posted about building a hydraulic power unit using a hydraulic pump and valve from an old John Deere 7700 combine.  I found an eight horse motor that I'd forgotten about and started mounting things today.  When I started looking at my seed auger, I noticed that evidently the hydraulic oil actually bypasses the motor until the button is pushed. When the button is pushed the solenoid then directs the oil to the motor.  Steve c-il mentioned this in his reply to my post.  In this case do I even need a valve?  The only time the 8hp motor will be running is when I'm loading the planter.  If the oil is recirculating already when the auger isn't turning, what's the point of a valve?  Couldn't I just put a quick coupler on the pressure side of the pump and another quick coupler for return into the tank?  This way if the motor dies for some reason I could always just put a tractor back on it rather than fighting with the Briggs when I should be planting.