Well no wonder my lift leaked down....

Jason S.

Well-known Member
Originally I put new rings on the lift piston and it didn"t really help. They were genuine Massey steel rings. Just out of curiosity I had the piston laying there and I took the rings off and measured them. The new ones I had measured exactly the same as the wore out ones that came in the tractor in 1951! I new the cylinder was in spec so I put one of the new ones in and sure enough you could put a .010 feeler gauge in between the ends...which according to the manual you are supposed to discard them if you can do that. I had 2 other old sets out of a TO30 and an 8n and both were thicker than my new ones. So I guess if anybody else buys new Massey rings you better measure them first. It doesn"t matter cause I resolved it with the hybrid piston set up. Two steel rings and the NAA oring and back up washer installed where the 3rd ring used to be....problem solved.But I thought I would share my findings.
 
My 35 gas started bouncing with the hog running and I'm gonna have to learn sooner or later how to fix the lift cylinder. How much trouble is it and any pointers would be appreciated.
 
The hardest part at least physically is lifting the cover off, it's heavy!
Replacement of parts is pretty straight forward and with proper instructions setting things up properly isn't too bad either.
If you have all the parts at hand it shouldn't take more than a day or so depending on how fast you work. I rebuilt the lift on my 202 but the controls were seized from not being used (ever I think) and it needed everything disassembled and cleaned. That whole job stretched out for a couple of weeks, evenings and weekends when I had time. Ordering parts also took up some of that time.
There's lots of help when the time comes.
 
I had same exp. w/ TO30. New rings were no better than the old worn ones. I think they just supply generic top ring from engine ring sets. That end gap would be OK for engine use.
 
Had similar problem. Found it to be the relief valve. Have since held the front of hog up with chains (Photo) and run with the lift down without any bouncing on the hydraulics. John(UK) has detailed fix information.
 
So a seal kit and a cherry picker. On a 35 is there anything that needs disconnecting thru the side covers before lifting off the top?
 
Nothing through the side but you do have to remove the stand pipe from the top cover before lifting it off. Two bolts and it should pull straight up and out, maybe a little twisting needed. There are O rings there to consider and I found one of them hard to see because it gets compressed over the years and looks like the rest of the metal around it. There is one on the end of the tube that slides into the pump and one on the top mating surface of the tube assembly where it meets the top of the lift cover. I can post some pictures if necessary. There are quite a few "hidden" o-rings. When I got the pump rebuild kit it came with a O ring kit and I wondered what the heck all the O rings were for 'cause I hadn't seen that many in there. Upon taking it apart and probing around with a pick they became more apparent. Make sure you find all of them 'cause a small leak can cause a big problem.
 
The correct gap for the rings when closed is between .0025" - .0075". It is always a good thing to have some oil leaking here at the Piston as it does supply some lubrication up to the Top Cover and the internal linkage. If you are experiencing leak down on the 3 point, then usually it is the Check Valve that is the problem. As long as you don't have a steady stream of oil from the Piston, the Pump will be able to easily cope with this leakage. It was never intended that it was completely sealed....John(UK)[email protected]
 
It had a steady stream about 1/8 of an inch coming down from the lift cylinder. I thought that was odd considering it was new rings and the cylinder was in spec. I have since replaced it with the hybrid piston setup with a used set of rings from a TO30. The end gap on the new rings was .013 the same cylinder with the used TO30 rings was .007. I just wanted to share my findings. Although I did finally solve my problem on why I never had much of an adjustment on the quadrant. The shaf was too worn. I had to weld it up and turn it back down. Now it is much better.
 
You remember me saying last time that it was useful to have some oil leaking and spraying around in the Top Cover, well the Quadrant Lever and shaft is one of the points that it lubricates. The oil hole for this is on the top of the tube that the Lever Shaft passes through to the inside, you should make sure that this is clear at all times. Can you tell me just how badly this Lever Shaft and Tube was worn as this has come up before but no-one has ever given me an answer...John(UK) [email protected]
 
IF u are asking about the wear on the control lever shaft i found little to none on my 51 TO 20. HOWEVER, the hydraulic control fork upper half that the control lever shaft rubs against did hav alot of wear. The amount of wear (recalling from memmory of 8 years ago) was at least 50% thru the metal thickness, maybe closer to 70%. I welded a piece of flat steel stock over the wear area and it greatly improved the hand lever controling.
 
If as you say you "greatly improved it" that would seem that you didn't cure it completely. If this is the case it will be incorrect setting of the Lever Quadrant on the tractor that is wrong...John(UK)[email protected]
 
My control fork had .039" wear in it. The shaft had .090 wear.
I replaced the fork with one I had from a TO30....and then I welded the control rod up and turned it back down.
 

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