1959 MF 50 Hydraulic problems

Hello, I have my grandfathers 59 MF 50, which about a month ago the hydraulics stopped working. I took the top cover off, drained the fluid which was a little milky, removed the pump and cleaned it good to remove any milky fluid. I didn"t notice any cracked or damaged parts so I put it back together they way my uncle"s I&T shop manual shows and now the hydraulics work for up but wont go back down. I took the side plate cover off, reached in and moved the valve lever for the relief valve and the arms went down. Im not sure if its the position or draft control levers or the springs, none of it looks damaged.

The links will go down very slow if the oil is cold. Try standing on the links with the levers down.

Sorry for having this posted in the wrong forums, upon trying to find it i realized i have it posted in harry ferguson and not massey. The fluid isnt to bad today, the temp is in the 50s, and my father can stand on it and with the engine off it will go down but if the tractor is running it doesnt matter what is moved the arms stay up. The only thing I know to check into is the control valve spring.

Taking it apart to try and find out what was wrong, is not the way to do it. Often you can't see what is wrong because the problems only occur when the Pump is running and there is pressure in the system and when you take it apart there is no pressure. What you have to do is carry out some tests under pressure and observe what is happening through the round side covers, there is no other way. You find the problem and then repair it. It is very difficult to say just what it is for sure due to you having taken it apart, you won't know what you have done really and we definitely won't know. All that you can do is re-set the Control Linkage in the Top Cover for a start and then you know that this part is OK After that you have to see just what it does. In theory, when you have done this re-set, it should be OK , but we don't know what the original problem was. It is highly likely that it was just the Control Valve that was stuck, possibly due to wear and the water that was in the oil, but this could easily have been sorted out through one of the side ports, without a major tear down. If you need the info for re-setting the Hydraulic Control system, email me and ask for it and I will send whatever is required. but tell me everything that you have done so I can try to make sense of it. You would often never notice a cracked part, as it will only show under pressure..John(UK)[email protected]