MF 165 Hydraulic Troubles

Jeff Wenner · May 21, 2017

Was plowing a couple hours the other day with our 165 and everything worked ok while I was using it. We took the plows off and my uncle harrowed the one field with a springtooth drag to finish things off. Had some time left so we thought we'd put the plows back on and plow one small field that was last to go. Three point arms absolutely refused to drop, tried everything. Went bac a few hours later and they had leaked down some, as normal. I started it up and when I raised the arms back up, there was a small "clunk" when they hit the top of their travel that I'm not used to hearing. Again, they then would not go back down, tried everything. Hung 210 lbs of me on a 6' bar on the on e arm and it wouldn't even think of moving. Any ideas where to start? Massey hydraulics seem like black magic to me.

DavidP, South Wales · May 22, 2017

Hi Jeff,
When the 3-point works normally and if adjusted correctly you should be able to lift the arms a little further when they are at full lift by the quadrant lever setting. In other words when at full lift they must NOT be tight.
If yours are locked up then something has happened to cause the pump to lift them beyond the set maximum position.
Drain the transmission oil level to the level of the bottom side cover bolt on the RH cover and remove it. When you move the quadrant lever into the 'LOWER' direction the pump lever coming up from below should move forwards to put the control valve into discharge. I suspect that the pump lever will be in the rearward pumping position and stay there irrespective of the quadrant lever position. If this is the case then there is a problem in the hydraulic cover linkage which will mean the removal of the cover.

Let us know what you find.

DavidP, South Wales

Jeff Wenner · May 22, 2017

Thanks for the info. I did not have time to pull the side cover off yet but I did spend about 10 minutes fooling with it this afternoon. Three point arms had dropped overnight, I had both the position and draft control levers in the Down position when I started the engine. When it started the hitch imediately raised up even though both levers were in the down position. With the arms fully up, they are tight to the top, I can not lift them any further. I was able to pop something loose by a couple jumps on the arms and they started to drop. Once they were down, they would not lift back up right away. Finaly they kick in and lift but the hydraulic action was very choppy. The oil looks good and clean, no water in it that I can tell. So apparently I have a valve sticking somewhere. Or could it bee linkage binding up? How do you properly adjust the lift height?
Thanks!

DavidP, South Wales · May 23, 2017

Hi, if you are able to get the lift arms to work properly there should be an adjustable stop bracket at the top of the quadrant slot. This should be set so that the arms at full lift by the quadrant lever stop can be lifted by hand a further one to one and a half inches. This will ensure that the system does not lock up with the potential risk of breaking the internal lifting cylinder.

DavidP

MF 165 Hydraulic Troubles

Jeff Wenner

Member

DavidP, South Wales

Well-known Member

Jeff Wenner

Member

DavidP, South Wales

Well-known Member

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