Hydraulic lift problem

I have a MF 231S and the hydraulic lift will lift fine
but when you push the lever down it will not lower
the implement unless you go and push down on it or
add a lot of extra weight on it. I feel I have the
problem narrowed down to either the lift shaft or lift
cylinder. The lift shaft on this tractor has no lube
points like your older tractors did. The guy at the MF
place said he has seen a tractor like this freeze up
here. There was water in hydraulic oil that had been
there awhile that I drained out and changed oil. Any
one have any other ideals or had this problem
before, your help and experience would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you.

Hello,
There are several things that you can check;
On the right hand side cover (near your left heel) you will see the RESPONSE lever. Is this in the forward 'FAST' position? This will limit the speed at which the 3-point drops if in the 'SLOW' area. It is possible for the main cross-shaft to semi-seize although unlikely. Can you lift the 3-point by hand easily and does it drop back? If so it is not the shaft seized.
Another possibility is the piston is tight in the lift cylinder due to a damaged ring/s but unlikely.
Try the first two possibilities and let us know what you find.
DavidP, South Wales '

I have checked the lift arms and they are free. As far as lifting arms by hand I have not tried. It just seems something is binding. The response control does not matter what position it is in it is the same result. The lift will pick up fine but will not lower. This tractor had some water in the hydraulic fluid so I drained and flushed it, cleaned strainer and refilled to proper level with proper fluid. Most of the time this tractor is used with a bush hog. It will raise and lower bush hog with out additional weight, which I feel is due to the fact of the effective weight of the bush hog. If you unhook bush hog and raise lift arms up you cannot get them back down until you get a lot of weight on them. I have a 6 ft. Woods disc for the tractor that I have 4 - 6"x8" oak timbers strapped on to give it enough weight to lower it because with out them the tractor will pick up fine but only way to get them down is stop, put lever in lower and go and push down on disc. Same way with my box blade. The guy at the MF dealer I talked to really didn't want to offer any help at all just wanted me to bring it to him but did same that he had on similar to this that the lift shaft was froze up and binding due to this model tractor not having grease fittings to lubricate the bushings/bearings on that shaft. I took the bolts, locks and washers off and moved those linkages out a little and tried spraying WD40 but it is still same result, but I did notice that the box blade with some added weight would try to lower a little bit as long as I don't raise it all the way up. I was kind of worried that the water that was in the hydraulic fluid which was in there for an amount of time that I don't know possibly messed up lift cylinder and maybe it is binding. My next step is o remove the top to see if I can isolate the problem. Any help would be great and don't want to over look something is the process. This tractor is like a 2000 or 2001 year model and only has about 1500 hours. It was bought new and has always been stored inside. I'm thinking that the water came from the tractor being washed with a water hose because the previous owner(my granddaddy) was over protective about keeping some thing clean and would spray it off with the water hose every time he used it.

Hello,
OK, we appear to have ruled out the obvious problems. The next thing I would suggest is to remove the top link of the 3-point linkage and replace it with a chain attached to the hinge pin lugs under the top link attachment point. If there is an internal problem pulling or pushing the top link attachment point and therefore the DRAFT linkage can affect the way that the 3-point operates. Replace the top link.
If there is no change my next step would be to drain the oil level to that of the bottom bolt on the RH side cover and remove the cover. Inside you will see the linkage lever coming down from above and making contact with the lever which comes up from the pump. With the engine stopped operate the POSITION CONTROL lever through its range. This will give you an idea of how much it moves from its forward to its mid (neutral) position and to its rearward position. You can move the lever by hand. Start the engine and check if you have the same degree of movement.
By moving the pump lever back and forth you should be able to raise and lower your implement. Be careful that the 3-point does not come down quickly and damage the implement. Compare the movement of the pump lever by the PC lever and what you do by hand. If the manual movement is improved then it looks like there is a problem in the internal linkage in the hydraulic cover.
Let us know what you find.
DavidP, South Wales

(quoted from post at 14:32:13 11/02/17) Hello,
OK, we appear to have ruled out the obvious problems. The next thing I would suggest is to remove the top link of the 3-point linkage and replace it with a chain attached to the hinge pin lugs under the top link attachment point. If there is an internal problem pulling or pushing the top link attachment point and therefore the DRAFT linkage can affect the way that the 3-point operates. Replace the top link.
[color=red:ceb6437ae7][b:ceb6437ae7]If there is no change my next step would be to drain the oil level to that of the bottom bolt on the RH side cover and remove the cover. Inside you will see the linkage lever coming down from above and making contact with the lever which comes up from the pump. With the engine stopped operate the POSITION CONTROL lever through its range. This will give you an idea of how much it moves from its forward to its mid (neutral) position and to its rearward position. You can move the lever by hand.[/b:ceb6437ae7][/color:ceb6437ae7] Start the engine and check if you have the same degree of movement.
By moving the pump lever back and forth you should be able to raise and lower your implement. Be careful that the 3-point does not come down quickly and damage the implement. Compare the movement of the pump lever by the PC lever and what you do by hand. If the manual movement is improved then it looks like there is a problem in the internal linkage in the hydraulic cover.
Let us know what you find.
DavidP, South Wales

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I had the same kind of problem with my 1958 MF202 when I first got it. I took the side cover off and kind of gently pried on the linkage and it seemed to come loose as if it had been stuck or something. It works normal now.

When I first got it, any time I started the engine, the lift arms would go all the way up. The only way I could get them down is to shut it down and eventually they would drop by themselves.

Thanks I'll try that and see what happens I have noticed that the response control is very stiff and hard to move from fast to slow. I don't recall ever seeing on that stuff they are usually fairly easy to move. I have moved them while sitting on the tractor but this one would be very hard to do that if you could at all.

I tore tractor down and pulled the lift cover off. The lift shaft is definitely froze up due to the moisture that was in there. It's stuck good so I'm hoping the press will make it move. Thanks for the help.