445 hyd lift

betobob

Member
My 445 has 3 hyd levers on the right side. Two of them are for the remote cyl connections. They seem to work fine, are both plugged, but you can tell when either one is moved at idle the engine pulls down a bit. The third lever is for the lift arms. when i move the lever up about 1 inch the arms go all the way up. If i touch the lever down just a hair the arms will stop. Ive tried moving the two levers under the seat, made no change. Clueless as where to start. When tractor not running the lift lever has no resistance for about a third of its travel. It will just fall to bottom
of its travel. Any help or direction will be appreciated. Pump seems good and strong no noise or whine.
 
That lift system is a "draft control "
system. Supposedly, you set your
implement depth or resistance using a
stop block on the lever and the system
maintaines it. Lever should have
raise all the way up, hold just below
there, and lower and draft settings
below there. Will not function like a
ford 8n or similar lifts. All the way
back is up. Should be able to pull
lever back, turn loose of it, and it
will kick back to hold position when
all the way up
 
Just to add, when you are sitting on the seat and look down at the levers, are all three levers lined up equally?
 
(reply to post at 17:22:01 03/29/16) [

/quote]
No they are not. If i understand your question correctly, the two levers closest to the seat are. they both spring back to center and work well. The outside lever, which controls the lift arms is the one in question. When tractor is running,with the draft lever down the arms are all the way down. If i move the draft lever up approx one inch the lift arms will raise all the way up. To stop it I have to bump it down just a hair. The other problem is there is no resistance on the lever, it will fall to the bottom of the travel. With a mower or shredder on it, its hard or impossible to maintain a setting for consistant mowing. If i need to raise the mower on a turn it will lift all the way up even if I just touch the lever. It can play heck on PTO shafts! I hope I've answered your question, and that I've explained my problem. This is my first Moline and if the lift system is different from other makes of tractors so be it. But the lack of control is a real problem. Thanks so much.
 
MMfan is correct. In short the MM hitch system of that day is really nothing more that a hydraulic cylinder and hitch arms. There really is NO position control, you are the position control! There is no such thing as putting the hitch down to a point where it was last time. You should get a manual, that would explain all the quadrant positions.

I am not a fan of the early MM hitches for that reason. Does anyone KNOW why MM did that? Was it a matter of patent fees to Ford for the hitch?
 
I had heard once (not sure it is true for sure) that the tel-o-flo systems were designed or partially designed by Massey Ferguson in trade so to speak for getting their large tractors from MM. I do have a 5 Star that I believe had the MF logo cast into each one of the end caps for the 3pt arms. Always made me wonder....
 
According to The History of M-M and White Motor Corp by Singer and Verhulst the manufacturing of the Tel-O-Flow components was initially farmed out to Cessna. The " attributed design engineer" was Hank Holmgren who had left M-M by the time the Tel-O-Flow system was introduced.
 
You have the later Tel-O-Flo. The earlier ones were just in 1956 if I remember correctly.
They didnt have the two levers under the seat (rate and cycle). I have two 445s, one with
the earlier one and a 1958 model.
 
You know one year at service school (Oliver) we were given a booklet on how to adjust those system if I remember correctly.
 
That would be great to have. I have moved them both and cant quite get the system right. Have a couple of manuals coming ( one is the IT service manual, but dont hold much hope on how good it is. My main objective is to use this tractor for mowing, around the pasture. To be able to use a 5 or 6' mower is what I need, 3 point of course, if not I guess I'll just sell it. I love it and have done a lot of work on it including a new american made radiator core. I guess I'll just see what happens when the books come in. I just want to thank every one for their input and help, God bless!
 
Where are you from? Im in SW MN. If you arent that far I would make a service call lol...
 
Ha Ha, that would be great, but unless youre a winter texan, I dont see it happening. Im at the very southern tip of texas. Prob about 1800 miles, but thanks.
 
If you pull the outer 3Pt lever as far back as it will go (about the same distance as the remote lever when you pull it back) and release it, it should detent inline with the other two remote levers. And in that position the 3Pt arms should stay where ever they may be. Unless of course they leak down because of a leaking loss of fluid in the system.
MMDEL
 
I have rebuilt several 445 models and they are great powerful tractors. The problem you are having with the 3 pt is 2 things. First you need to adjust the tension on the lever so you get resistance on it. 2nd there should be a thumb knob on the lever slide are that acts as a stop, so you can adjust exact down stop location. If you go lower than the stop position you enter the automatic draft control and the 3 point will try to raise itself. Draft setting is used mainly for plowing function to provide relief on the system when you hit a very hard patch of dirt or a root etc. The 2 levers under the seat control you rate of drop etc and should be marked. The IT manual cover this system fairly well. Most of the ones I have had only had a single lever system. The one I have now has 3 levers like yours. Mine tends to fade down on me... an internal leaky valve.
 
(quoted from post at 00:50:10 04/09/16) I have rebuilt several 445 models and they are great powerful tractors. The problem you are having with the 3 pt is 2 things. First you need to adjust the tension on the lever so you get resistance on it. 2nd there should be a thumb knob on the lever slide are that acts as a stop, so you can adjust exact down stop location. If you go lower than the stop position you enter the automatic draft control and the 3 point will try to raise itself. Draft setting is used mainly for plowing function to provide relief on the system when you hit a very hard patch of dirt or a root etc. The 2 levers under the seat control you rate of drop etc and should be marked. The IT manual cover this system fairly well. Most of the ones I have had only had a single lever system. The one I have now has 3 levers like yours. Mine tends to fade down on me... an internal leaky valve.
Thats the premise I have tried to work on. The problem is the 3 pt control lever only has tension about 2/3 up. the lower 1/3 has no tension at all. Still waiting on manual to come in.
cant find way to add tension on it externally. Upper 2/3 is eradict. Made mistake of letting local dealer order manual.
Thanks
 
There isnt supposed to be any tension on the lower 1/3 or 1/2. That is the draft / flote
range. Way back is up, next position neutral (lever will be in line with the other two
levers, next will be down (the same amount downward as there was upward when raising). After
that the lever will fall to the bottom. I do believe there is a temporary raise in there as
well. I will have to look at mine again.
 
Sorry it has taken so long to reply, life and its little curve balls. I really do appreciate all of ya'lls help. Finally got
the right manual coming, should be here in 3 days. With it and
all your input at least i can move forward in the right direction.
Again, I cant thank all of you enough for your help and direction,
I have grown very fond of this tractor, we all have our short comings why should it be any different? Will be in touch.
 

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