I have been fighting this hydraulic problem for a while now and I have no idea where to go next. I have a front end loader hooked to the tractor remotes. The outside lever controls the bucket tilt and the inner lever is raise/lower, or should be. What I am getting is the bucket tilt seems to work correctly (although, once the bucket is tilted all the way back, the bucket will lift, which I understand is the nature of the beast). The inside lever is where my problem is… at rpm below 1000, pushing the lever forward, the bucket will lower and when pulling the lever to the rear, the bucket also lowers. At rpm greater than 1000, moving the lever either direction will kind of tremble the lift arms but not raise or lower, almost as if it is putting pressure on both sides of the cylinder pistons. Basically, the only way to raise or lower the lift arms are by tipping the bucket all the way back which will raise the bucket and to lower it, you would have to drop the rpm down and then the inner lever will lower the bucket moving it either direction. Both the power steering and 3 point work well.
This all started acting up when we tried hooking up a 3 bottom plow to the tractor and we had no idea what we were doing. I do know the lever was held in lift with the plow lifted as much as it would lift so I imagine we ended up unseating a relief valve. When we reconnected the FEL, that is when the problem surfaced. The hoses are connected correctly, according to the manual. The hose from the cylinders base is going to the restrictor ports and the rod end to the free flow port. I have checked all the quick couplers for flow and even replaced the 2 for the inner lever.
Something that seems strange is that if the tractor is shut off with the cylinders extended. The bucket lift or tilt will hold position for days or weeks, even if the levers are moved. I have never seen a hydraulic system that hold pressure that long or not drop if the lever is moved with the tractor not running. That is why I was suspicious of the couplers so to test it, I replaced the couplers with pipe unions, just to see if the problem was in a coupler. This was 2 weeks ago and while that test did not resolve anything, today, when I went to put the couplers back on, I had a lot of fluid pressure still on the restrictor port fitting for the inner lever. Once the pressure bleeds off, of course the bucket lowered to the ground.
When I first asked about this problem a couple of years ago (I’ve been busy, okay?) John Schwiebert was kind enough to recommend taking the top cover off and check the check balls and springs in the interlock valves. They looked okay but I replaced the balls and springs, o-rings and gaskets and looked at the seats and guides but did not replace those. I put it back together and still had the problem. I have since taken the cover off again and double-checked everything and also took out the selector valve spools and didn’t see a problem there but upon reassembly, the problem persists.
What am I missing? I know I can likely get the loader working just by installing a separate 2 spool valve for the loader though the power beyond ports and abandoning the remote levers but that is patching, not fixing. Please give me your thoughts (other than I am an idiot…. I already know that)
This all started acting up when we tried hooking up a 3 bottom plow to the tractor and we had no idea what we were doing. I do know the lever was held in lift with the plow lifted as much as it would lift so I imagine we ended up unseating a relief valve. When we reconnected the FEL, that is when the problem surfaced. The hoses are connected correctly, according to the manual. The hose from the cylinders base is going to the restrictor ports and the rod end to the free flow port. I have checked all the quick couplers for flow and even replaced the 2 for the inner lever.
Something that seems strange is that if the tractor is shut off with the cylinders extended. The bucket lift or tilt will hold position for days or weeks, even if the levers are moved. I have never seen a hydraulic system that hold pressure that long or not drop if the lever is moved with the tractor not running. That is why I was suspicious of the couplers so to test it, I replaced the couplers with pipe unions, just to see if the problem was in a coupler. This was 2 weeks ago and while that test did not resolve anything, today, when I went to put the couplers back on, I had a lot of fluid pressure still on the restrictor port fitting for the inner lever. Once the pressure bleeds off, of course the bucket lowered to the ground.
When I first asked about this problem a couple of years ago (I’ve been busy, okay?) John Schwiebert was kind enough to recommend taking the top cover off and check the check balls and springs in the interlock valves. They looked okay but I replaced the balls and springs, o-rings and gaskets and looked at the seats and guides but did not replace those. I put it back together and still had the problem. I have since taken the cover off again and double-checked everything and also took out the selector valve spools and didn’t see a problem there but upon reassembly, the problem persists.
What am I missing? I know I can likely get the loader working just by installing a separate 2 spool valve for the loader though the power beyond ports and abandoning the remote levers but that is patching, not fixing. Please give me your thoughts (other than I am an idiot…. I already know that)
