Hi Everyone,
I'll get right to the point... Several months ago I started to notice some hydraulic fluid leaking onto the operator's deck. Thought I would chase it down at some point, but as always, never had time. A couple weeks ago I noticed some blue plastic protruding from one of the flat faced couplers on the "quick" manifold when I disconnected the FEL. Completely didn't dawn on me at the time it was a seal. I pulled it out, did a couple other things, then reconnected the manifold and fluid went everywhere. I did a change over to pioneer style connectors and good to go. No leaks, refilled transmission, and seemed to be back in business. THEN, the bucket started working wonky. It will curl down ok, but once down it sometimes won't come back up. It just sits there without any effort to come up and it makes a sound I *think* is relief valve activating. Other times it will start to come up, lurches and sticks in place. Still other times I can get it to curl up by using the stick to curl down more and then immediately curling up.
I checked the hydraulic pressure it's reading a solid (LOL) 1350#, so I'm replacing the relief spring and shimming as necessary to get in the 1800-1900# range. I'm also planning a hydraulic fluid change with new filter and cleaning the filter screen.
I think I have that process down pretty well and should be ok, but any tips to keep from taking a fluid bath are always appreciated.
My real question is: Given the wacky and erratic movements of the bucket, should I flush the FEL lines? If so how and with what?
In the Army when we needed something flushed we drained some of the fluid, filled back up with diesel fuel, and ran the cyclinders through a few cycles. BUT, that was what we called the "field expedient" method, and I have no idea if that is general procedure for hydraulics. I'm guessing it's probably not.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
DOC
I'll get right to the point... Several months ago I started to notice some hydraulic fluid leaking onto the operator's deck. Thought I would chase it down at some point, but as always, never had time. A couple weeks ago I noticed some blue plastic protruding from one of the flat faced couplers on the "quick" manifold when I disconnected the FEL. Completely didn't dawn on me at the time it was a seal. I pulled it out, did a couple other things, then reconnected the manifold and fluid went everywhere. I did a change over to pioneer style connectors and good to go. No leaks, refilled transmission, and seemed to be back in business. THEN, the bucket started working wonky. It will curl down ok, but once down it sometimes won't come back up. It just sits there without any effort to come up and it makes a sound I *think* is relief valve activating. Other times it will start to come up, lurches and sticks in place. Still other times I can get it to curl up by using the stick to curl down more and then immediately curling up.
I checked the hydraulic pressure it's reading a solid (LOL) 1350#, so I'm replacing the relief spring and shimming as necessary to get in the 1800-1900# range. I'm also planning a hydraulic fluid change with new filter and cleaning the filter screen.
I think I have that process down pretty well and should be ok, but any tips to keep from taking a fluid bath are always appreciated.
My real question is: Given the wacky and erratic movements of the bucket, should I flush the FEL lines? If so how and with what?
In the Army when we needed something flushed we drained some of the fluid, filled back up with diesel fuel, and ran the cyclinders through a few cycles. BUT, that was what we called the "field expedient" method, and I have no idea if that is general procedure for hydraulics. I'm guessing it's probably not.
Any help greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
DOC
