Loader FEL drifts up

[Captainchaos66]

Hello everyone,

I recently acquired a 2007 Jinma 254 LE and am having a pretty odd problem with it that I cant figure out. First off, I am a newbie to tractor ownership, but I am a mechanic by trade so I know engines, and drivelines etc.

Now onto the issue: The tractor had a new FEL valve installed before I got it, so you'd think everything would work great,, well,,, nope! When the engine is given throttle the bucket starts to drift up, the more throttle the faster the drift, even when the control isn't being touched at all. There is a VERY small sweet spot in the valve that will hold the bucket stable, but even a little bump will cause the bucket to drift up once again. As you can imagine this is VERY annoying when trying to move snow, or dirt, and just drive period. Some of the things ive noticed about the FEL valve is it seems to hang just a bit when pushing up on it, this has the added effect of making controlling the bucket pretty wobbly and jerky. From what little information I've been able to find on this valve and setup I can say with some confidence that all the lines are connected properly, the hydraulic tank is full of fluid, yes there is a MINOR leak in a cylinder, but its barely enough to notice unless using for a long duration.

One other thing I've noticed is when the handle is pushed all the way down the bucket doesn't move at all. When the handle is raised off the DOWN position it will start to move up until it hits the sweet spot of neutral, when the bucket stops, then even the slightest movement upwards of the handle and the bucket will drop under its own weight. This leads me to another issue. As per my limited experience with tractors, shouldn't DOWN also be controllable? In other words, shouldn't I be able to control how fast the bucket goes down the same I can control up?

In summation ANY advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This tractor is mine temporarily ( it belongs to my work, but they never use it). I'd rather not dump a TON of money into it, however it would be nice to have it working somewhat reliably.

Thanks to all who read and/or respond!

Newbie,
Captainchaos :cool2:

 

[quicksandfarmer]

What kind of loader do you have? The Koyker loaders (or mine does at least) have a valve where all the way in the down position puts it into float mode. In float mode the hydraulics are released and the loader moves freely, it's useful for getting the bucket to follow the contours of the land. So up and down are not symmetrical.

What you're seeing is not normal. Either your loader valve is not working, or there is a problem somewhere else in the hydraulics. I would try to focus on the loader valve and establishing whether it is working or not before going off on what could be a wild goos chase elsewhere in the system. Hydraulic valves should be simple devices, you push on the lever and hydraulic fluid moves where it's supposed to go. The simplest test of the valve would be to swap it with one that you know is good. Failing that, if the tilt seems to be working and the lift isn't, you could switch the tilt hoses with the lift hoses and see what happens.


Jinma hydraulics are unusual, see post #15 in this thread for a discussion of why. The thing about the way they are set up is that it allows back-pressure on the hydraulic valve. On my jinma, if the bucket is in float, and there is back-pressure, the bucket will rise. This is a rare occurrence so I just deal with it. I don't want to send you off in the wrong direction but it sounds like what you are experiencing is at least superficially similar but worse.

 

[Captainchaos66]

Thank you for the response! I was wondering if it could just switch the lift/tilt hoses, but being new to hydraulics and since the tractor isn't TECNICALLY mine I was being cautious with that. Your info on the Float setting actually make since, when the handle is pushed all the way down the bucket will stay in in whatever position it is in.
The FEL setup is a JM/ZL 20. Which I'm guessing means its a Jinma bucket. I would like to be able to swap out the valve, however it was replaced before I got the tractor, and the old valve is MIA. I've priced out new valves to almost $400, and, ya, that's not in the budget LOL.
As a newbie, this may seem like a dumb question but I'll post it anyway: Could the issue be that a spring inside the valve isn't doing its job? The way the handle binds up in a certain spot, it seems like either a spring is broken or not set correctly, or something to that affect. Again, that may be way off the make, but it could happen...
Thanks again for the reply, I'm going to switch the lines and see what happens, what could go wrong?

Captainchaos66

 

[Bob Rooks]

I think it would help a lot if we had some info on that new valve.
Does it have detents where it holds a spool position?
Does it have the regen function?
Does it have a make and model number?

 

[LD1]

Easiest way to isolate the valve as either being the cause or not, is swap the hoses.

Make left and right become lift/lower. And make up and down become curl and dump.

Could also swap JUST the two lift hoses around and see if the drift goes to drifting down. And drifting down faster when you rev it

Could be some debris caught in the linkage or springs in the bottom can of the valve. IF its cable operated , that could be a problem if out of adjustment. And finally, it could be the loader valve spool itself leaking by.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Lots of good advice in the previous two posts. It would probably be a good idea to identify the valve model and establish if it was actually an appropriate replacement.

If it turns out that the problem is junk in the valve it's probably time for a filter change. Might be why the previous valve was replaced.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I remember reading on this site that a lot of 254's of about that vintage had a problem with a plastic piece on the under-seat filter that would disintegrate. Little pieces of plastic would get everywhere in the hydraulic system and cause havoc. My recollection was it was an easy fix, I think just replacing the filter with a newer one.

 

[Captainchaos66]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I looked at the valve and couldn't find a single number on it anywhere. While doing some research yesterday, I found a site that sells the exact valve I have, but wouldn't know, I cant find it today
Apparently these tractors came with two different valves, and I have the newer one. The reason it was replaced is because the old valve didn't have float, and this one does, which according to the site I found is one of the advantages of getting the newer one.

In answer to Bob Rooks, according to my research the valve has Regen feature, but I'm not ashamed to admit I don't know what the means... Same with your question about detents and spool,, I'm a hydraulic/Tractor newbie,, lol.

Heres a picture of the valve that's in the tractor. I'm not sure were it was purchased from because I wasn't involved with it at that time. FEL Valve for Front End Loader (New Joystick Style) | Jinma Tractor Parts, Farm Pro Tractor Parts | Circle G Tractor Parts

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I will be digging into it more in a few days, and will put them to practice to see what happens. With that in mind, can video's be posted here? I could take a video of what the tractor does, etc, maybe that will help with helping me?
Thanks all!

EDIT: While looking more closely at the picture I posted, I realized that's not the SAME one I have... everything is the same except the round parts on the right, which I'm assuming are springs. On mine the TOP one is the same length, but the bottom one is longer than the one pictured. Not sure if that makes a difference, but can hurt?

 

[Bob Rooks]

This is the one I retro-fitted to my dozer because it also has a FEL attachment.
2 SPOOL COMPACT 1 GPM JOYSTICK CONTROL VALVE | Directional Control Valves | Hydraulic Valves | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com

The regen (regeneration) feature provides an almost instantaneous dump (uncurl) of the bucket through valve porting rather than the oil returning to the reservoir. A very desirable feature.

Yes, you can post videos here via a YouTube link, or indirectly using the filmstrip icon in the above toolbar. This is a copy-and-paste YouTube link:
Rooting for Roots - YouTube

 

[quicksandfarmer]

EDIT: While looking more closely at the picture I posted, I realized that's not the SAME one I have... everything is the same except the round parts on the right, which I'm assuming are springs. On mine the TOP one is the same length, but the bottom one is longer than the one pictured. Not sure if that makes a difference, but can hurt?

The valve itself is a piston that moves in a cylinder. The thing on the right is where the piston goes into when you push on the handle. When you have float that piston travels further to go into float mode so it has a longer cylinder.