Ford 3000 Weak 3 point Hydraulics with Shudder

[pyrat]

Hi,

I have recently bought a 71 Ford 3000 tractor and I am having some problems with the 3 point lift. It operates fast enough but is weaker than normal I think. When lifting and lowering it shudders quite a lot.

Reducing the flow control helped a bit; but when dragging a log attached to the winch the 3 point has trouble keeping it up.

I am thinking

a. There is air in the system?
b. There is an air leak?
c. Hydraulic pump isnt working 100%?

I have an operators manual and a workshop manual but I can find a decent description of how to bleed the hydraulics. Do you think this would be a good first step?

Cheers,
Alastair

 

[square1]

I asked my neighbor, he says the air will work it's way out with use. There is no "bleed" to speak of. But what does he know, he's a Case owner Actually he's been a huge help when I get in a little to deep on mine.

I just came in the house from replacing the equivalent of Parts 29 & 30 to deal with those same issues on my 1700.

 

[boggen]

not a clue about your tractor...
TractorData.com Ford 3000 tractor information
deere.com you can find online parts diagrams and part numbers. shop/service manual will give better detail of most stuff, most likely though.

to bleed hyds, fully extend, and fully contract the hyd cylinders. this causes the fluid/air to be fully removed from one side of hyd cylinder, and then replenished with hyd oil.

do the fully extend/contract a few times. and should bleed things out. you may need to shut down tractor after bleeding, to let any hyd oil in reservoir tank escape the hyd oil. and redo the fully extend/contract to remove the extra air that may be in the system. "hence just run machine and the air will work itself out over time" they key is... the fully extending and contracting part.

relief pressure valve may be kicking in, while dragging log. or you have some internal leaks, say around internal parts of the valve.

 

[pyrat]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to start with checking fluid level then eliminate different potential problems in order of difficulty!

 

[Ultradog MN]

Check your oil level first. Check plug is the rearmost one circled in the photo. Forward one is tranny check plug. DO NOT remove the slotted screw by the rear check plug.
Bleed the pump as follows:
There is a bleeder plug on the side of the pump. Usually is about a 3/8" allen head.
Start the tractor and let it run at low idle.
Put a pan under it to catch the oil.
Crack the plug open and watch for air spurting out. Leave it cracked open till the air quits then retighten.
If you use a clean pan you can reuse the oil.
Makes a mess so don't wear your blue suede shoes.
If it looses prime again you might need to renew the seals in your suction line (bigger of the two lines).
Could be your pump going bad but always start with the easy things first.
Sometimes they can be a rear bear to get bled. Then I just go run the snot out of them and they usually work then.

 

[pyrat]

Hi again guys!

I have checked the hydraulic fluid level by removing my check plug which is shown in the attached photo. It looks slightly different to the example above. Maybe because it is UK built? When I remove the check bolt, nothing comes out therefore I assume there isnt enough hyraulics fluid in the system?

I have looked for where the filling bolt is but I cant find it. I am wondering whether I need to remove the open return hydraulic port which looks like it might have been added as an aftermarket addition? Maybe I need to remove the whole seat and it is somewhere not obvious?

Thanks for your help. Its working great at the moment pulling out trees in a norwegian forest.

 

[skytracker]

In the last photo -on the right side the upper line with the elbow is threaded in to where the fill plug would be. It holds about six gallons to be full.
of course depends how low you really are. If real low should add a can or two of Trans Tune to it as well. Check if drain plug on the bottom center of rear axle is tight or could be leaking. Just forward of the drawbar on the center carrier. hope this helps.