Hmm, L3940 acting weird ALREADY

[beppington]

Disc'ed today, then used the FEL to level a very small ~10'x~20' area, & these two odd things happened while using the FEL:

1) At one point the HST pedal wouldn't go down to go forward, at all. Wouldn't budge. It worked fine in reverse, but wouldn't budge downward to go forward. Cruise control worked fine, was able to move forward that way just fine. While using the cruise control I again tried the HST pedal, but still no. I stopped & got off to see if maybe something had jammed the HST pedal underneath, but nothing, clean as a whistle actually. Jumped back on & wah-lah, it now works fine again. What gives?? Was this just a glitch & a normal part of tractor ownership?

2) 5 or 6 times the FEL's raising & lowering speed dropped to very very slow, barely moving either up or down. Several times when it happened, curling or un-curling the bucket then made it go up & down at normal speed again. What gives?? What could this have been.

Got about 13 hours on it, maybe it's just old & worn out now

 

[PHILIP8N]

I have had neither issue at 52 hours of ownership now. I assume you have checked your trans/hyd case level at the back of the tractor? Philip.

 

[dodge man]

I agree, check the fluid level. Also disconnect and reconnect the quick connects on your FEL. They may seem like they are on O.K., but sometimes one of them is not quite right. They could explain the FEL acting funny, but not the HST.

 

[Dead Horse]

I agree, check the fluid level. Also disconnect and reconnect the quick connects on your FEL. They may seem like they are on O.K., but sometimes one of them is not quite right. They could explain the FEL acting funny, but not the HST.

I have seen that exact thing on my neighbors tractor....... somethi ng was not qquite right on one of the hoses and it bound up the hyd pump so much the engine was down on power and the tractor would not respond very well.

I don't know how the fluid was getting around the valve block, maybe something to do with the power beyond circuit, but the hose was so jammed up we had to take a drift and ballpene hammer to release pressure in the line. Need to wear safety lenses when doing that job!

 

[beppington]

Thanks ... I'll disconnect them & re-connect tonight & see if it works.

Weird how the FEL worked fine for a while & then started acting up seemingly out of the blue. I guess they can just act weird when something's not attached just right.

I should've mentioned: The discing I did is on a 50' x 1/4-mile natural gas pipeline right-of-way that was rutted really badly when the pipeline people came in & cleared it maybe 2-3 years ago. I guess they come in once a decade after it's incredibly grown up, & then just rips the shreads out of it without any regard to what it actually looks like when they're done. They obviously did it this last time when it was very wet & left huge loader tire ruts all over the place; Of course now it's dry as can be & the rutted dirt is really hard. I'm trying to disc it smooth, but the ride is bouncy as crud as I go right now. Maybe the bouncing jostled one of the FEL connectors loose-ish, or cocked it to the side a little.

I probably should've just called the pipeline people & had them come smooth it out.

Now that I own it, I'll be keeping it bush hogged, at a minimum, so they shouldn't need to come in & do anything any more.

 

[beppington]

2) 5 or 6 times the FEL's raising & lowering speed dropped to very very slow, barely moving either up or down. Several times when it happened, curling or un-curling the bucket then made it go up & down at normal speed again. What gives?? What could this have been.

Still doing this occassionally I guess I'm gonna have the call the dealer tomorrow

 

[Dead Horse]

Oil level is good, right? if that is the case, sounds like the valve has a problem. Dealer can pressure test it.

 

[beppington]

I'll be trying to verify this tomorrow morning, but I may have discovered the slow lift/ lower FEL "issue" (with no rollback/ un-curl speed issues); I more thoroughly read the loader's manual while here at work today & found: "This control valve has two dump stage positions. The first dump position by moving the lever to the right features greater speed for dumping. The second dump position (to further right) is the "Regular" dump position. It has good power and control for dumping precisely. This position should be used when operating another implement with this control valve. These two positions are separated by a "Feel" position for your convenience."

Next page: "When taking off hydraulic power from port [D], the flow rate can be adjusted in two stages with the lever. The flow rate is high at position (R1) (which of course is the loader control's un-curl direction) and low at position (R2) (same direction, to the right, just further). Move the lever to position (R1) or (R2) depending on the attachment in use."

In my OP I said "curling" and/ or "un-curling" seemed to fix the slowness problem ... I bet I was unknowingly/ unintentionally putting it back into the higher speed mode when doing that.

Diagram from loader manual:

Yes I am a tractor noob ... Hopefully this will help somebody else.

 

[CHDinCT]

As I understand it, one position (I think the R1, but forget) is the re-generative position and it uses the oil flowing out of the curl cylinder to be routed back to the "in" side of the cylinder to some degree giving more precision for the dump function. The second position (R2) opens the circuit and lets the escaping fluid flow back to the tank resulting in a fast dump function. At least that's what I recall the difference between the two positions to be. I'm sure someone more expert in hydraulic circuits could explain it better. Glad you found your problem and it's not a defect in your new tractor.

 

[beppington]

No luck after all. My post above did not turn out to solve the problem.

That whole description only results in the dump speed of the bucket going fast when pushing the controller lightly to the right, & slower when you push it further.