John Deere loader weak

[Roblcarr]

Hello all, first I am fairly new to tractors although I think I am semi mechanically inclined. My question is about my John Deere 5103 tractor 1200 hours with a 510 loader. The loader has for a while now been getting weaker and acting strange. The controls seem to work fine in traditional up down dump, but as I put the bucket down on the ground and begin to curl it will raise the front off the ground to a point then drop the tires back on the ground. There are no strange noises of any kind and no visible leaks. I have an office trailer that I used to be able to lift the tongue up with the bucket to put a block under and now it will not, although the 3 point will lift it with no problem. Also, when I have the tractor stuck in the red clay we have here, I use the bucket and roll my self out. Before it did not matter where I put the bucket on the ground or in what position it had enough power to pull the tractor out of anything, now I have to play with the controller back and forth to find a sweet spot befor it pulls. It seems when I put the controller in a diagonal position which used to work, sometimes it does not move the cylinders right away or with seems 1/2 strength. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your patience. I apologize if this has been answered before, I did try and search first but did not find anything. This could have been the fault of the user.

 

[J_J]

You should not have to fiddle with the levers to get the valve to operate correctly.

You might remove the bottom cap of the valve spool and check for weak or broken springs.

The lever on a spring center valve is supposed to recenter every time.

You should have good down pressure unless you are going into regen.

Try switching your work port hoses and see if the trouble swaps.

Check/re-seat your QD's also.

 

[Roblcarr]

You should not have to fiddle with the levers to get the valve to operate correctly.

You might remove the bottom cap of the valve spool and check for weak or broken springs.

The lever on a spring center valve is supposed to recenter every time.

You should have good down pressure unless you are going into regen.

Try switching your work port hoses and see if the trouble swaps.

Check/re-seat your QD's also.

I want to thank you so much for your quick response. As I suspected I think the problem might have been user error, like most of the time. Your said it might be going into regen sparked me to look at how I was using the the valve. I think I was moving it not all the way but to far in the up and to the right position causing the vavle to regen, but only time of use will tell. The valve always recentered itself and appeared to function correct outside but was not sure of internals. It seems to lift now with more force as I move valve slower into position. Came out this morning to a flat tire so I am not able to try to lift a heavy load. Stay tuned, I might need more of your expert advise.

Thanks again,
Rob