Kubota 3710 hard to lower bucket smoothly

RoMad · Jun 30, 2014

I purchased a very nice Kubota 3710 Friday at an estate sale. It has 830 hours on it and seems to have been well cared for. There was a man at the sale (Son in law i think) who was familiar with the tractor. The owner had it since it had 6 hours on it. The guy knew what kind of oil it had in it and the maintenance schedule. They changed the hydraulic oil at 800 hours with Kubota oil.
The only issue I can find on it is the loader valve. The loader lifts and curls up and down nice and smooth.
When you push the joystick forward to lower the loader it lowers slowly and the joystick is a little hard to push. When you push a little harder it suddenly goes past the hard spot and the loader drops too quickly. You can use two hands and put steadier(but not a whole lot) pressure on the joystick and get it to lower smoothly.

J_J · Jun 30, 2014

When you go into float, it will free fall.

Some valves have good feather ability and other don't.

Have you ever looked in the cans on the bottom of the valve? You might have some crud, rust, etc.

RoMad · Jul 1, 2014

I did not have a chance to take the valve apart today. I did use the tractor some and float doesn't seem to work. I curled my bucket all the way up and put it on the ground. I started backing up and pushed the control are all the way forward as I backed up. All it did was lift my front end and push hard into the ground.
When I do the same thing with my other tractor (L2900) the bucket floats.
Is this something that could be part of my original issue?

J_J · Jul 1, 2014

If you have not used float much, the float mechanism might be real tight.

I would recommend to shove the stick hard to get it into detent.

It might feel like you will bend the stick, but push until it snaps in detent.

The spools should work smoothly.

RoMad · Jul 1, 2014

I just got the tractor Friday. They may have never used the float. I will give what you said a try. If i bent the stick I'll let you know

RoMad · Jul 6, 2014

Well JJ, I took your advice. I put the bucket near the ground and pushed on the lever like I was trying to bend it. I felt a sudden give and the bucket dropped like a rock. I was happy to see float does work. I then pulled back on the lever and found out that it was stuck and wouldn't budge. No matter how hard I pulled and jerked on it, it wouldn't move. I let it set over night to give me and the lever both a time to relax a little. The next morning I pulled steadily and hard on the lever and about 4" up from the valve I hit the lever with a 12 oz. ball peen hammer. It popped loose and back into normal operation. While I was at it, I took the protective cover off of the valve and took the linkage apart and lubed it good. I then rotated the raise/lower spool back and forh a few time. I put it all back together, lubed the front end loader (it was very dry) and it is working much better now.
I went to the Kubota dealer the next day to get an air filter and took my tractor with me. The mechanic said that I should take the bottom cap off of the valve and clean it up. He said they sometimes get water in them. This tractor has been outside its entire life so that may be the case.

J_J · Jul 6, 2014

In post #2, I asked if you had looked in the cans on the bottom of the valve.

They do get water, crud, rust, etc, and need to be cleaned and lubed well.

There might be little balls and springs in the float assembly.

You probably should get a manual before you tear the cans down.

RoMad · Jul 7, 2014

I guess I missed that in your post.
"There might be little balls and springs in the float assembly"
exactly what the mechanic at the dealer said. I will be gone for the next couple of weeks on vacation, but will tear into it when I get back. I will also check on a manual.
thanks again.