L3430 3 pt. hitch will not lift

[Thomasre]

Any suggestions? I have a 38 month old L3430 with 300 easy hours and the 3 pt. lift will not lift. Front loader works fine, fluid is clean and full. Was working fine, when cutting field with rotary cutter. Unhooked rotary cutter in evening and sprayed off next morning --- tried to raise lift - nothing happens. Raise or lower - have no pressure on lift arms, because I can easily pickup lift arms with my hands and I feel no pressure. There have been no signs of leaks or stress. Almost like I have turned something or closed off a valve that controls lift. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Thomasre]

Update - yesterday worked with 4-way bucket up / down / open / close ; did everything I could think of - no luck. Up early this morning, hooked up trailer at daylight for trip to dealer. Loaded the tractor on trailer with lift handle in raised position. When I started to chain down the tractor, I noticed the 3 pt. lift had raised - I suppose while while loading tractor. Restarted tractor, 3 pt. lift worked normally up & down. Unloaded and everthing is O.K. for now. Obviouly, I'm happy to avoid trip to dealer, but will be curious if this happens again. Thoughts: 1) something in hydro line cleared 2) raising front of tractor 18" or so above rear when loading helped?
Hopefully - this will not be an occasional / recurring problem.

 

[MODiesel]

You're not low on hydraulic fluid, are you?

Other than that, I'd suspect something is wrong in the control valve under your seat. There's really nothing between the 3pt handle and the lift cylinders -- just the control valve.

- Jay

 

[Thomasre]

Update - Loaded tractor to take to dealer - started working when 3pt arms rubbed on ground as I loaded on trailer. Worked fine ever since. ??

 

[RobJ]

Update - Loaded tractor to take to dealer - started working when 3pt arms rubbed on ground as I loaded on trailer. Worked fine ever since. ??

Did your tractor have a bad expierence at the dealer once? It seems like everytime you load it up for a trip to the dealer it'll start working again. Something is amiss!!

 

[InlineDieselFan]

Thonasre,

I missed this the first time around, but I am with MODiesel, somehow the little control valve got moved with your foot or leg, and kept it from moving. Then while loading it was bumped again, allowing movement of the 3-point.

when our tractor was new one of us had bumped it and it took a while and a reading of the manual to figure it out.

steve