My loader stopped working in the middle of a blizzard!

[Wannabe Tractor Man]

Having one of the worst snow storms I can remember! Went out this morning to clear about 4 or 5 inches of snow and I was 7/8 of the way done when the loader would not lift. I have a 2012 John Deere 2520 and I'm using a 72" snow pusher which weighs 680 lbs. I attached a ratchet strap around the loader tube and the front push bar and was able to lift the loader (without the snow pusher), enough to get the tractor back in the shop. I couldn't figure out what the cause was so searched the forum and found someone who was experiencing the same issue. Their problem was the male quick disconnect. I replaced all 4 male quick disconnects and didn't fix the problem. Last year I replaced all four female quick disconnects with John Deere brand parts. In frustration I decided to replace one of the female quick disconnects for the lift cylinder and that didn't help. In a final desperate attempt to fix this, I decided to replace the other female quick. When I un-threaded the disconnect all the internal guts fell on the floor. Bingo! When I purchased these quick disconnects from John Deere, they felt very light and "cheap". These are absolute junk! I will be replacing the rest of these when the weather warms up a bit and I'll find a more quality option. Hope this helps someone else who is having the same problem. This forum is great! It's later in the evening now and we are up to 16" of snow with no stopping in sight. The weatherman is saying 2 plus feet! Thank God for tractors!

 

[Industrial Toys]

Interesting, but I have never heard of this. Pictures of the failed component would have been nice.

I too did have issues with JD (highly complex) simply press in (without a collar) type couplers. Old ones failed prematurely and new ones ($100.00+) were defective out of the package.

 

[LouNY]

Hard to beat the Parker Quick connects;
https://www.parker.com/portal/site/PARKER/menuitem.c17ed99692643c6315731910237ad1ca/?vgnextoid=8a6a9bd01975e210VgnVCM10000048021dacRCRD&vgnextfmt=EN&requestedci=0268e25648745710VgnVCM100000e6651dacRCRD&vgnextcat=Quick%20Couplers%20for%20Agriculture
I like the 8010-4P-DC for the male which has a small nipple on the end which is supposed to allow connection under pressure.
Then I have a 9502-4 for the female connection for my remotes on the loader, I use one of my rear remotes with hoses to the front for my 3rd function.

 

[BeezFun]

When I purchased these quick disconnects from John Deere, they felt very light and "cheap". These are absolute junk!

Kind of surprising, I borrow my neighbor's JD once in awhile, the hydraulic fittings look like they could take a direct nuclear strike. Maybe on different models they're cheapening things up to be competitive.