Quicke loader lost down pressure

[thoner7]

So my quicke loader, one of the control cables broke and then the joystick. I replaced both and didn't even touch the hydraulics.

But now I've lost down pressure. Not all down pressure, it will push down slightly (not float) but the bucket will no longer lift the front axle or dig into the dirt.

I manipulated the hydraulic by hand (bypassing the cables) and it still didn't work.

Any ideas what it could be? Conventional wisdom would be the settings on the pressure values right? But I didn't even touch the controls! Ugh.

 

[oldnslo]

Will it still curl and lift properly? If you curl fully and hold the joystick you should hear the tractor grunt and possibly some noise from going over the relief valve. Do you hear anything like that when attempting to lower?

 

[racer86y]

I don't know about his but mine is doing the same thing and it makes that noise

 

[Sawyer Rob]

To me, it sounds like one or both cables are out of adjustment.

SR

 

[thoner7]

Will it still curl and lift properly? If you curl fully and hold the joystick you should hear the tractor grunt and possibly some noise from going over the relief valve. Do you hear anything like that when attempting to lower?

It curls and lifts just fine. If I fully curl yes I hear the engine bog slightly and also the whine of the hydraulics.

I hear the same whine and engine grunt when I try to lift the front axle, but get no lift.

Now if I lower the arms fully, then uncurl the bucket, it simply lifts the loader arms. So the loader arms are not staying locked down . In the past they would have stayed down and uncurling the bucket would have also lifted the front axle.

 

[oldnslo]

Thoner
Sure sounds like the lift lower spool is not centering properly and or not shifting properly when lowering.
If you can see the end of the spool see if you can measure how far the spool moves from center while raising vs lowering. Travel should be similar to the curl spool.

 

[thoner7]

Thoner
Sure sounds like the lift lower spool is not centering properly and or not shifting properly when lowering.
If you can see the end of the spool see if you can measure how far the spool moves from center while raising vs lowering. Travel should be similar to the curl spool.

I'm fairly certain they travel as much as they should. The fact that I can go past the down pressure point on the joystick and get it to "float" means it has full range doesn't it?

What else could be causing it?

 

[K5lwq]

So when you lower it you can hear the pressure relief whine and the engine load up? That would tell me that the spool is redirecting the flow as it should. I would make sure the quick release fittings are fully seated first. Maybe disconnect and reconnect several times to make sure they fully seat.

Outside of that and if there is no external leak, I wonder if you could have a bad cylinder piston seal. To test you may be able to unplug the hose that feeds the closed end of the lift cylinders. Then start the tractor and try to lower the loader arms. If they actually try to lift while trying to lower, one or both cylinder seals are bad.

 

[thoner7]

Is there a way for the spool settings to be alreatered? Like it used to not direct flow untill after it would dog with down pressure. Now it gives before lifting the tires off the ground. It does take "some" pressure off the tires.

 

[K5lwq]

Is there a way for the spool settings to be alreatered? Like it used to not direct flow untill after it would dog with down pressure. Now it gives before lifting the tires off the ground. It does take "some" pressure off the tires.

I am not totally following you. If the spool will go into float like it did before then the spool is traveling the full distance in that direction. Because you said you have the same lift capacity I would think it is traveling the full distance in that direction.

If it has lost down pressure I would think that fluid is bypassing in the cylinder itself. Cylinders naturally have less retract power than extend power. With a bad seal there will be a reduction in power both ways but will be less noticeable on extending. It definitely could be enough loss on retracting to not lift the front up.

Hope that helps. It is possible that this has been a problem before you worked on it but never noticed because people tend to lift more than dig with loaders.