Uplifing experience

[MossRoad]

For Christmas, my birthday and Father's day I had my wife and kids buy me a 16' fiberglass step ladder. It doesn't leak down.... but it is Kubota orange.

 

[smartguyz]

If you're really needing a way to keep the cylinders from retracting during a use such as this, investing in a bunch of these will solve your issue. Note that they only will act as stops if the cylinder is trying retract, and there's something for these to push against. Straw Choppers - John Deere & Case-IH Combines - TSR Parts - Colgate, North Dakota 58046 - Call Toll Free 1-800-582-2432 - tsrparts.com - Complete Units for John Deere Straw Choppers

Those are cool! A little spendy, but it would definitely solve the problem of both leakdown and accidentally dropping. Thanks for the link. Looks like they have a kit for about $120 that will solve the problem.

-Rob

 

[nwbearcat]

I don't know if that's a decent price or not. That was the first link that popped up on my search for "cylinder stop" You can find these locally at about any TSC or Farm and Fleet. But yes, enough to do a lift cylinder wouldn't be cheap. Then neither is falling off the lift. Another option would be to cut a piece of like 3x3 angle iron to a length that would be close to the gap you'd need to fill, lift your lift, hose clamp it to the cylinder rod and fill in the extra space with a couple of these rather than needing 14 to do the job. Just have to remember to remove it all before lowering lift.

 

[SpringHollow]

My cylinders have always leaked. I had read there were two different kinds of valves that could be used and PT used the ones that have leakdown. Not sure if that is correct or not but it is what i heard.

I have needle valves which if i close, they will lock the cylinders for weeks even with a load.

Ken

 

[ponytug]

Rob,
It is easy to open up and clean the the check valve(s). The cutout on the front side of the valve bank has three check valves in a row between the hose in/out bank.

First figure out which of the check valves you want to clean by tracing the hoses back to the valve.

Then prop the front arms on something solid and bleed off the pressure by cycling the valves. (Trust me you want to do this.)

Then get it really clean, (Terry's comment about open heart surgery clean applies.) and unscrew the nut between the hoses. Under the nut is a check valve assembly. Mine had a spring in it, but it is a simple plastic piece.

Oil will leak out even if you relieved the pressure.

Clean the check valve and the valve seat, and the surrounding threads and area. Reassemble.

It isn't too hard, just remember that you are disassembling this because it has a small piece of gunk in there, so you don't want to trade one piece of dirt for four new ones.

Again, I would like to stress the importance of having the front arms resting on something solid that will support their weight while you are underneath.

All the best,

Peter

I definitely get leak down with the machine running, regardless of how fast it is running. I assume its because of the leaky control valve. If I could fix it I would want to. Is there an easy cure?

-Rob

 

[jaquetarr]

Then get it really clean, (Terry's comment about open heart surgery clean applies.) and unscrew the nut between the hoses. Under the nut is a check valve assembly. Mine had a spring in it, but it is a simple plastic piece.

If your luck is as good as mine both the ball & spring will take off to parts unknown.
Rgds,
tim

 

[ponytug]

It is like those snakes in can...If you know it is coming, it will be OK.

Plus, if it is as clean as open heart surgery, we won't have any trouble finding it, right?

All the best,

Peter

If your luck is as good as mine both the ball & spring will take off to parts unknown.
Rgds,
tim

 

[woodlandfarms]

Terry never said what year this surgery was to be performed, and given the fact PT uses very antiquated (albeit reliable) technology, maybe the level of cleanliness is more like the middle ages.

 

[smartguyz]

Rob,
It is easy to open up and clean the the check valve(s). The cutout on the front side of the valve bank has three check valves in a row between the hose in/out bank.

First figure out which of the check valves you want to clean by tracing the hoses back to the valve.

Then prop the front arms on something solid and bleed off the pressure by cycling the valves. (Trust me you want to do this.)

Then get it really clean, (Terry's comment about open heart surgery clean applies.) and unscrew the nut between the hoses. Under the nut is a check valve assembly. Mine had a spring in it, but it is a simple plastic piece.

Oil will leak out even if you relieved the pressure.

Clean the check valve and the valve seat, and the surrounding threads and area. Reassemble.

It isn't too hard, just remember that you are disassembling this because it has a small piece of gunk in there, so you don't want to trade one piece of dirt for four new ones.

Again, I would like to stress the importance of having the front arms resting on something solid that will support their weight while you are underneath.

All the best,

Peter

Thanks Peter. I'm going to try and get to this, and will report back what I found.

-Rob

 

[J_J]

I believe the check valves you guys are talking about are called load check valves, and will not prevent the cyl from leaking down. It is designed to prevent the load from dropping while shifting between neutral and up/down. There are other external pilot operated check valves to hold a load in place until the leaver is moved.

Most leak downs are caused by worn FEL valves. If a cyl should leak down with a needle valve installed, then the cyl is leaking internally.

 

[ponytug]

J.J. you are are right on both counts. Still, I can assure you if you have one that has some dirt stuck in it, you get both rapid leakdown and funny behavior like the FEL going up when you are trying to bleed it a little down.

All the best,

Peter

I believe the check valves you guys are talking about are called load check valves, and will not prevent the cyl from leaking down. It is designed to prevent the load from dropping while shifting between neutral and up/down. There are other external pilot operated check valves to hold a load in place until the leaver is moved.

Most leak downs are caused by worn FEL valves. If a cyl should leak down with a needle valve installed, then the cyl is leaking internally.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So do I have to call PT for parts for this or do we know who makes these valves.

 

[ponytug]

Well, it depends.

If you clean out the valves and nothing changes, you probably need a new valve bank, assuming you want to do something about the leakdown.

All the best,

Peter

So do I have to call PT for parts for this or do we know who makes these valves.

 

[J_J]

Carl, if a replacement valve from PT is to much, you might consider this valve, plus add a single valve to operate the QA.

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=9-4782&catname=hydraulic

 

[BobRip]

Does anyone have a PT that does not leak down. Pardon me if this has been discussed. Mine has leaked down since new. I wonder if it is a design feature. This way you won't leave a load up high and unsupervised.

 

[SpringHollow]

Bob,

I posted earlier that i was told the type of valve they use leaks.

Ken

 

[J_J]

Does anyone have a PT that does not leak down. Pardon me if this has been discussed. Mine has leaked down since new. I wonder if it is a design feature. This way you won't leave a load up high and unsupervised.

Bob,

Some manufactures base the leak down rate on the number of drops coming from the valve with a load. It might be 10 drops per minutes, or some other rate that they say is permissible. If it is out of warranty, and they do a leak down test, it will cost you. You might even ask to watch them do the test. They hydraulics also leak down with no load, so it depends on the criteria.

If PT purchased those valves based on the leak down rate, then you will have to live with it. They should at least tell us what the test should be.

If anybody is going to use the PT as a man lift, I would suggest the needle valves as a solution.

 

[BobRip]

Bob,

Some manufactures base the leak down rate on the number of drops coming from the valve with a load. It might be 10 drops per minutes, or some other rate that they say is permissible. If it is out of warranty, and they do a leak down test, it will cost you. You might even ask to watch them do the test. They hydraulics also leak down with no load, so it depends on the criteria.

If PT purchased those valves based on the leak down rate, then you will have to live with it. They should at least tell us what the test should be.

If anybody is going to use the PT as a man lift, I would suggest the needle valves as a solution.

Just FYI, the leak down does not really cause me any problems. Using the PT as a man lift seems a little to dangerous for my taste, other than for say less than a minute. I would say as a minimum use some kind of mechanical cylinder block that cannot be removed while there is weight on it. I have attached pictures of mine. Please note, I did not do this for a manlift, but to work under. Edit: Of course working under it is just as dangerous. But I think using two of these brackets, one for each lift cylinder, would be reasonably safe.

 

[woodlandfarms]

How about this one

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=9-7761&catname=hydraulic

This all said, on my PT I am very concerned about cutting the area where the handle comes out. It is right next to the pins for the loader arm. I would hate to weaken that area any more than it already is.

 

[smartguyz]

If anybody is going to use the PT as a man lift, I would suggest the needle valves as a solution.

Sorry for the newb question - what is a needle valve?

-Rob