[RonMar]

So have you ever seen this loader operate correctly? What is your history with this piece of machinery?

The last symptom you gave where the loader only goes up 3 feet untill you load it in the opposite direction by lifting the front of the tractor off the ground, then the loader will go full height normally, sounds like the valve is working fine and you could have a cylinder seal problem. It sounds like you may have a lot of unknowns. My best troubleshooting has always come from eliminating the unknowns.