Slow hydraulics in cold

[Rowski]

The other day I started the tractor @ 6F. The tractor made all sorts of funny noises. Anything mechanical around here makes funny noises if it gets cold. I didn't have time to wait for the block heater to warm the engine. Anyways.... After about 5 minutes warm up I wanted to move the FEL through its motions to get the cold fluid moving around. I noticed that the dump moved very slow, the rollback a little faster and the up and down a bit faster than the rollback. I though about it for a while and in the summer the dump moves slower than the roll back not much slower though. So my question... Why slower one way and not the other. Is this due to a regeneration valve thing that is being discussed in the 4in1 topic. I do know that hydraulics move slower in the cold. I'm just wondering about the difference in speed between dump and rollback.

Thanks

Derek

 

[gordon]

Alot of times in winter my tractor is parked in the woods so there is no plug to plug the block heater into. Just glo plug and go. If its real cold and don't allow a good 15 minutes of warm up I get very sluggish on the lift arms but the dump usually works ok-but of course slower. Until it gets good and warmed up I can't expect to do anything but grease the loader and clean the windows if they need it.
gordon

 

[TomG]

I thought that if a loader used a regenerative circuit it would be on the bucket dump. The dump doesn't need as much power in loader work as the curl, and a regenerative circuit would speed up dumping. So, I figured that dumping should be faster than roll-back.

However, warm or cold, I always seem to be waiting for the bucket to dump. I figured that's because my loader doesn't have a regenerative circuit and because dumping often requires moving the cylinders over the full length of their travel.

When I think about it, I suppose that a regenerative circuit might work slower in the cold. Most of the oil used in a regenerative operation is already in the cylinder. The oil is going to start off very cold and slow since it wouldn't be warmed in the sump. There's also a good chance that oil in the cylinders would cool off pretty fast if the loader isn't used frequently.

I had a similar experience with my bucket float, with works similar to a regenerative circuit. After warming the tractor for 15 minutes or so, loader operation was fairly normal. After using a 3ph blower for awhile, I wanted to stack some snow. I put the bucket in float to pick up a load of snow, and the bucket just sort of gently eased on down. If I used the loader frequently, the float operated normally, but if I usied the blower for awhile, it went back to very slow. I figured that oil in the cylinders was cooling off.

 

[The Haymaker]

You could always cure the problem with this:

https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/ath.aspx

Only 156.00 a pail.