Hydraulic problems.. please help

[kcolonel1030]

I have an lt245Dt and recently I noticed the hydraulic oil was low and put new oil in to fill it. It seems that when it was low the hydraulic equipment, 3 point hitch and bucket wouldn't lift well or at all. Now that it is full, it still won't? Do I need to bleed something to get an air out?

When you first start the tractor it works better than after it has been running for a while. any thoughts out there? please help...

 

[MrJimi]

Depending on how low it was, you will have to extend and retract all your hydraulics a few times to bleed air out
Jim

 

[JC-jetro]

I have an lt245Dt and recently I noticed the hydraulic oil was low and put new oil in to fill it. It seems that when it was low the hydraulic equipment, 3 point hitch and bucket wouldn't lift well or at all. Now that it is full, it still won't? Do I need to bleed something to get an air out?

When you first start the tractor it works better than after it has been running for a while. any thoughts out there? please help...

Not having enough oil could cause inadequate flow and hence problem you are experiencing. On the flip side of it having enough oil is does not mean you have adequate pump flow. Low or lack of pump flow can be attributed to dirty inlet screen , filter or both, pump that has a bad seal or very worn out or pump cavitation due to having air in the system. Gear pump can not pump air real well. Give some info about tractor hours, usage for some clues. I had the same problem last year and had to do a complete check of my hyd system to find the problem and repair. Please refer to the the link below and you'll find bunch of good info.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/nh-owning-operating/88973-sos-i-have-my-first.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/nh-owning-operating/90819-my-f-1700-testing-my.html

 

[Wayne County Hose]

When you first start the tractor it works better than after it has been running for a while. any thoughts out there? please help...

How were the hydraulics before the fluid got low? Is this something that happened all of the sudden or got worse over time? Hate to tell you, but when people tell me their hydraulics won't work or get very weak when warmed up, it's usually the pump. If you ran the hydraulics long enough to warm the tractor up, you are probably beyond bleeding air from the system.

 

[Reg]

I have an lt245Dt and recently I noticed the hydraulic oil was low and put new oil in to fill it. It seems that when it was low the hydraulic equipment, 3 point hitch and bucket wouldn't lift well or at all. Now that it is full, it still won't? Do I need to bleed something to get an air out?

When you first start the tractor it works better than after it has been running for a while. any thoughts out there? please help...

I think you're saying that it gets worse as the tractor warms up ?
If so, maybe a seal somewhere is damaged and leaks as things expand with rising temperature. As a sweeping generalization; No, air should bleed out of the hydraulics in the first two or three full operational cycles of wherever that air is. I don't like the inference that your hydraulic oil got so low that you think the pump might have been picking up air - THAT could lead to big trouble kinda quick.

It might be a good idea to cycle every cylinder to it's full travel a couple of times to see if the problem goes away. If not,,, maybe the pump is trashed ?

 

[JC-jetro]

pump overhaul is not very difficult.pump should not be running for extended time as the damage will be irreversible.Gear pump are forgiving to some extent. $40-50 overhaul kit and couple of hrs time sure beat new pump around $800. I loosen the disharge pipe with the bucket underneeth to verify pump flow. if no flow I'll check the inlet screen or filter. New oil, clean filter and no pump flow then the pump is the faulty component as long as no cavitation going on. most pump inlet are blow the normal fluid level and being gear type positive displacement type lessens the chance of cavitation.

JC,