Leak in fairly new Baileys Chief 3 spool valve

[FTG-05]

I have a fairly bad leak in my RR 3 spool Chief valve i got from Baileys last year. I *believe* it's the same valve that LD1 used for his RR as well (since I pretty much copied/stole his parts list for my RR, but I digress...).

In the first pic, you can see the first two spools (driver's side, towards the seat or to the right in the pics) and their hex head fasteners and how much I've tightened them. I tightened them several times and I am no longer comfortable tightening them anymore. Look at the screw heads, you can see they've been turned about 1/2 turn or maybe a little more. When running and hot, I'm getting a pretty good drip cycle (several per minute?; it's very noticeable). When cold and at idle, I'm getting maybe one/20-30 seconds or so.



And in this pic, you can see the oil dripping off the spools off the two inside spools.



Since more bolt tightening is out, what's the next step? I have never opened up one of these valves and have no idea what I'm in for; so please little words and perhaps crayons, if you would.

Thanks!

ETA: It's Baileys Chief G Series valve, part #220959: Shopping

 

[oldnslo]

Most valves have an O-ring under those covers. Leakage in this area is from the tank passage in the casting. Most of these cast iron valves are limited on what the tank back pressure can be. I would suggest checking the pressure in your tank line.

I would carefully loosen the screws holding the cover on. Not exactly sure how the lever linkage connects to spool. Can you lift the rubber boot without damaging it?

Seal may be just squeezed into a counterbore or it maybe in groove inside the housing. If it is in a groove then you will have to carefully push the spool back into the housing just far enough to get the seal out. If you push the spool in to far you risk cutting the seal on the opposite side on the sharp corners of the spool. This style seal can be a real PITA to install.

good luck.

 

[LD1]

No problem with my valves so far.

I'd contact Bailey's and see what type of seal is in there. My guess is it's a failed 99 cent oring or quad seal, down in a counter bore.

If it were mine, I'd take the he head bolts out and have a look

 

[FTG-05]

Most valves have an O-ring under those covers. Leakage in this area is from the tank passage in the casting. Most of these cast iron valves are limited on what the tank back pressure can be. I would suggest checking the pressure in your tank line.

I would carefully loosen the screws holding the cover on. Not exactly sure how the lever linkage connects to spool. Can you lift the rubber boot without damaging it?

Seal may be just squeezed into a counterbore or it maybe in groove inside the housing. If it is in a groove then you will have to carefully push the spool back into the housing just far enough to get the seal out. If you push the spool in to far you risk cutting the seal on the opposite side on the sharp corners of the spool. This style seal can be a real PITA to install.

good luck.

I have no idea what any of this means, I guess crayons are required.....

I do know that my system pressure is right around 2600 lbs, just under the 2640 psi as shown in the L4330 OM. The valve, houwever, is spec'd for 3625, so excess pressure *shouldn't* be a problem. But again, I'm not sure what you're saying here; I'm not that familiar with hydraulic other than the basics.

Thanks,


ETA: I just talked to Susan at Bailey's CS, she's going to look for a diagram and parts list and e-mail them to me. Stand by.

Thanks,

 

[oldnslo]

FTG,
The attachments are for Husco valve One is a the hydraulic schematic and the other is a sectional view. On the sectional view it shows a combination wiper / spool seal. If you follow the blue coring in the casting you will see that this is the tank line. IF this tank line is connected to another function down stream then you are pressurizing this tank port. What this sectional does not show is the "power Beyond" feature which would be connected to the orange "Y" core thru pump passage.


On some models of valves you have to install a plug to isolate the Power Beyond from the tank port. If this plug is not installed and the valve is used in a power beyond circuit two or more things can happen.

1) The system relief will not operate when the power beyond feature is active. reason is that the relief spring chamber is now being pressurized.

2) spool seals leak.

3) casting cracks.

Hope these crayons help.

 

[FTG-05]

oldnslo,

Some of the electrons clicked, thanks!

Unfortunately, I think I made a mistake in taking my RR install and having the local farm store do the hydraulic connections vs. the local Kubota dealer. I had my doubts as to their expertise, but overrode them and did it anyway. I had a ton of leaks and had to return the tractor not once but twice. Once because something was hooked up wrong and the hydraulics wouldn't work very fast (and to fix all the leaks, wehich they weren't all that successful at) and 2nd because one of the connectors was not sized correctly and failed while I was bushhogging, burning my back with boiling hot hydraulic oil (at $20/gallon to boot!); they came to the farm to fix that one.

I will take an overall pic or pics of the valve tomorrow and I'd like you, LD1 and JJ and any other hydraulics experts take a look at it and make sure it's hooked up right. I know I did order the PB plug (because of steeling LD1's material list, not because I'm a brilliant hyrdraulics ingeineer....) and I *think* it's installed; whether it's installed correctly, don't know.

I figure since LD1 did his own install on this same exact valve, he could take one look at my valve and see any discrepancies with a single swift glance..... No pressure here LD!

Oh one other thing: I called a local guy here who rebuilds hydraulic cylinders; I sent him the pics above and asked for an estimate to fix while on the tractor. Haven't heard back yet.

ETA: I'm not running the tractor until I know it's connected correctly. The good news is that it's been raining cats and dogs lately, so I won't miss much work.

 

[LD1]

Pics would help. But it's hard to trace hoses in a pic. Can you give us a "crayon" sketch of how the hoses are routed?

It very well could be they are trying to run the 3ph off he tank port instead of the PB and over pressurizing the tank line in the valve????

Or it could be you just go a valve that slipped past qc and had a pinched seal when installing the caps over the spools

If the "farmstore" screwed up the install, I'd make them eat it. And even if it's right now, their "screw up" earlier where you said they plumbed it wrong and it was slow....could have done irreversible damage like fracturing the valve casting or blowing out the seal.

But if it is just a couple if seals and nothing else wrong, I'd just spend $5 and 30 min and pop nee seals in it

 

[FTG-05]

I don't have that yet LD.

I looked at the hose routing quickly this afternoon and found another issue: One of the hoses is almost kinked on it's way back (or from) the tractor's pump. It makes about a 3" circle deep under the right rear fender. I'll have to disconnect it tomorrow or Sunday and unkink it. Then I'll be able to tell where each hose to/from the valve goes to.

Thanks,

 

[FTG-05]

Ok, I've got the hose routing sussed out, with pics. Whether it's hooked up correctly: You review, you decide.

Let's start with the basic 3 spool 10 gpm Chief prior to painting:



In the above pic, you can see the input/output ports clearly (I hope) marked. "P" to the left; "N" and "T" to the right, with "T" on top. P = Power Beyond, T = Tank, N = ???. Again, not to belabor the point, but LD has this same exact valve on his M-series Kubota, so he can clarify/correct any of the above.

The valve did come with a hydraulics diagram (in micro-font I might add) but I failed in getting it back from the farm store after they hooked this valve, my QDs and 3rd function kit. My bad.




Now, here is the same valve in the same orientation, but painted and hooked up, except for the "N" port since I unkinked the hose before taking pics.



In this pic, you can see what appears to be the Power Beyond plug installed on the "T" port.



The "P" port goes to what appears to be the output of the 3rd function valve and is shown here:





And in this pic, you can see the "N" port is connected to the hydraulic block on the tractor:



In the above pic, the "N" port hose is the one on the left center. The "P" port hose is the upper hose that is going to the 3rd function valve. ETA: I don't know what "hydraulic block" this is on the tractor since it doesn't show it on the hydraulic system diagram in the WSM (page 8-M1). I *assume* it was added along with the FEL when the FEL was added (at the factory?).



So basically, the Power Beyond goes to the 3rd function valve. The "N" goes to the tractor's hydraulic block and the "T" port is blocked by the Power Beyond plug.

Is this valve connected correctly?

And again, thanks for the help!

 

[CalG]

P is Pressure supply
T is tank
PB is a modification to the neutral port.