3-Point Hitch Adjusting 3-Pt Hitch Drop Rate

[DrRod]

Greetings,

I have a JD 4110 with an LX4 Rotary Mower. The manual says it should take at least 2 seconds to drop to the ground. Mine falls like a stone -- I have to carefully feather the rockshaft to ease it down. I have adjusted the drop/lock valve all the way to almost the closed position but it doesn't seem to help much. Is there something else I should look at that might calibrate this?

Where the manual illustrates this (MX8991a, MX8992) they show the valve in a caption box tied to something that looks totally unrelated. Does anyone know what the larger picture is showing?

Thanks for your help.

Rod

 

[RoyJackson]

There should be a knob on a panel just below the seat. It should have the markings shown on the attached picture (which comes from the 4110 manual).
Rotate the knob in the direction shown...this will slow (or increase) the rate of drop.
You can also lock an implement in the raised position for transport, but don't depend on it to work on your implements.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the larger picture shows the valve looking down, but not quite from the operator's seat.

 

[DrRod]

Thanks for all your help.

I've tried turning that valve and it doesn't seem to help much. I'll give it a try again and if still not working talk to my dealer.

 

[bigpete]

It is possible that the valve is not functioning properly. You should be able to close the valve all the way and lock the 3PH in a raised position and adjust the drop rate in small steps from there with only slight turning of the knob.

 

[coloradotrout]

It's a pretty stiff knob. You might pull off the cover and drop some oil onto the linkage, but the knob is generally hard to turn, and for good reason. Maybe 5 or 10 degrees is all that is needed to make a drastic difference. It's not like turning the knob 1 or 2 revolutions.

 

[anojones]

I had this problem with my 3320 and LX5- I turned the knob all the way until the rockshaft was locked and then turned it just a little back from full closed. Works for me just fine now- but it seemed most of the adjustment is in the last half turn or so.

 

[DrRod]

Thanks for advice. Mine actually turns quite easily. I'll start at the locked position and turn it ever so slightly to see if that works.

Thanks again,

Rod

 

[DrRod]

Just wanted to thank you all for the advice and to report back that I got it to work like I wanted it. It was like anojones said -- got to turn it back just a little bit, I mean a real little bit. It does seam odd thought that the valve will turn about a complete revolution but the effective range on it is about a quarter inch of movement. Maybe there's still more to this than I understand, but for the time being, its working great and has made field operations a lot easier.

Thanks again,

Rod