Frozen Hydraulics....Solved

[JimMorrissey]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Not sure what the dealer did when they came out to fix my L38 yesterday, but they did fix it. My loader arms, like many others, were frozen in the lift position (-20). They would not come down....Very frustrating, especially when there is 10" of snow on the driveway.

I called the dealer and asked what the they did. Unfortunately, the mechanic who came out was not avaiblable for comment. I will attempt to post the solution(s) when I find out more. The loader is so fast now, it's almost too much. I have to re-learn my feathering technique. It's more responsive in all directions than ever. It seems odd that the speed of the entire loader increased so much. However, I don't know enough about the maintenace/control issues to make a valid guess. The loader was strong before (easily lift the tractor @ just over idle), but not this fast. My RPMs were just under 2000 when I tested.

More to come.......Hopefully the solution will apply to your frozen hydraulics too.

 

[Grassgod]

I will be looking forward to hear what they did. Please keep m e posted! I have been keeping the heat on in my garage & it's costing me big $$. Thanks
Steve

 

[ronnie2005]

Jim,
About the only thing that will cause a cylinder to is a stuck valve or air in the system. I suspect that by your discription of how much faster it is now, you had alot of air in the system to start with. usually air gets traped in the cylinder and everything locks until you get rid of it.

Keep haven fun.

 

[JCA]

Hey Jim, Just curious: how much did they charge?

Jim

 

[Freds]

I don't follow the other tractor's forums, but Kubota has sure been getting a lot of posts on loader arm and bucket hydraulics problems... me included a while back.
Wonder what's up with that /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

Ronnie,

If that's the case, I wonder why it would seem to operate in all directions but down? The bucket dumped and curled fine, and the arms lift fine too....It's just that it was "frozen" in the upper position. The reason I think it is temperature related is because the loader only froze when it got really cold AND eventually it would resolve itself after 20 minutes of use (nice warm fluid). It seems if there were air in the line the other functions would suffer as well.

-TBNers have had similar complaints.

 

[JimR]

It is some type of valve problem for sure. I have the same problem with my Cub letely in this cold weather. The valve sticks in the neutral position now until it warms up. Of course this weather has been in the single digits lately and I expect these things to happen. My old Ford 8N use to do the same thing.

 

[JimMorrissey]

The solution is: Call your dealer. It is definitely a moisture issue and Kubota is aware of it. If you are having this problem I would ask them to come to your property and address the problem. Apparently the valve accumulates water from moisture in the air (heating and then cooling/condensing) and then builds up a layer of ice around the "detent " sp?. This is the loaders float position. It has nothing to do with rain freezing or getting water in the valve when washing your machine. Basically, the water needs to be drained. They pulled the valve apart, dried out the lower valve body and sprayed it with rust inhibitor/lube. The mechanic did say if it happens again they will come back and drill a small hole in the lowest point of the valve body to drain any additonal water that might accumulate and freeze.

I believe others have come to a similar conclusion in the past. There seems to be a patern here......Poor valve design for us in north country.

My dealer came out to the house and took care of it for free. Champlain Valley Equipment in Middlebury, VT. Good folks. My L38 only has 52 hours on it. Time for its first service, and it won't let me forget it. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Not exactly sure why the loader reacts faster/better now. Maybe it's partially my imagination.

 

[_RaT_]

Jim, my L3830's loader has never had the issue you mention, but we don't freeze here either. As far as the sped of the loader goes, I like to run the loader at about 1800 or less. I love the speed of the LA 723. As you mentioned, it is almost too fast for the unexperienced user at over 2200 RPM or so. It is a welcome "problem" for me. We have a NH 2120 with a loader that is quite slow even at 2200 RPM that I get impatient with it and yearn for my LA 723. The NH 2120 has a much larger bucket but I'm sure I can move far more material then it with my L3830. Glad your loader valve was resolved.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Rat,

Definite problem here in Vermont. We haven't seen 5 degrees at night for many weeks. Lately we've been experiencing sub-zero during the height of the day.....with some nights in the -20 range. Attemping to clean snow when it's 10 below and your loader is frozen 8 feet off the ground is not fun.

I'm very happy with the LA723 and the service I received from my dealer.