Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics

   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #1  

HelpingAFriend

New member
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
2
Location
Ft Smith, AR
Tractor
Ford 3000
I'm helping out a retired neighbor who recently bought a mid 70's Ford 3000. It's had a loader installed on it by cutting the pressure line on the right side coming from the pump and tying in the loader control valve. The problem is the loader is extremely slow. After starting it up, it takes 1-2 minutes before the loader will move at all. I tore into the rear and checked the filters. They were in good shape. Next, I rebuilt the pump including all new o-rings and seals. I found that the pump drive shaft had some wear on it where the seal rides behind the bearing so I offset the new seal about 1/8" to make sure it has a smooth surface. Still seems to have the same problem, though. I don't have a lot of hydraulic test equipment, but when priming the pump, I loosened the fitting going to the loader control valve and I seem to have good flow. Based on the fact that it takes so long to start working after starting up, I'm thinking I have a problem in the suction line, possibly sucking air someplace. I'm at a loss where it would be, though, since I've replaced all the seals around the pump and don't see any evidence of leaks in the line.

Has anyone ever solved a problem like this? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #2  
Are you using the correct fluid. Somefolks use gear oil instead of the proper trans/hydraulic fluid. It's possible that you have a leaky relief valve that's "stealing" flow from the pump circuit. Pumps sucking air will "scream", making a high frequency noise. Are you sure the seal you replaced and offset is sealing? Maybe a speedy sleeve should have been used o the shaft to improve the seal surface.

Loader speed is controlled by the pump flow rate. Most hydraulic pumps on these older tractors were sized for the three point hitch only and a separate, crankshaft driven front pump was used for loaders. Some times a pto driven pump was used. The use of a small capacity pump will slow down loader speed. It should respond to the control valve right away albiet slowly raising the loader.
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #3  
do you have a front mount pump.. or are you talking about the engine side pump? if side pump, i'm amazed at the trouble went thru to get into the hyds.. since you could have used a remote valve under the seat, or asc valve.. or even a PB plate under the blank off plate.,

the suction line has an oring and is prone to leak.. the pressur eline is a comp fitting and can too.. but does not seem to be your issue..
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics
  • Thread Starter
#4  
do you have a front mount pump.. or are you talking about the engine side pump? if side pump, i'm amazed at the trouble went thru to get into the hyds.. since you could have used a remote valve under the seat, or asc valve.. or even a PB plate under the blank off plate.,

the suction line has an oring and is prone to leak.. the pressur eline is a comp fitting and can too.. but does not seem to be your issue..

It only has the engine side pump, no front pump. Where is the o-ring you're talking about? I'm guessing it's on the lower right side where the lines go into the rear end. By the way, where's the pressure relief valve on this tractor?
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #5  
first.

time to get a service manual.

oring at pump end is the one that usually leaks.

center housing
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #6  
Well this tractor still has a slow lift problem both the bucket and the 3-point. Seals in the lift assembly have been replaced as well as the o-rings on the supply line down on the side of the case. I found a small leak where the supply line goes into the block that mounts to the side of the case, that has been fixed. I pulled the pressure relief valve that is located on the bottom side of the center housing, did a visual inspection and didn't notice it stuck open or anything like that.

Something that I have noticed that is interesting is that when you max out the bucket or the remote ports is that the pump or something else will make a knocking noise.

I have also replaced all the seals on on the cylinders on the bucket as they were leaking.

I've got a digital manual and will probably be pulling the lift assembly to make sure that all the settings are correct on the bottom side as i think something is not right there with the control valve and unload valve and the way the handle on the right side of the center case near the flow knob, doesn't do anything.
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #7  
So I am going to note everything I find out or have found out about the tractor until I get it figured out in the case that someone ends up running into something exactly the same.

I got some emails from my father in law with all the information he has on the tractor from when it got the engine rebuilt and forward.

Here is what my father in law noted one morning:
An interesting morning:
Started tractor Sun evening....loader very very slow,weak acting......3 point lift vry slow
Left loader about 3/4 UP Left 3 point full UP
On Monday morning
Found 3 Point full DOWN Found loader still 3/4 l up where i left it
Ran it for 30-45 minutes .....loader still very slow , hydraulic pump more noisy?
Killed it, it sat 30 minutes while i gathered up some tools
Drained a good 2 gallons out of rear end
Put in about 2 gallons of fresh diesel
Level was still not up to sight-hole that shows FULL
Put the 2 gallons of fluid that i had taken out back in....still not up to FULL hole
Put in ~ another quart? of diesel and had fluid running out the FULL hole.
Put all the caps back in place
Fired it up
Called for UP on loader and it took off....with a vengeance....goes from full DOWN to full UP in about 5-6 seconds( Koyker advertises "4 seconds", but i don't know it that is the full stroke of the cylinder or UP and back over center)
Bucket rotation is quick and powerful (lifts front end off ground)
Stroking the loader DOWN also lifts the tractor)
Haven't put a load on the 3 point, but I'll bet it works good now too.
So the question (s) now is :
Did it just "start working"....as in "a miracle"?
Were we just shy on fluid? We know it was ~ 2 gallons "low"....was that enough for the symptom?
Was the problem "fluid too thick" and solved with the introduction of diesel? If so, how diluted can the fluid be with diesel and still perform all its functions?
Should i try draining current contents and replacing with what?

The more i think about the "clacking"hyraulic pump when we called for full demand, the more i tend to think it was starving for fluid....ie. when you sent full flow somewhere, the pump was left to starve????


I drained the fluid and cleaned out the case when I changed the seals on the lift assembly. It now stays up over night. I replaced the fluid with recommended ford spec stuff from tractor supply
I found a good used pump that I am going to grab and throw on to see if there is a notable difference.

Any additional input would be great.
 
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   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #8  
3pt hyds fast?
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #9  
3pt is slow. it use to take time to even start to raise, but since I replaced the seals and the fluid is at the full mark it raises but is slow.
 
   / Ford 3000 Very Slow Hydraulics #10  
Asc valve set funny?
 
 
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