Lift too stiff

jinman · Jun 24, 2001

My hydraulic lift control arm operation (TC45D) is too stiff to be able to do fine feathering of the position control. When I exert enough force to move the control arm, often I overshoot my intended position because the control does not have a smooth easy movement. I've checked my repair manual and there is absolutely nothing about any adjustment, but where the control shaft goes into the hydraulic lift housing, there is a castellated nut that I think could be adjusted to reduce the tension. It's a little hard to get to, but I have sprayed chain-lub on all the rotating points and pivots and it just isn't much better. The lift handle/arm itself is not binding against anything. Has anyone else noticed the lift having too much tension or being too stiff to operate? If it was a little less tight, I think it would be much easier to operate, but I also think there is supposed to be some amount of stiffness so if you hit a bump it doesn't move. My old Ford Jubilee actually has a rub-disk type washer which does this. I'm going to adjust that castle nut, but I just wondered if anyone else has a similar "stiff lift"?

JimI

lblair · Jun 24, 2001

Not I. Moves with little effort. and feathering is not a problem. allthough me over shooting is! Larry

jinman · Jun 25, 2001

Thanks for the info, Larry. I suspect your geometry is slightly different than my larger Boomer, but they were both probably designed by the same engineering team, so if your lift control works easily, I'll just assume mine should too. I loosened the castle nut and that helped some, but I really think the mechanism will always be a little stiff. Maybe with age it will loosen up.

I'm still interested in anyone who has a TC35, TC40, or TC45 and may have some direct feedback on the same models.

JimI

DVerbarg · Jun 25, 2001

Jinman,

My TC40D lift control arm is a little stiff also. I end up "bumping" the control with the heel of my hand when trying to feather. I've also noticed that the control arm seems to push towards the operator creating friction against the side of the slot. If you come up with anything that helps please post it as a follow-up here.

DaveV

DaveV

mikim · Jun 25, 2001

I have a TC45 and ditto DaveV's remarks exactly - I'm doing all rough work right now so it hasn't been a problem or priority - seems I'm always all up or all down -
mike

jinman · Jun 25, 2001

Thanks for the info, Dave and Mike. I have figured all along that this was just the "way it is," but I do think they could have made it a little smoother in operation. I guess the only thing we can do is to make the control arm longer, but then it would be in the way. As it is, it's workable, just not optimal.

DaveV, just for my info, did you get the illustrations I emailed to you on the remote hydraulic valves. If you didn't get them, I'll need to resend them.

JimI

brian · Jun 25, 2001

I have a TC29D which had the exact same problem. At first I tried spraying the top of the actuator valve which to my mind made the action easier, I was talking to the salesrep and the next day he drove the 1 1/2 hours to my house and examined the problem. He told me they (dealer) had seen a couple like this so far and it was caused by a lack of lubrication on the BOTTOM of the actuator valve for the FEL. He then took the plastic valve guard/cover off and sprayed chain lube on the bottom of the valve assembly. The action is almost too smooth now since I can't blame a rough job on the tractor anymore. Hopes this helps.

jinman · Jun 26, 2001

Thanks Brian, I think your problem is different because you mentioned the FEL valve. I've experienced a slight problem there, but lube took care of it. My problem is with the 3pt hitch lift control arm. After having experience with old Fergusons and Fords, I was a little surprised at how stiff the control was and found that it made the implement a little "jumpy" at times when I wanted to lift it. Perhaps yours is the same. I just don't have any experience with the smaller Boomers. Thanks for the info. I'm sure many of the readers of this forum will experience similar problems to both issues.

JimI

DVerbarg · Jun 26, 2001

Jinman,

Thanks for the illustrations on the remote valves! I hope to add a couple valves later this fall(after I find a money tree /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

Since this summer's big project is landscaping the area around the new house I will probably need to find some way to make the control arm action smoother. I'll let you know if I find anything.

DaveV

DaveV

djradz · Jun 26, 2001

Jim, my 40D is the same way. I'll have to look at the castle nut your talking about. Seems to me that the linkage is not the case either. I had a 1720 before the 40D and it worked flawlessly for very fine feathering. Like the rest of the posts, I find myself lightly bumping the lever arm to try to get some fine movement. ... castle nut, eh - we'll see what happens. Duane