Bucket Is Slipping Under Load

[JDGreenGrass]

Recently I had a load of firewood in my bucket and I turned the tractor off to prepare a spot to put the wood. When I got back to the tractor the bucket had dumped the wood. The bucket had "creeped" down.

I also noticed this when I was hanging my deer off the bucket. A light load I might add (100lbs.)

When I lifted my ballast box, 600lbs., I draped the chain over the back off the bucket and it held firm. Therefore, the "dump" is slipping.

Any suggestions for the rookie.??

 

[dcyrilc]

It's not the O-rings in the dump/curl cylinders. I looked back at your picture of your weight box to see if you were fully curled or not. It held that weight and didn't curl further.

Hopefully JJ, kennyd, or AKKAMANN will jump in.

 

[kennyd]

Some leakdown of the loader (both lift and curl) is normal. JD even has a published spec of "acceptable leakdown rates" for it' loaders.

It could be the seals in the cylinders and/or the valve. Basically if the leakdown amount is small, then you can do nothing about it unfortunately. when it becomes drastic hopefully the problem will be in the cylinders because the valve is not rebuildable.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

It's an SMC loader, if that helps at all.

 

[kennyd]

It's an SMC loader, if that helps at all.

Does not really change my answer at all...most if not all loaders leakdown a little.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Is it odd that the bucket leaks down but not up.??

Also, I see no evidence of a leak at all. Can you have a leak that is not apparent to the naked eye.??

 

[RalphVa]

I'm sure you don't have an actual leak. What's happening is the valving used to manipulate the FEL is leaking across.

The 410 FEL on my 4010 leaks a tiny bit on the dump and a tiny bit in the up/down. It'll uncurl and drop if left up in the air, but VERY slowly. Actually, it didn't do this when completely new, or else I didn't notice it. Could be because I didn't have the bucket indicator when it was really new (and while I was hauling about 22 ton of gravel). With the bucket indicator, I can clearly see a tiny drop in the curl.

Ralph

 

[kennyd]

Is it odd that the bucket leaks down but not up.??

Also, I see no evidence of a leak at all. Can you have a leak that is not apparent to the naked eye.??

Down but not up...I guess I don't understand

The "leak" is internal so you will not see it. The fluid could be bypassing the seals on the end of the piston inside the cylinder, or bypassing the spool (the part that slides) inside the valve.

 

[20 20]

I have to agree with others some holding force loss is normal in just about all hydraulics. As others said, if it is getting bad then seals are probably to blame.

 

[jinman]

Here's a simple test you can do to check for internal leaks in your curl cylinder. First, find something that weighs 200 lb to 400 lb and put it into your bucket as close to the cutting edge as possible. A few bags of concrete would work great for this. Next, lower your loader arms all the way down and keep your bucket flat on the ground. Now, disconnect the bucket curl quick connects. Raise the loader arms and see if/how long the bucket takes to curl down and dump the load. If it holds steady and does not dump at all, then your joystick valve is leaking. If it slowly curls down, then your hydraulic curl cylinders are leaking internally. Of course, if your quick connects seep fluid, this test will not work. But most quick connects will hold tight.

Lower your arms back down and take the tension off the bucket before reconnecting the quick connects.