3pt hitch adjustment

[Georgehitch18]

Hi guys, I recently bought a 2018 B2650 and I have Been using the FEL. After about 3 hours of use I noticed loss of lifting power and some other strange behavior. I noticed a few lines had a very minimal leak so I went ahead and called the dealer. They came picked it up claimed they went over the whole tractor and dropped it off. I get the tractor home only to discover I had leaks in the exact same places and still no power when raising and lowering the loader. I discovered that if I tipped the bucket while raising or lowering I gained full raise/lower speed.
I thought to myself no way did this dealer have it for several days and not do a dang thing. So I went out tightened the fittings myself and started searching for answers. After digging around the site I found out the cause was my 3 pt hitch arms were trying to go up higher than they were able to causing the pump to lose power on the hitch instead of giving me power for the FEL. I suppose the dealer did not operate the FEL with the hitch all the way up. Not sure why they did not tighten the fittings as it was clear which ones were leaking but I took care of that. I lowered my level from 10 to 7 and wallah it ran perfectly.

Back to the pump. I could hear the pump straining itself trying to get the 3 point to the set level before I discovered what was wrong and noticed it was whining louder than normal. I also know I had it running for quite a while trying to get air out of the hydraulic lines before I realized air in the lines was not the problem. Does anyone know if this would do damage to my hydraulic pump? It seems to be running perfect now but I do not want to have issues down the road.

Should I have the dealer come pick up the tractor again and adjust the hitch or is this something I can tackle myself?

If it is not extremely complex where might I find out how to adjust the hitch to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks in advance for any info guys. I love the tractor so far I just want to make sure it works perfect and lasts me for decades!

 

[flingwing1969]

Should I have the dealer come pick up the tractor again and adjust the hitch or is this something I can tackle myself?

If it is not extremely complex where might I find out how to adjust the hitch to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks in advance for any info guys. I love the tractor so far I just want to make sure it works perfect and lasts me for decades!

Personally, your dealer's shop has given you zero reason to have any confidence in it. I would contact the owner as he surely does not (hopefully anyway) know how bad his shop is. I would give them a chance after that to get the TPH lift right. I'm blessed to have a dealer too far away to trouble with - I've had a couple of niggly things in warranty and I call, get the parts shipped and fix the bloody thing myself.

 

[Georgehitch18]

The Vice President of the company sold me the tractor and I felt he treated me very good. Coming from a sales/service industry I know how hard it can be to make sure everyone is on the ball. I will give them another chance as I feel the VP will make sure this is handled correctly and this will be a lesson for them. I am upset that I figured out this problem after 15 minutes of research and also that they didn稚 tighten my lose fittings but again I think this will open their eyes so they can get things set straight in the service department.

 

[Grandad4]

It sounds from your description as if the 3 point lift is continuing to try to raise the 3 point arms while you are doing other work with the loader. Is that right? Well, some more information would be helpful:
1. What were you doing with the 3 point lift control while all this was going on? All the way up, all the way down, somewhere in the middle, or what?
2. Anything mounted on the 3 point at the time?
3. Do the 3 point arms raise/lower normally when you're not operating the loader?

Before going any further, are you absolutely, positively sure the hydraulic connections for the loader are attached securely, and to the right fittings on the loader control?

The straining sound from the pump sounds like "deadheading", where the pump is trying to move fluid against something that cannot move.
One common reason for something like this is having the 3 point lowering speed adjusted incorrectly. On just about all Kubota tractors, the control is a knob in front of the seat and between your knees as you look down near the floor. If you have it adjusted too loose, the 3 point arms drop too fast when you want to lower an implement; if it's too tight the 3 point won't lower at all and you can deadhead the hydraulic system. Obviously you want it adjusted somewhere in the middle. This would be the simplest and easiest problem to have.

There is a hydraulic pressure relief system that is supposed to trigger when pressure gets above some limit, opening a bypass valve that circulates fluid back to the reservior and lowering the pressure. This prevents burning up the pump, blowing lines etc. If there's no problem with the 3 point lowering adjustment, I would be concerned that something is wrong with this pressure relief system and would want the dealer to look at it.

Hope some of this is helpful

Best wishes from an Ashland University alumnus, Class of 1968

 

[Georgehitch18]

It sounds from your description as if the 3 point lift is continuing to try to raise the 3 point arms while you are doing other work with the loader. Is that right? Well, some more information would be helpful:
1. What were you doing with the 3 point lift control while all this was going on? All the way up, all the way down, somewhere in the middle, or what?
2. Anything mounted on the 3 point at the time?
3. Do the 3 point arms raise/lower normally when you're not operating the loader?

Before going any further, are you absolutely, positively sure the hydraulic connections for the loader are attached securely, and to the right fittings on the loader control?

The straining sound from the pump sounds like "deadheading", where the pump is trying to move fluid against something that cannot move.
One common reason for something like this is having the 3 point lowering speed adjusted incorrectly. On just about all Kubota tractors, the control is a knob in front of the seat and between your knees as you look down near the floor. If you have it adjusted too loose, the 3 point arms drop too fast when you want to lower an implement; if it's too tight the 3 point won't lower at all and you can deadhead the hydraulic system. Obviously you want it adjusted somewhere in the middle. This would be the simplest and easiest problem to have.

There is a hydraulic pressure relief system that is supposed to trigger when pressure gets above some limit, opening a bypass valve that circulates fluid back to the reservior and lowering the pressure. This prevents burning up the pump, blowing lines etc. If there's no problem with the 3 point lowering adjustment, I would be concerned that something is wrong with this pressure relief system and would want the dealer to look at

Hope some of this is helpful

Best wishes from an Ashland University alumnus, Class of 1968

I never have anything attached to the TPH during the problem. You understood what I meant, it痴 only when I set the hitch height to the maximum level. If I lower it to 7-8 the problem disappears.

The speed the TPH moves up and down seems very normal and not too fast or slow. Just a matter of something allowing it to go higher than physically possible.

I checked all connections everything is good, tight, and in the right spot. They have never been disconnected since the day of purchase.

 

[Tx Jim]

Georgehitch18
Your tractors 3 pt deadheading when fully raised indicates that feedback rd(key 030) for 3pt is adjusted incorrectly. One needs to change setting by adjusting nuts(key 050). With 3 pt control lever in rear of slot(3 pt fully raised) adjust nuts until hyd pump stops deadheading.

 

[Grandad4]

Better answer than mine!

 

[downslope]

Georgehitch18
Your tractors 3 pt deadheading when fully raised indicates that feedback rd(key 030) for 3pt is adjusted incorrectly. One needs to change setting by adjusting nuts(key 050). With 3 pt control lever in rear of slot(3 pt fully raised) adjust nuts until hyd pump stops deadheading.

Can the "deadheading" and relief valve scenario cause the oil to overheat beyond its specs? The OP implied he may have been operating it this way for several hours, so maybe that's not good for the oil (and consequently the pump?), if in fact it was overheating, what do I know? If the oil was overheated would a fluid change be in order? On the other hand, he says everything works fine as long as the 3pt is not fully raised, so maybe no damage done?

Also he stated that if he operated the dump/curl function simultaneously with the raise/lower, then it would raise at normal speed. Why might that be? I guess dumping the bucket may temporarily reduce some of the pressure and allow the relief valve to close, giving full flow to the loader functions? Again, I'm just guessing at things here.

 

[flingwing1969]

I was having an issue with blowing o-rings in my backhoe's valve body. The dealer sent a couple of guys up to take a look and tested everything out, finding nothing wrong - pressure was perfect, connections great, no blockages, etc. But that's not what this is about, is it.

The reason I mention it is one of the things they suggested was that the TPH lift control might be continuing to try to lift when it had already reached full height, causing an overload - they had seen this before. No one could explain how this could affect the hoe's valve body but I lowered the lever a bit and tightened the stop pin anyway - no, it didn't solve my problem.

 

[ovrszd]

Jim gave you a very well stated explanation and solution to your 3pt issue.

Only chance of damage would be excessive heat buildup in the hydraulic system. I doubt that has occurred.

I would make this adjustment myself. Then, after correcting all these problems I would have a closed door meeting with your salesman.