Am I the only one with a Sticky Lever ?

[Short Game]

When mine started getting stuck and hard to operate, all it took was grease to fix it. It was sticking on all my front end implements, even the one I built for myself, so it was in the lever mechanisms. I grease the pins and the cams and the plates the cams run against.

 

[bruceatlam]

Mine will do the same thing when I open the release lever fully ---- there are two holes down there that the pin fits in --- if you open the lever all the way the pin lifts up out of the bottom hole. If you just open the lever enough so that the pin releases from the bucket but yet does not fully retract out of that bottom hole, you can re-engage it easily. At least I can ---- maybe it "should" work differently --- but that's the way mine seems to be "happy". It has become a habit for me and is easy to do ------------

 

[NICKB304]

Mine will do the same thing when I open the release lever fully ---- there are two holes down there that the pin fits in --- if you open the lever all the way the pin lifts up out of the bottom hole. If you just open the lever enough so that the pin releases from the bucket but yet does not fully retract out of that bottom hole, you can re-engage it easily. At least I can ---- maybe it "should" work differently --- but that's the way mine seems to be "happy". It has become a habit for me and is easy to do ------------

i was thinking the same thing. the lever may be pulling the pin past its lower guide hole. I would look to see if the link is adjustable.

 

[MilestoneTim]

I've run into that more than once- the lever pulls the pin past the lower guide hole. One way of fixing it is to make a stop so the lever stops before it pulls it out of the bottom guide - you could drill a hole and use a bolt and nuts to do that. I know of one guy who welded a stop onto his.

 

[Guesseral]

I wouder if maybe you might have bent the lower end of the pin that ingauges into the QA on the bucket or the forks. Mine works well but with all of the feedback on greasing or lubing the pins I think I will be doing that befor summer comes back! That is if it ever does!

 

[Short Game]

I just went out and looked at mine, and in its case, the pins cannot pull free of their guides. The part called, "pin link" could be replaced with a slightly longer one if the pins can retract too far, but limiting the travel of the lever would probably be the easier fix. However, the pin links are just a bar with holes drilled near the ends. Very easy to make longer ones.

I would think that the pins pulling past the guides would be a defect in manufacture and covered by warranty.

 

[Short Game]

Looking at another thread, I found this image. I can see a way that the lock pin could be pulled too far up. If the bolt through the slots in the cams and pin link doesn't travel all the way to the lower end of the slot, then the end of the lock pin could be pulled free of the lower guide hole.

Something to check out anyway. Dirt in there or the bolt being too tight could do it. Maybe another place for some grease.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have never taken my bucket off, but brother in laws NH has one side that is hard to pin and unpin whether you try to fasten it first or last, it doesn't matter. Its just hard to engage. I haven't looked at it close to see what the problem is, but it isn't grease as we grease it all the time.

 

[TSO]

I'm going to just point out that I'm an idiot.

I have been pulling the lever all the way out, meaning that it's my fault that this is happening. I assumed it was designed to be pulled all the way, since the lever moves that far... didn't realize that it only needed to be pulled to the first "detent." I don't know why it's designed to go all the way out, but now I know, and knowing is half the battle ;-)

 

[Short Game]

I believe my 2010 LL4100 loader is the same as the LL4101 except for the larger bucket cylinders (I have the later model cylinders now) and the different placement of the control valve. I see that mine cannot pull the pins free of the lower hole, even when the levers are pulled all the way. My levers hit the curved edge of the quick attach's inside plate before the pins leave their holes. A stop could be welded, or even clamped, to that plate. For that matter, just drilling the plate and putting a bolt where it would stop the lever would do. That, or the pin link could be lengthened. Some form of a stop seems the easier fix.