Backhoe JD 46 Backhoe Hydraulics Not Working

[trlong]

HELP? I've tried to find any threads that would help on this with no luck. My JD 46 Backhoe sat for a long time out in the weather until I recently attached it to my JD 4115 Tractor. I have done a lot of work with this backhoe and, since reattaching it to my tractor it worked fine only last week, although the left stabilizer hydraulic control was a bit sticky, all other hydraulics worked fine (all lubed and greased before re-attaching to the tractor), I had no real problems with the hydraulics connected to my "power beyond". Now, having detached it to work with other equipment on the 3-PT hitch or the power beyond, nothing on the JD 46 backhoe is working. I have the "410" bucket on the front and the hydraulics are working that fine, but when I connect the backhoe to the power beyond and try to drop the stabilizers, lift the arm, curl the bucket, swing the main arm... nothing happens other than a slight movement. As I had no problem with the hydraulics when I dropped the backhoe from the tractor and re-coupled it's hydraulics to prevent moisture or dirt to get into the couplings or lines, as well as re-inserting the power beyond line to itself for the same reason, I don't understand why nothing (or very little) happens when I try to maneuver anything on the backhoe other than maybe, a 1/4" to 1/2" movement of the controlling pistons. Could this be that there is air in the lines, dirt stuck in one or more of the lines/pistons...? It actually seems that when I try to move the stabilizers down they first try to raise rather than lower and then just stop. I did make sure that the power beyond hydraulics run other equipment with no problem. So, it is not that there is not enough fluid in the system or the power beyond flow is restricted on the tractor itself. I hate to have JD Service try to come, somehow get it on a flatbed and charge me whatever just for something that I thought should be simple to figure out and fix. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kennyd]

I would suspect a bad QD (aka quick coupler) on PB lines. Does the tractor sound like its lugging down at all when things aren't working?

 

[trlong]

I would suspect a bad QD (aka quick coupler) on PB lines. Does the tractor sound like its lugging down at all when things aren't working?

Kennyd, Yes, the tractor is lugging down when I try to apply hydraulic pressure to any of the backhoe pistons. The problem can not be at the tractor's PB connections as they work fine to run a 3-PT hitch wood splitter and I've borrowed the lines from the splitter to connect from the PB to the backhoe quick couplers with the same results. The only thing I have not done is to remove the lines from the backhoe to try to connect new lines as the backhoe lines/hoses' threads are sealed with "pipe dope?". I guess I'll have to try to free those threads to attach other lines and/or check them. Thanks, I'll post when I get it figured out.

 

[topstoy]

My 2520 has a lever under the front of the seat that locks some of the hydraulics, I think the FEL but maybe the power beyond as well. One time I accidentally bumped it over to the lock out position and I was baffled for quite a while until I found it. Could yours have something like this?

 

[kennyd]

My 2520 has a lever under the front of the seat that locks some of the hydraulics, I think the FEL but maybe the power beyond as well. One time I accidentally bumped it over to the lock out position and I was baffled for quite a while until I found it. Could yours have something like this?

All that lever does is lock the linkage of the joystick so it cannot move, It does not lock anything hydraulic.

I still think this is related to one of the QDs, probably on the backhoe side.

 

[trlong]

Still a NO GO for the backhoe... As said, the power beyond drives my wood splitter with no problem. So, taking KennyD's advise that it might be a QD on the backhoe's feed/return lines, I removed the backhoe's lines at their 90 degree connectors under the operator's station, "borrowed" and connected the feed/return lines from the wood splitter known working and connected to the power beyond. As I lost hydraulic fluid during the change over, I topped off the tractor's fluid, making sure it showed plenty in the "site glass" above the rear PTO and still ran the FEL fine. Result... Same problem. Any lever on the backhoe results in just a slight movement of the piston they are supposed to actuate and the tractor's diesel lugging down. Also, the same issue that, as example, when pushing down on either stabilizer lever, the associated stabilizer appears to try to raise rather than lower and stops after an inch or so of travel as the diesel lugs down. Still, the FEL works fine. As the backhoe is sitting flat on the driveway, I have no way to drain/bleed...? the 6 pistons on it without all of the fluid going all over the driveway. So, I'm still stymied. I guess I'll have to call J.D. as the backhoe can't sit in the driveway much longer. Hopefully, a JD mechanic can figure it out without having to find a way to load it on a truck/trailer to take to their shop.

 

[Bill Stecik]

That is what it sounds like to me . Sometimes the female ends fail and there is no way to tell by looking at it .

 

[Egon]

Do you have a valve which diverts oil from the three point to the backhoe?

 

[Leejohn]

I know you have hooked the backhoe up many times, but are you getting all 3 hoses in the right spot?

 

[trlong]

ALL FIXED, "mea culpa"! Thanks to all for the ideas and suggestions. Sorry I was such a dimwit. Somehow, while trying to get the right hoses and quick connects for the new wood splitter, I had (not that I remember) borrowed connections from the backhoe and when I put them back on I swapped the male and female connectors (i.e. I got the feed line connector swapped with the return line. Frank, in Service at the JD dealership said that the symptoms I described were exactly what would happen if I'd screwed them up. Sorry to bother all with this but, if anyone else makes such a dumb mistake, maybe this thread will save them a lot of headaches. Note taken...Make sure you mark your connections, tape or such, when disconnecting the quick connectors. Boy do I feel like an idiot!