LS MT125 - Bucket Curl

[bearthebruce]

Our Lil Blue has less 50 hours on him as we also have a Massy 1533. Blue was purchased to do stumpin...

Yesterday while carrying wood to our fire pit to burn, the bucket curl would not hold position - like there was a leak from a cylinder. No leaks were discovered but there were loose lines.. Those have been corrected. Still the bucket "droops".

Am I right that this has to be a failing control valve? As in the position control is sealing and holding the pressure? Its annoying.

Lil Blue has not been worked much. I can't accept that we broke him. But if there is something quick we should check, I'm all ears!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Control or pressure relief valve failure?

If only curl and not also lift arms, then it’s likely the control valve IMHO

 

[Avenger]

It could be a leak inside the cylinder. Does it droop all the way down? Or is it "floppy" as in drooping a bit? If you dump the bucket all the way out and curl it back, will it stay? Have you checked the fluid level recently?

 

[spruce Deere]

My 'GUESS' is cylinder....bucket cylinder packing that is.

 

[GS650GL]

The loaders on MT1 series tractors were known to have some bad bucket cylinders that would allow oil to internally bypass the piston seals and cause the bucket to droop. There was a bad batch of cylinders that came from the factory that makes loaders for LS. They have now changed the manufacturing process to fix the cause and also changed the cylinder piston seal from teflon to urethane. A simple way to check if the problem is in the cylinders or in the valve is to raise the loader and curl the bucket back. Stop the engine and unplug the quick couplers on the hydraulic hoses for the bucket cylinders and see what happens. If the bucket stops drooping with the hoses disconnected, the problem is in the valve. If it still droops, the problem is in the cylinders. It doesn't mean they are both bad, even if only one is bad it will cause it because they are plumbed together in parallel. There is a one year warranty on attachments such as a loader so if you bought it less than a year ago, have the dealer replace the cylinders. If you are out of warranty, it's really expensive to replace cylinders so I would have them rebuilt if the insides of the tubes have no defects. Good luck.

 

[bearthebruce]

@GS650GL thank you. We'll try your test today. Glad to know there was an issue with the cylinders. I have stopped in to see the dealer. I'll make a point to get to them this week.

Thanks for the other responses. I've read them all. For those asking, the droop is as @GS650GL described, a slow drop of the bucket. The lifting and curling is as one would expect - lots of force there. But as you move, the bucket droops down and one must constantly keep curling it to keep anything in the bucket. Even empty, it will drift down. The rate is unchanged with load.

Owing to that rate, I think the leaky seal in a cylinder sounds spot on.

I was looking all around the machine for fluid... In our Massey, when she has issues, there is always fluid somewhere!

I will report back when we know the issue.

Again, my thanks for the help.

 

[GS650GL]

The dealers have a service bulletin or tech bulletin about this issue and what changes have been made in the manufacturing process of the cylinders. It was issued in December 2023 about LL1100 loader cylinders made by Taesung. A couple people I know had this issue on their MT125 tractors and the dealer replaced the bucket cylinders because the tractors were less than a year old.

 

[bearthebruce]

Follow-up news... The cylinders were replaced under warranty. Lil Blue is awaiting pickup at the dealer.

Our thanks to those who pointed us to the TSB. The dealer had no knowledge of it.

 

[GS650GL]

Surprising to hear that the dealer had no knowledge of the service and technical bulletins. All that information is available on the dealer portal and it is dealer's responsibility to use all the resources available to them and stay informed about such things. Glad to hear they got it fixed for you.

 

[bearthebruce]

When they heard my report on that, they checked. We're satisfied they did the right thing. We appreciate your (@GS650GL ) knowledge that allowed us to tell them to check!