Mf 1260 3 point

[robbor]

I have a mf 1260 from auction . Was never used as a tractor. Nothing on the 3pt was ever hooked up or used. The lift arms are all the way up. Fo I need to put something on the 3pt to get them to lower????. What are the 2 3pt levers rt of driver seat for?
One or left and right lift arm?
I'm going to try and put my scraper on it and see if it will lower.

 

[EdGooding]

I have a mf 1260 from auction . Was never used as a tractor. Nothing on the 3pt was ever hooked up or used. The lift arms are all the way up. Fo I need to put something on the 3pt to get them to lower????. What are the 2 3pt levers rt of driver seat for?
One or left and right lift arm?
I'm going to try and put my scraper on it and see if it will lower.

Make sure that the lift lever is all the way down and then push down on the lift arms with your hands. Can you post a photo of the two levers?

 

[JWR]

First off, those are super useful little tractors with 40hp, 4WD, very universally useful. I HOPE what you got at auction is in good shape...

Geeze -- let's start with finding an Operators Manual. I am serious -- find one and use it. You can get them on-line. Just touching the surface, the 3pt hitch hydraulics on your tractor are classic, typical and ordinary. That means they will LIFT ONLY and gravity or weight of your foot or the implements brings them downward. The two levers you mentioned are Position and Draft Control. You must (read the manual) figure out which one is the Draft lever and put it in the "out of the picture" or not in use position. That is either all the way up as on some tractors or all the way down as on others. Draft control is a little complex to describe and best left till later. Forget it for now. It is there in your manual when/if needed. The MAIN one is the Position Control lever and pushing it forward lowers your implement (lets it lower) while backward (upwards, toward the rear) RAISES the 3pt hitch by hydraulic pressure and thus the implement.

By "scraper" I assume you mean a grader blade that fits the 3 pt hitch. YES, when mounted the weight of it will lower your "lift arms" of the 3pt hitch. As Mr Gooding said above you can/should just lower the two lift arms (by hand) to the point where they easily attach to the pins on each end of your scraper blade. You have to push the Position Control lever forward to allow lowering of the lift arms. So you need to read the manual and figure out which is the position control first and then proceed. Then the top link gets attached of course. That gets you to where you can play with the 3pt lift and attached scraper blade and get comfortable and used to it.

I see that the Owner's Manual is on Amazon for $46.98 or other sources as cheap as $20. Also available in PDF which means you can get it in front of you on the PC in a few minutes in a PDF file, etc.

Good luck and please narrate the details as you learn to use your new machine.

 

[robbor]

Tractor seems in good shape. Did an oil change on engine today and got a new hydraulic filter and checked what I could. I put the box blade on blocks up high and got it attached. Didn't play with the controls. Yes I need a manual. I'll post pics tomorrow. She purrs like a kitten

 

[JWR]

Tractor seems in good shape. Did an oil change on engine today and got a new hydraulic filter and checked what I could. I put the box blade on blocks up high and got it attached. Didn't play with the controls. Yes I need a manual. I'll post pics tomorrow. She purrs like a kitten

OK, not to nit-pick your efforts, but there was no need to put the box blade up on blocks. You could have just lowered the lift arms to attach it. I hope you found or realized that hydraulic filters are a lot different than plain "oil filters" and about 3X as expensive.

 

[robbor]

Controls

 

[robbor]

Rear

 

[robbor]

3pt
I'm wondering if something wasn't removed to disable the 3pt controls since they were never used?

 

[JWR]

Well, you still need the owner's manual instead of this forum but... The photo in post # 6 shows that your Position Control lever is the one on the left and is labeled. However you are looking rearward in this picture so the Position Control is actually on your RIGHT when seated on the tractor. That is standard for discussion to speak of left and right assuming one is seated in the driver's seat.

In your first post [I just reread it 3 times...] you asked if one of the two levers was for the left lift arm and the other for the right lift arm and the answer is GOOD GRIEF NO ! Now you know one is for Position and the other is for Draft Control ... and in fact they are LABELED.

In post #8 you are wondering if something was removed to disable the 3 pt hitch and rear hydraulics. Why do you wonder that? What makes you think the 3pt lift does not work ???? Have you tried it ?

I suggest you try this: 1) Move the Position Control Lever forward. Does the box blade implement lower to the ground? It should 2) Raise the Position Control Lever full aft Does that raise the box blade back up off the ground? If 1) and 2) work as I said then your 3pt hydraulics is working as it is supposed to. Especially if 1) or 2) failed, move the Draft Control (interestingly labeled "Draught Control") to the opposite extreme position and see if the lift and lowering then work properly. That Draft Control needs to stay in whichever position disables Draft Control and I cannot tell which it is. The Manual will tell you.

Have you checked the level of hydraulic fluid in the tractor? So far we do not know whether the hydraulics are working or not, BUT, if it is not working it MIGHT be because of very low hydraulic fluid...
SURELY when you changed the hydraulic filter you found out if it had plenty of fluid ?? How are you going to check the hydraulic fluid? Read the manual and see.

 

[robbor]

I'll check more tomorrow, didn't get a chance today. Hyd fluid shows high / full on dip stick. Haven't replaced filter. Filter is factory orig painted with massey chassis paint. Metered shows 800. Haven't moved hydraulics with it running yet.