>> BUCKET CYLINDERS ??

[BearKiller]

I have no notion of the make/manufacturer of my loader.

It does have it's own pump and reservoir, independent of the tractor hydraulics.

A few weeks ago, I was moving several buckets of #5 stone and the bucket tilt cylinders seemed to perform strongly.

This was the day that I had a hose rupture and replaced it with new; I had not used the loader for anything heavier than the empty bucket since that day.

Then, I devised myself a set of pallet forks from 4-inch channel-iron; about forty inches long from the leading edge of the bucket.

With the empty forks, everything is fine.

I added a small pallet and loaded it with a 24,000 BTU window unit A/C; more than I would want to carry by myself, but not more than I could.

With this small load, the mast picks it up fine, and would go all the way up if I so desired.

But, the only way the bucket will tilt upwards/backwards is when the pallet/forks are on the ground.

I can lift the load with the mast, but when I use the tilt lever, it loses ground instead of gaining.

When I replaced the hose, could I have gotten air in the line, thus causing my weak tilt situation ??

Or, am I just expecting too much ??

Thanks.

 

[J_J]

If you raise the load off the ground , you say it will not tilt?

You could have gotten air in the line, but after several cycles it should be gone.

 

[J_J]

Is the loader pump feeding anythng else. Does the valve go into relief?

Did you only take off one hose?

 

[BearKiller]

Is the loader pump feeding anythng else.

No, only the loader.

Does the valve go into relief?

I am not sure what you mean by going into relief.

The control handle returns to center when I let it go.

Did you only take off one hose?

After I think about it, I also took off the four hoses that connect at the control valves, not the main IN from pump and OUT to reservoir.

Someone had put the two shortest hoses in the farthest positions and had them in almost a kink.

I switched them around, putting the longer hoses in the farthest positions and the shorter hoses in the closer positions, adding street-ells to get rid of the kinks.

Since these hoses were off, I have cycled all loader functions numerous times; I just hadn't had reason to lift any weight until today.

Fluid level is good.

Since my first posting, I put the bucket down, then raised the front wheels completely in the air = plenty of power there.

With no load on the pallet forks, the bucket quickly flips up to its highest.

With three plain old pallets, nothing on the pallets, when I attempt to tilt them back, nothing happens, or it will tilt forward instead of back.

Get rid of the pallets and it works fine.

There is plenty of power at the big mast cylinders.


Please explain this relief business.

Thanks.

 

[J_J]

I think in switching your hoses around, they became mixed up.

Redo the hoses. Loosen the fittings at the control valve, and whatever function you apply, that fitting will leak. For instance, if you want to curl, look at the fittings and see which is leaking.

About the reliefs, if you go to the extreme of the cylinder, the FEL valve will go into relief, and you can hear it. That tells you that at least you have pressure, which is lower than the pump pressure.

 

[Ken Cunningham]

Since you said when you try to tilt back it will tilt forward or do nothing leads me to believe you have the hoses of to only one of the cylinders hooked up backwards. One is trying to push and the other on is trying to pull.

 

[BearKiller]

I think in switching your hoses around, they became mixed up.

Since you said when you try to tilt back it will tilt forward or do nothing leads me to believe you have the hoses of to only one of the cylinders hooked up backwards. One is trying to push and the other on is trying to pull.

I wish it were that simple.

I very carefully drew a "map", before moving anything.

To get one cylinder backwards to the other, I would have had to switch around the bucket-cylinder hoses at the front of the tractor.

Had I have gotten anything backwards where I was working, it would simply work opposite of what it should.


One other thing I noticed :

With the forks on the bucket and a couple empty pallets, the bucket won't hold position, but steadily leaks off; it doesn't just fall, but it drops within half a minute.

Is it possible that some kind of trash has invaded the control-valve for the tilt function, thus causing my problem ??

These are two, side-by-side, "stacked" valves, consisting of an "IN" end, and an "OUT" end, with the two control valves sandwiched between.

This type valve can be single, or as many as you desire to stack.

Do you guys think it would be worth a shot to remove and dis-assemble the valve for cleaning and inspection ??


Thanks.

 

[BearKiller]

>> PROBLEM SOLVED <<


It was simple, once I discovered what was wrong.

CAUSE and EFFECT.

I have only had this second-hand tractor for a couple months and am still chasing previous owner "repairs" and re-repairing them.

When the loader worked fine, the left side of the grille-shroud-front-end thingie was un-attached and flopping around, missing two fat metric bolts.

Not dreaming that it could possibly have any bearing on the loader's hydraulic-pump, I put two shiny new bolts in the grille/shroud and fixed it up neat.

What I did not know was that when it was loose and drooped down, it was putting tension against the pump mount over on the other side of the tractor.

Also, some dumby had cut a square hole through the shroud behind the pump and put a L-bracket from a pump bolt, through that hole, and the other end riding against the side of the radiator as a brace for the pump; it is a wonder that it hadn't worn a hole through the radiator.

I removed and discarded that mess.

I took all the mounting bolts out of the pump and it's brackets.

I put spacer bushings and flat washers between the pump bracket and the sheet metal grille/shroud, making a much more solid attachment.

I stacked some flat washers behind the belt tensioning nut, thus giving it a lot more useful travel.

I put it all back together and tensioned the belt tight as a fiddle-string.


I put the pallet forks on the bucket and made a few little test runs.

I run the forks under a stack of three heavy pallets with riser blocks attached; when I tilted back the forks/bucket, it nearly tossed the pallets over the tractor.

I moved around several heavy skids of stuff and the bucket tilt seemed to work fine.


Thanks everyone for your input and trying to help me figure this out.

 

[J_J]

All though you seem to have fixed the problem, I don't think anybody knew the pump was belt driven. A gage in the system would have indicated when things were nor right. If you have very little pressure, it usually is the pump. Glad you figured it out.

 

[BearKiller]

A gage in the system would have indicated when things were nor right.

Please expand upon this gauge business.

I have been using hydraulics all my life, track-hoes, back-hoes, dump-trucks, fork-lifts, articulated loaders, you name it, and have never seen a pressure gauge for the hydraulic system.

I would like to add a gauge to my system.


Thanks.