So OK. So I decided that this last weekend would be the time that I would try removing my FEL for the first time to mow my yard, trails, and orchard with my finish mower and bush hog. After the great things many said about mowing without the FEL on a different forum it I had to try. And yes, those things they said were right. It was nice.
Even with power steering the tractor was much easier to steer with the loader off. Of course maneuvering was much easier, and forward vision was better too. I did have my suitcase weights on the front so the tractor remained balanced with the mowers on the rear.
I also noticed that the tractor was far less bouncy with the loader off making for a more comfortable ride. That got me to thinking that running around all the time with the FEL out front bouncing can't be good for the mountings and frame either. So the short story here is that I may start dropping the FEL to mow from now on.
The long story is that reattaching the FEL was a pain. First, I do not have room in the pole barn to drop it and level space is in short supply in the yard. I went ahead and dropped it on a cement pad that was fairly level though the tractor stood on ground rising from the pad. The booms ended up in a position that they interfered with the front tires when I backed up. Not too much of a problem unhooking since I simple put a 4 x 4 under the rear FEL frame. But it caused a major problem when it came time to reattach the loader. I almost lost some fingers when trying to hold the boom in position so that the tractor could be maneuvered into position - won't do that again! I definitely will need to come up with some good level area to drop the loader in the future.
The bigger problem I had was with the quick disconnect hydraulic lines. Since I have never had the FEL off in over a year that I have owned the tractor the couplings had dirt and sand inside the collars that have to slide back. I spent considerable time spraying them down with WD40 and twisting and pulling the collars back to free them up. This was made far more difficult than it should be by the fact that Cub Cadet clustered all four couplers so close together that it is impossible to get a good grip on the collars to retract them. After considerable time spent working them they popped apart and I was disconnected.
I took advantage of being able to get to the quick connects while the FEL was off and really cleaned and freed them up. I figured that would make reassembly easier. After two days of mowing I went to reattach the loader and found I could not get the hydraulic lines reattached. No mater how hard I tried two of them would not go. I tried putting lube on them, inspected the o-rings, and did everything I could but no luck. Since it was so hard to get a good purchase on the collars I assumed that my problem had to do with not properly retracting the collar and inserting the hose end. After 45 minutes of trying every conceivable position and tool I could think of I stopped and thought about it.
I have never had problems attaching the hydraulic hoses on the tiller on my Ingersoll 448. And air hoses can be attached even with air pressure on them, right? But wait. The Ingersoll lines attach to hydraulic motors (not cylinders) so they would bleed pressure instead of holding it. And air lines contain air which is compressible instead of hydraulic fluid which is not. I have never heard of having to bleed the lines when attaching an FEL but I decided it was time to try. I also realized that though the FEL was sitting in a position with no great load on it I had disconnected it in the evening when it was relatively cool and now I was working in blisteringly hot sun so the lines probably built back pressure just from the heat.
I depressed the ball on the male end of one line expecting a brief dribble of fluid. What I got was a bath from a momentary spray of hydraulic fluid. That's another thing I will not do again. For the other lines I traced their hoses to couplings at the loader cylinders and loosened them briefly to bleed pressure. Now back to the quick connects and except for slippery and scraped hands from working in the tight cluster things went well. I was able to use a wide bladed screw driver to held depress the collars where I couldn't get a good grip and everything went back together.
What took over two hours to reattach the FEL should take about 10 to 15 minutes in the future if I find really level ground for it, keep the collars cleaned and free, and crack the lines to bleed pressure before attempting to reattach them.
JN
