Kioti DK45S Joystick Woes

jfalabella · Apr 5, 2014

I am hoping someone out there has experienced this sort of problem and can provide me some ideas. My joystick began to "loosen" where the stick tended to flop back and toward the seat. It gradually got worse. Now I have no hydraulics to move the front end loader up and down. I still have bucket roll but no up and down bucket movement.

When I pulled the rubber boot up to the joystick I determined that there are two cables that operate valves mounted on top of the transmission. Each cable terminates on the bottom of the joystick with a nylon ball. There is a third nylon ball with no cable. Guess there is another option that requires three cables. Well, the one without the cable seems to be the source of flopping. I never observed what it is supposed to do before but I sure as **** can see it is just sliding freely in the bore of the joystick housing allowing the joystick to flop back and towards the seat. The cable that appears to control the up and down motion is stuck. It will not plunge down into the bore like the other one does when you operate the joystick. This tractor has a cab so I doubt there is any water involved to corrode the cable and cause it to rust up. Just in case, I doused the top of it with rust buster.

I was told that sometimes the screws on the back of the valves (on the valve body) that the two cables are controlling and this has been known to happen on Kiotis with factory cabs like this one. I have inspected for this and it appears to not be the case.

The tractor has about 550 hours on it as another data point.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Jon

J_J · Apr 5, 2014

Can you remove the cables and then push and pull the spools in and out of the valve an equal amount?

jfalabella · Apr 5, 2014

Will give that a try in the morning. Do I back off the large nuts on the top of the cable where it goes into the joystick housing until I can unhook the cables from the shafts with the nylon balls?

J_J · Apr 5, 2014

Whatever you have to do to let the spools move freely.

If the spools still don't move, a likely cause is the parts in the cans on the bottom of the valve.

The only other cause would be debris jamming the spools.

SSdoxie · Apr 5, 2014

That 3rd ball is the pivot, there is a bolt going into the bottom of that ball/pin to hold it tight. I have seen that bolt work loose.

jfalabella · Apr 6, 2014

Demis - THANKS. Missing bit of information I really needed. That screw that holds the third pivot is plain missing. It must have vibrated out over time and fell out. That explains why it got "looser" over a period of time. So that solves one of my two problems. Now if I can just figure out why the one control valve is stuck, I will be back in business. So I now need to disconnect both cable from the joystick control and determine if it is a cable problem or a problem within the valve body.

J_J - I gotta find better documentation on the valve body so I can understand how this thing works.

jfalabella · Apr 7, 2014

Before I get too carried away here, I am thinking the solution to this problem could be quite simple. I find this to be the case so often. Think simple. I am guessing here that I can't get the joystick out of float mode without enough leverage from the joystick and the leverage from the joystick is in need of the **** missing screw. I will replace the screw today and see where that takes me.

davel8257 · Apr 13, 2014

Any updates would be appreciated. I loaned my tractor to my son-in-law for a couple of hours. when I got back in the seat, my joystick was 'droooping'. Hard to find the right orientation to raise the bucket. I have'nt taken anything apart. Since the post above mentions cables, my guess is that one has come loose or stretched.

jfalabella · Apr 13, 2014

davel8257 said:
Any updates would be appreciated. I loaned my tractor to my son-in-law for a couple of hours. when I got back in the seat, my joystick was 'droooping'. Hard to find the right orientation to raise the bucket. I have'nt taken anything apart. Since the post above mentions cables, my guess is that one has come loose or stretched.

Not sure what happened to my update on this. Apparently it never got posted.

Turns out the cap head allen screw that "anchors" the third dummy pin just vibrated loose and fell out. Without the screw in place, there was not enough leverage to pop the thing back out of "float" mode. Replaced the screw, popped it out of float and it works just fine. The entire repair cost me $1.09. Thanks to all who provided me their thoughts. As usual, the simplest possible explanation is most likely where you end up.

Kernopelli · Apr 14, 2014

Glad you got it fixed. Don't know if you have a parts or service manual but they are invaluable for anyone that works on their own machine. Next best thing are the factory parts diagrams. Almost all tractor brands now have online diagrams, usually linked through dealership websites. Never as useful as a factory manual....ALWAYS more useful than guessing how something goes together or what a part is.