boom not holding

[Markhodges78]

I have a ford 445 backhoe that has a problem with the boom not holding I知 not sure if my problem is in the control or the cylinder. I did raise the boom all the way up and removed the line from the bottom of the cylinder I was going to attempt to continue to raise the boom to see if fluid came from the bottom of the cylinder I disconnected but as soon as I started the backhoe fluid poured out from the line I disconnected from the control side should this be happening or is there something wrong in the control

Thanks Mark

 

[kthompson]

Not sure on your cylinder but worked with company who made cranes and our boom cylinders had a valve on them to hold the cylinder up. The valve was screwed into the block the up pressure line screwed into. I would think depending on the control valve to hold the cylinder up would not be smart for that requires the hose not to fail.

 

[Zebrafive]

I am guessing it's the valve not cylinder. Can you swap the cylinder lines to a different valve?

 

[ddbackhoe]

I have a ford 445 backhoe that has a problem with the boom not holding I知 not sure if my problem is in the control or the cylinder. I did raise the boom all the way up and removed the line from the bottom of the cylinder I was going to attempt to continue to raise the boom to see if fluid came from the bottom of the cylinder I disconnected but as soon as I started the backhoe fluid poured out from the line I disconnected from the control side should this be happening or is there something wrong in the control

Thanks Mark

Without sounding too disrespectful...That is not a good, sound troubleshooting method. Are you purposely trying to maim/kill yourself ? Why would you think that was a good idea?

The Root Cause of Hydraulic Cylinder Drift
Cylinder Drift - YouTube

 

[EddieWalker]

That is a pretty old backhoe. Has the cylinder ever been rebuilt? How many hours are on it? Odds are very high that the seals around the piston are worn and it needs to be rebuilt. New Holland sells kits that you can buy and do it yourself. It's a pain to get it apart, and even worse getting everything back into the cylinder, but if you take your time, it's doable. I've rebuilt quite a few cylinders, but after talking to the parts guy at New Holland, I found out that they send them out to a specialty shop that does it for less then they sell the parts kit for. New Holland bundles a lot of parts into one kit, and you only use a few of them and then throw the rest away. Most cylinders only need $10 in parts, but New Holland is over $100 for their kits, depending on the kit. Find out who rebuilds cylinders in your area, take off the cylinder and bring it to them to rebuild. I pay around $100 for them to rebuild a cylinder and it's perfect every time without any effort on my part other then taking it off and driving it to them.

 

[Markhodges78]

I am guessing it's the valve not cylinder. Can you swap the cylinder lines to a different valve?

Yes I can give this a try

 

[Markhodges78]

Without sounding too disrespectful...That is not a good, sound troubleshooting method. Are you purposely trying to maim/kill yourself ? Why would you think that was a good idea?

The Root Cause of Hydraulic Cylinder Drift
Cylinder Drift - YouTube

This is how the new holland service tech said they check the piston in the cylinder. How would this cause and harm are damage ? It is the function of the machine only difference is the lower line is removed and if fluid come from the cylinder where line was removed it means it痴 getting past the piston. Makes since to me?

 

[Markhodges78]

That is a pretty old backhoe. Has the cylinder ever been rebuilt? How many hours are on it? Odds are very high that the seals around the piston are worn and it needs to be rebuilt. New Holland sells kits that you can buy and do it yourself. It's a pain to get it apart, and even worse getting everything back into the cylinder, but if you take your time, it's doable. I've rebuilt quite a few cylinders, but after talking to the parts guy at New Holland, I found out that they send them out to a specialty shop that does it for less then they sell the parts kit for. New Holland bundles a lot of parts into one kit, and you only use a few of them and then throw the rest away. Most cylinders only need $10 in parts, but New Holland is over $100 for their kits, depending on the kit. Find out who rebuilds cylinders in your area, take off the cylinder and bring it to them to rebuild. I pay around $100 for them to rebuild a cylinder and it's perfect every time without any effort on my part other then taking it off and driving it to them.

This backhoe is fairly new to me so Im not sure of the history I have rebuilt the cylinders on the front end loader of this machine because you could see fluid coming out any time you hit the controls but Im not seeing much fluid on the outer seal of the lift cylinder but will inspect closer and maybe use some dye. The reason for all this is because the backhoe doesnt have much digging power and sometimes I have to use 2 controls at once to get it to dig so I am trying to isolate the problem. I can tell you that I blowed a hose on the that same cylinder but it was on the other port and no fluid came out of the control unless I moved the the control I know this because I had to get the machine back to the barn

 

[EddieWalker]

If your pistons are leaking fluid past them, you won't see a leak and you wont have any power. Lift your boom up into the air, turn off the engine and see what happens. If it descends to the ground quickly, odds are very good that the piston inside your cylinder isn't holding back the fluid.

 

[LD1]

Do the process you describe but dont start the backhoe.

The weight alone should allow fluid to weep past the piston if that is indeed the problem, and you should see oil coming out the base port as the boom drifts down even without the machine running. If it drifts and no oil comes out that base port....valve is bad. If it drifts and oil also comes out...piston seals are bad.

If it doesnt drift at all......without starting the machine.....then I susmect you have a valve not fully returning to neutral. Which would explain why oil was coming out the base port's hose that was disconnected when you started the machine