Bucket Leak down on 4n1

kayaker · Jul 17, 2016

Hello all. i'm in search of some advice and/or direction on resolving an issue with my bucket. I have a Massey Ferguson 1529 with a WR Long 4n1 bucket. I was working it yesterday, moving limbs, clearing brush etc. The bucket began to leak down (curl function), rather rapidly with a load or without a load. If I curl the buck up hard and fast, it appears to stay in place for a while, then begins to fade after several minutes. If lightly curling the bucket up and stop, it immediately begins going down. I can open the 4n1 jaws and they remain open, with no leak down. I have also flip-flopped the lines at the Quick Connects to see if the problem transition to the lifting of the bucket. The issue remains on the bucket curl function. There are no visible leaks.

Does this point to a cylinder issue or a valve issue on the 4n1 function? How would I go about troubleshooting the two?

BukitCase · Jul 17, 2016

You effectively swapped the control valves, and the problem stayed with the cylinders - so at least one of your bucket curl cylinders has an internal leak - most likely a piston seal. If one's bad, the other is probably not far behind so it would make sense to just re-seal both - if you really wanna know which one is actually leaking, you would need to cap off one of the cylinders at a time, and see which one still lets the curl function leak down... Steve

kayaker · Jul 17, 2016

Thanks steve. I'll give that a shot and give it a shot at re-sealing the cylinders. Massey sure makes it hard to locate the correct seal kit. Apparently they used several different cylinders on L100 over the years and none of the casting numbers match mine?!?!? Thanks again!

TSO · Jul 18, 2016

Don't forget to check your quick disconnects, make sure they're all seated correctly.

TMGT · Jul 28, 2016

How is the bucket controlled? If it's a diverter off the curl circuit that can also ba a source of the problem.

wdchyd · Jul 28, 2016

When/if you repack your cylinders beware some of the MF OEM piston seals are oring and backup rings......There are much better replacements at a good local well stocked hydraulic repair shop.

wdchyd · Jul 28, 2016

Tilt Hydraulic Cylinder Seal Kit for Massey Ferguson 236 Loader 837149M91 | eBay

Just look at this seal kit.......a wiper ring and orings/backups

IMHO a chinsy substandard seal kit

kayaker · Aug 8, 2016

Thanks for all the suggestions. Finally had some time to tinker with it this weekend. I unpinned the cylinders from the bucket hoping the faulty one would begin pushing out? Not sure if this was a valid test or not as they never moved? I think hooked one cylinder at a time up. Neither would hold the bucket up more than a few seconds before it would begin to uncurl. With both cylinder hooked up, it take about 40 seconds after a hard curl up. This would lead me to believe it's the hydraulic switch that diverts the fluid to the 4n1? Or, the leak is very small and the weight of the bucket brings it down?

Beginning to think I should just take it to a reputable hydraulic shop!