I have a L6060 HST cab with a LA1055 loader. When curling the bucket it wants to keep curling and joy stick returns to neutral very slowly. The dealer sent a tech out and he spent a couple hours adjusting things. Seemed fine when he left but the first time I went to use it the problem came back. The raising and lowering of the arms works fine just curl up and down that sticks and you must move the lever back to neutral to stop curl motion. Called the dealer and they are not sure what the problem could be. Thanks for any input.
Loader Curl Sticking
- Thread starter tw86
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buck12
Veteran Member
The joy stick on my 5460 tends to stick. It has done this since new. I thought it would get better over time but after over a year it still sticks.
When I get time I am going to try to lube it and maybe adjust it.
If you find a solution please post it.
When I get time I am going to try to lube it and maybe adjust it.
If you find a solution please post it.
Not sure where you live, but I had that problem because of ice and rust in the cap. We get a lot of condensation here, then it freezes in the winter and the spool can't extend into the cap, or it extends with effort and gets stuck in the frozen muck. I took both my caps off about a month ago and cleaned them out and drilled a drain hole in the low spot on the cap. But that's such an obvious and well known problem I can't believe a dealer's tech wouldn't have checked it. Do you know if he had the valve apart?
rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 9,549
- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
I wonder if your tractor with the cab has a loader control similar to what we have on our Kubota M59? If so, read on....
My controls were getting sticky, and I thought that a spot of oil might help. So I went out expecting to find that like all loader controls the levers were mounted right on the body of the loader spool valve body because that's how most control valves have been made to work for the past 50 years or so. But that's not how it is on our M59.
The M59 control levers are right where expected.....on a heavy mounting stalk by the operator's right knee in the cab so I expected to find that the spool valve itself was right there too. At worst I expected I might have to peel back a rubber dust cover so that I could and squirt in some oil on the lever pivots.
But it turns out that the FEL spool valves aren't up by the control lever at all. Kubota actually put the control levers by the operator and then placed the spool valve body a couple of feet lower down under the floor of the tractor where it lives in a dirty, muddy environment.
That means that the control levers by the operator's knee are remotely connected down to the spool valve body through a hollow shaft full of a really crazy complex set of bellcranks and adjustable push/pull control wires. It it truly bizarre. The whole affair needs to be cleaned and lubed periodically or it is certain to bind up. That may be the problem with yours. Check the exploded view in your parts manual to see if your control levers work remotely like the M59s. If so, and you have to get in there to lube or adjust it then access isn't easy - we need to talk before you give it a go. It involves disassembling some of the HST shift levers, control switches, and the front remote hydraulic switches as well. And once you do gain access to the maze of contol wires, you may find that you need to make up some special tool to lube the more difficult push/pull cables.
WARNING: Take lots of photos and measure the adjusters before changing anything in there.
It's a mystery why Kubota did it that way. The system they use on the M59 is light-years more difficult & expensive than a traditional FEL control setup. Plus if there is any advantage to mounting the spool valve remotely down under the tractor I can't figure out what it would be.
rScotty
My controls were getting sticky, and I thought that a spot of oil might help. So I went out expecting to find that like all loader controls the levers were mounted right on the body of the loader spool valve body because that's how most control valves have been made to work for the past 50 years or so. But that's not how it is on our M59.
The M59 control levers are right where expected.....on a heavy mounting stalk by the operator's right knee in the cab so I expected to find that the spool valve itself was right there too. At worst I expected I might have to peel back a rubber dust cover so that I could and squirt in some oil on the lever pivots.
But it turns out that the FEL spool valves aren't up by the control lever at all. Kubota actually put the control levers by the operator and then placed the spool valve body a couple of feet lower down under the floor of the tractor where it lives in a dirty, muddy environment.
That means that the control levers by the operator's knee are remotely connected down to the spool valve body through a hollow shaft full of a really crazy complex set of bellcranks and adjustable push/pull control wires. It it truly bizarre. The whole affair needs to be cleaned and lubed periodically or it is certain to bind up. That may be the problem with yours. Check the exploded view in your parts manual to see if your control levers work remotely like the M59s. If so, and you have to get in there to lube or adjust it then access isn't easy - we need to talk before you give it a go. It involves disassembling some of the HST shift levers, control switches, and the front remote hydraulic switches as well. And once you do gain access to the maze of contol wires, you may find that you need to make up some special tool to lube the more difficult push/pull cables.
WARNING: Take lots of photos and measure the adjusters before changing anything in there.
It's a mystery why Kubota did it that way. The system they use on the M59 is light-years more difficult & expensive than a traditional FEL control setup. Plus if there is any advantage to mounting the spool valve remotely down under the tractor I can't figure out what it would be.
rScotty
Thanks for the replies. The tractor is a year old this month and the dealer sent out a tech who lubed up everything and made some adjustments. They are supposed to send someone out this week and give a a second try. Mine too has pretty much done this since new. I'm in Missouri and the time of year does not affect the operation. At first just thought it was a little stiff. My John Deere sprung back to neutral very easily and made bucket movements smooth. All grass and everything was cleaned out to make sure that wasn't restricting movement. I will get a parts manual and see what that shows. If anyone has gone from another make to the Kubota was there any difference in the movement of the stick that was noticeable?
I use my neighbor's JD for larger tasks, he has a bigger tractor. It takes a bit of use to get used to the different feel of a tractor, but I don't notice any real difference between the movement of his controls compared to mine. Could you go to the dealer and try a few other tractors he has on the lot? Hopefully he'd have the same model but if not try a few other large Ls and see how they feel.
buck12
Veteran Member
I went from a Mahindra 2615 with a very smooth joystick to a Kubota with a joystick that tends to stick. I’m happy with my tractor but the sticking joystick is annoying.
jeff9366
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2011
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- 12,777
- Tractor
- Kubota Tractor Loader L3560 HST+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3,700 pounds bare tractor, 5,400 pounds operating weight, 37 horsepower
After six years of use my L3560 joy stick became sticky from dust and sap. Liberal application of "Blaster" solvent over three days cured the problem.
Thanks, I'll try all the suggestions and see if anything was missed when they worked on it the last time. Dealer was supposed to send someone out the other day but they must have been busy. I'll see if they have another one on the lot and see how that feels. I'll post what my results are.