FEL Fading Curl

[Yooper snow farmer]

Howdy,
I need to fix my 2006 JD 4320 with a 300 FEL before the first crop of snow is ready for harvast. The bucket curl will not hold in position, it slowly fades with no load in it. There are no signs of leaks anywhere. What could this be?

 

[J_J]

Howdy,
I need to fix my 2006 JD 4320 with a 300 FEL before the first crop of snow is ready for harvast. The bucket curl will not hold in position, it slowly fades with no load in it. There are no signs of leaks anywhere. What could this be?

Probably a worn or leaking curl spool in the valve. To test this, switch the hoses from the curl to the lift arms, and if the problem switches, then you will know.

A worn spool will leak internally. Cylinders may leak internally, Maybe a combination of both. Both situation can be checked.

 

[kennyd]

My money is on the cylinders leaking internally. They can be rebuilt easily if you have basic mechanical skills...let me know if you want to tackle it and I will get more detailed

Oh, and Welcome to TBN

 

[J_J]

Install a needle valve in the hose going to the curl cyl base port. Open the valve, and raise the bucket up, and retract the curl cyl fully. Now turn the needle valve fully closed. The cylinder should be in hyd lock. The bucket should not tilt/curl down.

One other scenario could occur, and that is if the fluid bypasses the spool section in neutral, fluid could leak into the base if the cylinder, and the bucket could curl down all by itself, since the weight of the bucket would try and pull a vacuum, and aid this situation.

I believe that if the cylinders leak internally, that the volume of fluid is different on each side of the piston, and would only leak until the pressure would equalize, and that would only drop a little.

 

[Egon]

Is the joystick loose and sloppy?

Are all the joy stick connections lubed up and connected solidly?

Are the connections from the stick worn or stiff and not returning to center properly?

 

[Opti-Mist]

While I have nothing to contribute to solving you concern at the moment, welcome to TBN from another yooper!

 

[Yooper snow farmer]

Thanks for all the great suggestions, the cylinders rebuild would be very helpful. Now I just need to get the time to repair it.