Ford 1900 3PL questions

[cravenhaven]

I am a recent owner to this little tractor and new to tractors in general so my questions are a bit from both sides of my ignorance.

1. Do the hydraulics that control the 3PL provide any meaningful downwards pressure. When I am using implements such as the grader blade or plow the control seems to allow lift and drop to ground level but I cant get it to force the implement into the ground at all. Is this correct?.

2. I find that the control of the 3PL height is only variable over the top 2 inches or so of movement of the control lever and its very difficult to get it to set at just the right height. Is this adjustable or is there something wrong?.

Allan

 

[J_J]

Very few tractors provide down pressure.

It is very hard to set the 3pt attachment and keep it in place, due to cyl creep, or valve leakage.

 

[cravenhaven]

Very few tractors provide down pressure.

It is very hard to set the 3pt attachment and keep it in place, due to cyl creep, or valve leakage.

Thanks JJ,
But should the adjustment of the height from full up to down on the 3PL be controlled by only a third of the movement on the control lever?

 

[J_J]

If the control valve is matched to the pump flow, the operation should be almost linear.

You are in control of the fluid going into the 3pt cyl, so the valve lever is applying so much fluid to the cyl.

If you move the lever a little, the 3pt action will be slow, and if you use full lever, the 3pt will raise fast.

The pressure generated will be developed by the load on the cyl.

 

[cravenhaven]

Hi JJ,
The position of the lever controls the height of the arms, not the speed of movement. However this only happens over a very limited range of movement of the lever. How do I adjust it?.

 

[J_J]

Thanks JJ,
But should the adjustment of the height from full up to down on the 3PL be controlled by only a third of the movement on the control lever?

You have three position on the 3pt lever.

Lever at bottom part is for descend or dump.

There is a neutral position where the 3pt should hold.

There is the raise position from about middle to full height.

The knob under the seat controls the transport/lock or the speed of descent.

 

[cravenhaven]

Sorry to take so long in following up on this. I have since discovered a better understanding of how a tractor works and think I am beginning to understand a little of how the 3PL operates. The 3PL control does indeed set the height over the full range, my problem had been in not understanding that a 3PL does not provide downward pressure at all. At the time of posting, the implements I was using meant that the 3PL was only allowed to operate in the mid to high positions and I have since discovered that it does indeed operate over the full range if the implement allows it.
The draft control is another matter altogether and doesnt really affect me much. I experimented with it during a recent grading operation and found that it does have an effect on the "tracking" of the blade but not sufficient to be useful over relatively short runs.
Thanks all for your help.
Allan