Ford 550 backhoe boom VERY sensitive (too fast). Is there a flow control?

ericm979 · Dec 11, 2019

Mine (I'm not the OP, just had a similar issue) is a supposed low hours unit I got used from my dealer. It looks low hours. The dealer's honest and I think that if the previous owner had returned the BH saying I can't work this thing, they'd have looked into it. I assumed the valves are just not that good quality and it shows in the boom since it's got the weight of the dipper and bucket on the other end. But it's possible that valve has a problem.

Billrog · Dec 11, 2019

Boom cylinders generally have a flow re-stricter which may have been taken out or lost when a hose was replaced.

777funk · Dec 11, 2019

5030 said:
Even cheaper, take a penny and drill a hole in it and put it in the fitting.

I like this idea. So it should fit in the fitting on the cylinder (as in take off the fitting the hose connects to)? So I will probably need one in both extend and retract's fitting? If so, that just doubled my cost to two cents... lol. But seriously, I'd like to slow it on both sides... so restrict each side of the cylinder?

aczlan said:
Is this a new thing, or is this a new to you tractor? My first inclination would be to run the offending cylinder all the way in and all the way out a couple of times just in case you have a slug of air inside the cylinder.
That won't cause it to go fast, but it will cause to bounce at the end when you try to stop and it might take it a second from when you move the controls to when it starts moving so it goes from stopped to moving very quickly in a hurry.

Aaron 5

This is an old 1969 Ford 4500. I have a feeling it's been like this for a long time and the PO just dealt with it.

aczlan · Dec 11, 2019

777funk said:
I like this idea. So it should fit in the fitting on the cylinder (as in take off the fitting the hose connects to)? So I will probably need one in both extend and retract's fitting? If so, that just doubled my cost to two cents... lol. But seriously, I'd like to slow it on both sides... so restrict each side of the cylinder?

Yes.

777funk said:
This is an old 1969 Ford 4500. I have a feeling it's been like this for a long time and the PO just dealt with it.

So this is not something that you've had for a while and it just started happening.
If running the cylinder all the way in and all the way out a couple times does not fix it, spacewould go with the restrictor on both ends, the penny idea should work.
If not, Surplus Center sells flow restrictors for fairly cheap ($10-20 each: Flow Control Valves | Hydraulic Valves | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com ).

Aaron Z