Ford FEL problems

[tomlusc]

Hi all,
I have an old Ford 3000 industrial that has a backhoe and FEL. Recently I have had a couple of problems;-

1. The FEL (a pair of cylinders) will only rise on full revs from the engine and then it is painfully slow when under no load (apart from it's own weight). The bucket ( a pair of cylinders) itself works fine and appears strong. The FEL will not rise under load. Once raised it will hold in any position over the course of days. Currently it is half up and the bucket is full of logs I have put in manually. It has not drifted at all in two days. There are no external leaks from the lifting cylinders.

2. The backhoe is very slow to lift and when the controls are released it immediately falls. The bucket and extending boom rams work fine and are strong. I have swapped the hoses over on the controls and there is no difference. I'm convinced that this is an internal cylinder problem but am open to be corrected. The stabilizing rams will each lift the tractor off the ground.

The control spool valves for the backhoe are one unit. The controls for the FEL and stabilizers are another set of spool valves.

I am no expert but to me it seems that the pump is fine otherwise I wouldn't have pressure on the 'good' rams. Having two sets of controls valves I am presuming they are okay as they each run 'good' rams as well as weak ones. I am thinking it is a ram problem?

I understand the backhoe ram as it has no apparent strength in either raising or holding.

It's the FEL that has me confused

Hoping someone can give me some help.
Thanks in advance

 

[devildog1]

Check the disconnects to make sure they are secure and tight. Then switch the bucket curl with the fel lift set and see if that makes a change. Do you know how old hydro fluid is or when the last time it along with filter was changed?
DevilDog

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto on swapping circuits. If bucket curl will run loader up strong, we can isolate pump.

Might have a combo of cyl and valve port problems.

Post back

 

[Soundguy]

Ps, any of this on a front stinger or rear pro pump? Or all off the internal Hyds rapped off of hyd top cover?

 

[tomlusc]

Thanks for the responses.
Hydro fluid and filter were changed when the problem first started.
The pump is mounted on the front of the tractor off the crankshaft. The fluid tank is mounted on the right hand side, just forward of the cab. It gravity feeds the pump. The high pressure pipe (metal) first goes to the backhoe controls, through the spool valves and then off to the stabilizer and FEL controls.
I will have to wait for my days off (Wed & Thurs) until I swap over the circuits.
Am I right with regards to the backhoe?