How do you get curl cylinders back in time?

[Leejohn]

Check for one bad cyl, maybe bent or piston came loose.

 

[DK35vince]

1) Mid-range between max curl and max uncurl, the difference in cylinder extension is about 1.5". The difference in paddle position is about 4", which makes it difficult or impossible to pick up the bucket and also makes one corner of the bucket, when mounted, hit the ground first which means I can't dig a flat-bottomed hole. I assume this means it'd also be impossible to carry something on a set of forks because they'd constantly be drooping to one side.

When the QA is unhooked from the bucket it sounds like the timing bar is simply bent or broken pin.
But here you are saying they are out of time even when hooked to the bucket and the bucket digs uneven ?? I don't get how it can do that, the out of time tilt cylinders would have to twist the entire bucket or fork frames to do that.
How is that possible ??
Sounds like 2 separate issues to me.
The QA is out of time when unhooked ( bent timing bar) and the loader frame is uneven for some reason. ( low tire, bent/loose loader frame, Etc.) causing it to dig uneven when the bucket is on.

 

[SPYDERLK]

OK, a bunch of data, not sure what to make out of all of it.

1) Mid-range between max curl and max uncurl, the difference in cylinder extension is about 1.5". The difference in paddle position is about 4", which makes it difficult or impossible to pick up the bucket and also makes one corner of the bucket, when mounted, hit the ground first which means I can't dig a flat-bottomed hole. I assume this means it'd also be impossible to carry something on a set of forks because they'd constantly be drooping to one side.

Are you getting both of the QA pins to engage correctly?

 

[williaty]

Are you getting both of the QA pins to engage correctly?

Yes, the bucket is getting picked up properly.


So I played with it a little more today. What happens is that, coming from the limit of travel, the right cylinder shoots out (or retracts) an inch or so before the left cylinder starts moving. This appears to be when the timing rod comes into play and forces the cylinders to stay somewhat together. From that point on, the cylinders move more slowly than the right one initially did but they move out together (though with the initial offset preserved). When they get to the other limit of travel, the right one stops moving and the left one keeps going for a moment until it catches up.

When I re-attched the bucket today, I uncurled about half way to make the bucket easy to hook, then got off the tractor and manually lined up the shoes so they were in the same plane (So, dieselshadow, that's a yes to your question about whether I could manually move the shoes into alignment mid-range). Then I got back on the tractor and picked up the bucket using only the main boom lift until I had both sides of the bucket securely hooked before curling back so I could get the retaining pins in. This made it MUCH easier to pick up the bucket!

Still doesn't solve the fundamental problem though, just works around it. It's like the timing bar/pins/mount has so much play in it that it allows about 4" of misalignment at the top of the shoes which causes the other problems.

 

[DK35vince]

Yes, the bucket is getting picked up properly.


So I played with it a little more today. What happens is that, coming from the limit of travel, the right cylinder shoots out (or retracts) an inch or so before the left cylinder starts moving. This appears to be when the timing rod comes into play and forces the cylinders to stay somewhat together. From that point on, the cylinders move more slowly than the right one initially did but they move out together (though with the initial offset preserved). When they get to the other limit of travel, the right one stops moving and the left one keeps going for a moment until it catches up.

When I re-attched the bucket today, I uncurled about half way to make the bucket easy to hook, then got off the tractor and manually lined up the shoes so they were in the same plane (So, dieselshadow, that's a yes to your question about whether I could manually move the shoes into alignment mid-range). Then I got back on the tractor and picked up the bucket using only the main boom lift until I had both sides of the bucket securely hooked before curling back so I could get the retaining pins in. This made it MUCH easier to pick up the bucket!

Still doesn't solve the fundamental problem though, just works around it. It's like the timing bar/pins/mount has so much play in it that it allows about 4" of misalignment at the top of the shoes which causes the other problems.

Why JD puts a QA torque tube on some of their models the size and strength of a number 2 pencil is beyond me.
Surprised they ever work at all.
You are having problems hooking up the bucket because of the torque (timing) tube.
But that will not cause your bucket to dig un level.
If your bucket is not digging level after being hooked up and latched you have a separate issue.
Fix the timing bar, then check your tire pressures is the first thing I would do.

 

[Leejohn]

Unhook the cyls. from the QC hookup and run the cyls in and out and see what going on. Now one well move before the other, but should be able to hold it by hand and then the other one should start to move. If you can't hold the one moving by hand then the other one is binding up. That might be why the timing bar is longgated and twisted. Two things well make that happen bent rod or piston is loose.

 

[pat32rf]

With the forces involved, you would shear off a hardened 1/4 index pin with no problem. I started out replacing sheared pins when I got my tractor 10 years ago but gave up after a few years. when the bucket, forks, snow plow or whatever is clipped on it should have more than enough strength to keep the paddles indexed. Its only when hooking up that you will notice the paddles out of sync, and even then its just a case of putting one blade in place and then rotating the other with the joystick. When they line up, lift the loader so the pins pop in...