Hydraulic fittings loosening on 2320/200CX FEL

[flyngti]

I've been holding back on posting until I've had something to say and now it's time. First off, let me sing some praises:

My wife and I finally bought a home on acreage (modest 2 acres) with the intention of turning it into horse property. Thankfully, most of the land had been cleared of really big trees years ago, however we still had lots of work to do. Even though it was a lot of money, we both decided to save our backs and invest in a tractor. After looking at lots of machines, we decided on a JD 2320 with 200CX FEL and bucket forks as it seemed to be just the right size machine for our needs. While we've had to farm out the really big jobs, the 2320 has been a huge help in doing everything from moving gravel to turning the compost bin to pulling small stumps from the ground. Recently, we pulled a bunch of old railroad tie fenceposts out. Because we didn't need them, I placed an ad on Craigslist to give the RR ties away. The people who showed up to get them fully expected to have to heave them into their trucks. Instead, the conversations went like:

them: how do we get these into the truck?
me (with a big grin): hydraulics -- why break your back?

Anyhow, back to the question at hand. This past weekend, my wife was manning the tractor when she noticed a hydraulic leak from the FEL. One of the fittings had come loose and oil was leaking out. I grabbed a rag and a wrench and tightened it back down and the leak stopped. The next day, after lots of loader work, it happened again -- this time it was REALLY loose and oil was pouring out onto the front tire. I again tightened the fitting and the leak stopped. I don't recall which one it was, but it was on different fittings each time. My oil level is now a little low and I stopped by the dealer to pick up some Hygard to bring the level back to normal.

My questions are:

Do these fittings come loose often?
How tight should they be?
After the fittings are tightened again, do you need to do anything to purge any air out of the hydraulic system?
It is enough to just tighten them or should I undo the fitting altogether, put teflon tape on the threads and put the fitting back on?

 

[jdbower]

Where is the leak, exactly? If it's from the quick connect I'd try cleaning them to see if some debris is stopping the connection from being secure. If it's the fittings I'd be concerned that teflon tape would melt. I just got some Loctite 545 that I may try out if I develop leaks, but generally it seems like the fittings should mate together by deformation of the threads - a tricky task as too little allows them to loosen but too much can strip them. The other downside is that if they come loose they're more likely to need to be replaced. I'd see who installed the fittings and ask if there's any guidance for torque values, this isn't a common occurrence but it does happen to some people.

Good luck!

 

[prosperity]

Don't feel bad - the same thing happened to me - only once so far - 2520 w/200CX.

Mine was the fitting on the left bucket tilt cylinder - lower end.

I've made a few posts here in the past couple weeks about my dealers' shop mechanic not using a torque wrench for anything. It seems to be par for the course anymore with a lot of our dealers.

After tighening up my loose fitting, I didn't think anymore of it. But now after your post, I am going to go over all the fittings on my loader just to be sure. I would suggest you do the same.

And also, while we are talking about these things, make sure you go over all you loader mounting bolts, and wheel bolts with a torque wrench after your first 10 hours of use. It calls for this in the manual as standard procedure, but I am much more inclined to give my whole machine a good going over after reports like yours.

 

[aesanders]

The same fitting came loose on my 200cx as well. I think it is just a new machine rattle. Give them a quick turn of the wrench and it's all fixed. I wouldn't worry about bleeding air out. Just top off the hydraulic oil and you are all set. This happens to just about any new machine. Things rattle loose on new machines.

 

[flyngti]

Yes indeed, it's the fittings at the FEL pivot and not the quick disconnects. I suspect that the constant pivot action of the FEL arm loosened the fittings. The second time it happened, the fitting was loose enough to turn by hand! A dangerous situation and would have been real bad if the hose popped off with a full bucket. From here on out, I'm going to do a better job of checking fasteners. Judging tightness on these fitting is tough. The ones attached to the cylinder are not bad but the ones attached to the fluid lines are harder because you're tightening a fitting against something not entirely solid.

I was flipping through the manual last night and noticed the list that is recommended at 10 hrs. I've got 33.5 hours on my tractor (in less than 6 months) and have not been doing all the recommended stuff. On my way home today I need to pick up a bigger torque wrench. My current one is a 3/8" drive and only goes up to 70lbs-ft -- not enough torque for the front wheel bolts.