L35 - no hydraulic power to backhoe

[Smokeydog]

Hydraulic cylinders sitting without relieving pressure can relax and possibility pull air in thru multiple seal points. Water too. Both cause all kinds of symptoms and problems. Had a dipper hose bust on a full size backhoe. After replacing took awhile to work the air out.

 

[Jelf]

Solved! Backhoe is mounted on the tractor and tucked away in the barn. What a relief!

I did two things.

1. Taking care to be safe, I was able to release pressure from the male backhoe hose. Yes, there was some pressure there.

2. I lifted the front of the hoe with the tractor bucket and placed wooden blocks under the base of the boom and under the frame near the front. By fiddling with those blocks I was able to change the center of gravity such that I could operate the boom cylinder a bit in both directions without hooking up the hydraulics. As the cylinder moved, the front of the hoe would tilt back and forth.

I do not have an exact sequence of steps to describe since I went through several sequences of fiddling with the blocks, releasing any pressure, moving the boom cylinder, hooking the hydraulics to the tractor and seeing if it worked.

One time with the hydraulics hooked up the boom very slowly closed, but nothing else worked.

More fiddling and then one last test before giving up for the day. This time instead of trying to raise the stabilizers I reached for the control that emptied the bucket AND IT WORKED.

I then completed the process of hooking up the backhoe and life is good.

Thanks to everyone that took the time to comment.

 

[Smokeydog]

Great! love a happy ending!

 

[Smokeydog]

Glad you resolved your problem. Wish I could better understand what caused the problem.

Attachments like grapples can build up pressure stored off the machine. Reliving the pressure to reconnect may only involve a teaspoon of hydraulic fluid to be released. Larger, more complex equipment like a backhoe have more risk particularly if moving after disconnecting? While the seals are good at sealing liquid in, not so good at sealing air out especially at vacuum. Little air inleakage is then compressible causing problems when reconnected?

Depressurizing equipment before storing important. Wish I knew what causes the M59 backhoe to act up and how to prevent it. Little bit of air in the wrong place messing with the valving somehow? When removing the backhoe, de mount then turn the tractor off, operate all valves to completely depressure the system, disconnect the hydraulic lines, couple two hydraulic lines together for storage. Only piece of equipment to act up this particular way. Had three other detachable backhoes and one non-detachable hoe without these symptoms.

 

[Carl_NH]

Yes - good to see its' resolved without issue. I do the same as you Smokeydog - when removing the BH (it goes on a rolling dolly setup) I block up the front plate under the swing arm, raise the stablizers, lower the boom then turn off the tractor.

At that point relieve all the pressure, remove BH lines, connect together, then move the valves again to ensure there is no pressure in system.

 

[5030]

What I do to keep from mixing up hydraulic connections (because a couple of my hay tools require multiple hydraulic hook up's to the remotes) (have have 3 sets of connections plus flow control on both my Kubota's is, I color code not only the tractor female remotes, but the implement hookup's with colored zip ties. That way I get them correctly hooked up every time. You just match the colors. Easy Peasy.

 

[Smokeydog]

The M59 backhoe is unique is that it has two supply pump lines and one common return. Can connect the main supply to return when removed. Dedicated swing supply is a small line and disconnect size. Wonder if design is why sometimes some owners lose swing temporarily in one direction?

 

[Stonehaller]

On the M59, still have intermittent loss of either the left swing or down boom.

Check the joy stick linkage. It may not be fully stroking the valves in one direction causing the loss of function. There may be debris restricting linkage movement.

M59 has three connections and two valves to change. The valves have linkages that disappear under the floor sheetmetal. Their adjustment might be an issue?

The one valve dumps the swing pump to tank. If the valve did not close all the way you would have reduced or no swing function. The other routes the power beyond from the loader to the 3-point. The backhoe is connected to the power beyond. Blocking power beyond to 3-point sends the power beyond oil to the backhoe. If the valve is leaking you would have reduced or no function on boom, dipper, bucket and stabilizers. As that is not the condition you describe, the joy stick linkage is the likely suspect.

 

[Smokeydog]

Check the joy stick linkage. It may not be fully stroking the valves in one direction causing the loss of function. There may be debris restricting linkage movement.



The one valve dumps the swing pump to tank. If the valve did not close all the way you would have reduced or no swing function. The other routes the power beyond from the loader to the 3-point. The backhoe is connected to the power beyond. Blocking power beyond to 3-point sends the power beyond oil to the backhoe. If the valve is leaking you would have reduced or no function on boom, dipper, bucket and stabilizers. As that is not the condition you describe, the joy stick linkage is the likely suspect.

Thanks for the suggestion. Linkage is in good shape. No debris, corrosion or binding.

No bad noises and can feel or hear fluid flow.

Problem is very intermittent. Couple of minutes of moving it and other functions fixes the problem. Hasn’t yet been enough or long lasting of a problem to break into the hydraulic system…yet. Always wonder if it will fix itself next time. It might get me in a bind sometimes.

 

[dougtrr2]

Thanks for the suggestion. Linkage is in good shape. No debris, corrosion or binding.

No bad noises and can feel or hear fluid flow.

Problem is very intermittent. Couple of minutes of moving it and other functions fixes the problem. Hasn’t yet been enough or long lasting of a problem to break into the hydraulic system…yet. Always wonder if it will fix itself next time. It might get me in a bind sometimes.

No doubt in my mind. At some point murphy's law will raise its ugly head, and it will be at the most inopportune time.

Doug in SW IA