lift arms raise on their own

[coolconnection]

Anyone have this problem? I disconnect/unhook my mower deck. Turn the tractor back on with nothing on the quick attach and the lift lever in neutral position the lift arms start to slowly rise up on their own. I checked several times by moving the lever but it still rises on its own. If you had it what did you do to correct it? Thanks

 

[J_J]

Sounds like your valve is not return back to neutral.

Check springs and nut in the can on the bottom of the valve.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Is your draft control still on? Mine will do that if the draft control is still on.

 

[MossRoad]

The 400 series doesn't have draft control.

I had that happen once after a very long day of work. It bothered me. I moved the joystick around quite a bit in all directions. It never happened again.

I'd call Terry at Power Trac and see what they say.

 

[coolconnection]

Thanks I will try moving the joy stick around more the next time I am on it. I did check the hydraulic valve under the lever and it was very lose. I left it lose and it didn't help so I tightened it.

 

[MossRoad]

Just so we're clear, when you say you left the lift lever in the neutral position, you meant the float position, correct?

If so, that's the same thing I experienced. With no weight on the FEL after I removed the attachment, the FEL arms would raise while in the float position. Not fast, but up they went.

 

[coolconnection]

No not float. Neutral between up and down.

 

[cqaigy2]

I sprayed some dry silicon lub in the bottom of the lever while moving it around, kind of like MR did, and that seemed to loosen things up so that it wouldn't stick.

 

[MossRoad]

No not float. Neutral between up and down.

Oh. Well, that's different than what I had. Mine occurred in float with no implement on it.
Perhaps there is some crud in your valve causing it to not close completely and leak fluid to the UP side of the lift cylinders.
Try cycling the heck out of it by moving the joystick rapidly between up and down to knock the crud loose.
If that doesn't do it, you may need to remove the valve (not a fun job) and clean it out or have it serviced at a local hydraulic shop if you can't do it yourself.

 

[ponytug]

Did you talk to Terry about this?

I had trouble with leak down caused by a pilot sticking on my joystick. Leakup may be caused by crud in the particular valve, but you may want to try the following, before taking the whole valve assembly off the tractor to a hydraulic shop. The procedure is pretty straightforward.

First make sure the arms are on something solid, like the ground. You do not want them coming down on you. When you open the valve assembly, it will release any remaining pressure, so you want to ensure that all the cylinders have been relieved before starting the process. (PT engine off, cycle the joystick amongst all the positions long enough to release any pressure.)

On the valve assembly of the joystick, there is a small cap on the valve that covers a check valve. If you unscrew it, you may dislodge the crud. I had an issue on my 1445 that was solved by doing this. I never saw the crud, but disassembly, cleaning and reassembly caused the issue to go away. Just get it really clean before you start the disassembly, and keep it clean during the process.

All the best,

Peter

Oh. Well, that's different than what I had. Mine occurred in float with no implement on it.
Perhaps there is some crud in your valve causing it to not close completely and leak fluid to the UP side of the lift cylinders.
Try cycling the heck out of it by moving the joystick rapidly between up and down to knock the crud loose.
If that doesn't do it, you may need to remove the valve (not a fun job) and clean it out or have it serviced at a local hydraulic shop if you can't do it yourself.