Loader bucket curl circuit gets floppy after sitting for a while

[oldnslo]

Agiardan
Floppy bucket syndrome is caused when the load in the bucket causes the bucket to dump faster the oil is being pumped into the cap end of the curl cylinders. This creates a vacuum or air pocket in the cap end of theses cylinders. Simple fix is to install an orifice or flow control valve in the rod line. This restricts the oil exiting while dumping and reduces the opportunity for bucket to dump faster than oil is being pumped in.

sitting over night any air in the oil in the cylinder will separate from oil leaving an air pocket.

if you are parking the tractor with loader in the air and bucket is dumping overnight would also potentially create vacuum on cap end of the cylinders creating an air.

 

[Dave M7040]

Google "Floppy Bucket Syndrome."

A common loader bucket problem that design features like "Fast Dump," or REGEN are designed to minimize.

Loader Valve REGEN Feature Explained​

Regen is a "feature" of most modern FEL (Front End Loader) valves, it's on the Dump (joystick far right) circuit, and is also referred to as "Fast Dump". The reason it is nice to have is that without it, the weight of a filled bucket can actually "pull" the bucket down faster than the fluid can enter the other side of the cylinder, this will create a air pocket and give the bucket a "floppy" feeling until the joystick is held in the dump mode a few seconds to refill the cylinder pushing the air past the seals. So we add "regen" or "regenerative" function to the valve.

Regen solves this problem by actually filling both sides of the cylinder at the same time with hydraulic fluid. But how will that work you might ask? Well, because there is more volume on the side of the cylinder that extends it since the rod is taking up space in the other side, it "overpowers" the rod side and lets the cylinder extend-thereby dumping the bucket. So since now both sides of the cylinder are "pressurized", the air pocket can not develop, eliminating the "floppy" bucket syndrome. One other added bonus is that the bucket actually dumps faster due to the higher flow rate required to do all this, that's why it's referred to as "fast dump" sometimes.

To assess your situation, try and recall exactly what action you did with your bucket before shutting down the tractor.

Dave M7040