I recently acquired a Long 445 that I know very little about. It was purchased from someone who couldn't lift a hay bale with it after it sat for a while so they changed the fluid with no luck. My uncle did some light misc. work including flushing it out and bleeding it. He applied weight to the lift and it didn't lower overnight. It lifted attachments. So I got it and it sat a while and water got into the fluid turning it milky. I flushed it out and found some metal flakes/slurry in filter housing (about a tablespoon) and cleaned them out. Fluid is clear now and first attempt to raise a bale lifted the bail up fully at kind of a slow/medium speed with engine at full throttle. Lowered the bale and tried a second time and it almost cleared the ground and front tires did not try to raise either, third time just lifts an inch or two. It lifts implements ok and holds them without lowering but not a hay bale. Are some metal bits moving around creating internal fluid leaks holding something open? When trying to bleed air it will spray fluid pretty good but I haven't pressure tested with a gauge yet nor would I know where to or how much pressure to look for. I have worked on autos a lot and know how much I could damage out of ignorance. Any help would be appreciated. Also I have tried it with rotating lever under lift controls with ball head in different positions and rotating the flat ended lever on the right side of the control valve assembly between my legs. Don't know what each position of that little 4"-5" lever does yet, but anyway. One other question, what is the function of the PTO lever in the position that when engaged the pto turns 1:1 with the tires? Thanks to all who will help.
