EE_Bota
Veteran Member
M-F 175 Hydraulic remotes spit air
My elderly H.S. math teacher needs a hand, and I have two. Although I live in town and have a little Kubota for mowing the yard, he has a M-F 175 with what looks like dual factory remotes.
Tractor: M-F 175 multi-power lever on dash. Remote levers on driver's right.
Actual remotes on drivers left. Shaft linkages to control valves are shaft within a shaft. Has screws that can screw in or out to make the remote single acting or double acting. They get/return hydraulic fluid through a round plate about where the drivers left foot would be. There is a control lever installed in that round plate that appears to be the pto control lever, but not sure about this. Repair manual on order, but has not arrives yet. Lift works fine.
Testing: Did not have proper pipe bushings to do pressure tests. But, I installed two hoses (in turn) into each set of remotes redirected the open ends of the hose into the transmission fill hole so I could observe the flow.
Flow was not normal. volume was very low, and seemed energetic like it was spitting air. I could block the flow with my thumb. Fluid seemed creamy like it had entrained air or water. I diverted flow to a small glass jar, marked the fluid level on the jar and allowed it to return to normal color to see if the level dropped in the jar due to air bubbles leaving the fluid, and to see whether water fractions out. No water was observed, but the level did drop as the color turned darker, indication some entrained air.
Flow did seem to be better with lift down, but not good. Sometime flow would be better in first few seconds after shifting the remote, but quickly would sputter and spit.
What I have studied: I studied his owners manual. valves appeared to be original, but information was not that great. There is a picture of a device on the top of the transmission that would indicate a block shaped device to combine the flow of the main pump with the aux pump, but his tractor does not have this.
I studied the document mf130-180aux-hydraulics.pdf but the pictures are too dark to identify his specific connections, although I came to the conclusion that his are the very last remotes documented in this pdf.
In the mf130-180aux-hydraulics.pdf it seemed to be saying that his system is completely independent of the lift pump. I am curious...do any of you know that from where I said the hydraulic source comes from...the circular plate around the drivers left foot?
Anyone know what I am in for as I try to fix his tractor? Have you seen this problem, or fixed it yourself?
If I saw this in a factory setting, I would think the pump pick-up tube has a hole, or fluid level is going low near the pump, although the dipstick shows fluid level to be perfect.
I have not located/checked/cleaned any hydraulic filter yet. Owner's manual does not even mention it. Service manual will (hopefully) when it arrives.
My elderly H.S. math teacher needs a hand, and I have two. Although I live in town and have a little Kubota for mowing the yard, he has a M-F 175 with what looks like dual factory remotes.
Tractor: M-F 175 multi-power lever on dash. Remote levers on driver's right.
Actual remotes on drivers left. Shaft linkages to control valves are shaft within a shaft. Has screws that can screw in or out to make the remote single acting or double acting. They get/return hydraulic fluid through a round plate about where the drivers left foot would be. There is a control lever installed in that round plate that appears to be the pto control lever, but not sure about this. Repair manual on order, but has not arrives yet. Lift works fine.
Testing: Did not have proper pipe bushings to do pressure tests. But, I installed two hoses (in turn) into each set of remotes redirected the open ends of the hose into the transmission fill hole so I could observe the flow.
Flow was not normal. volume was very low, and seemed energetic like it was spitting air. I could block the flow with my thumb. Fluid seemed creamy like it had entrained air or water. I diverted flow to a small glass jar, marked the fluid level on the jar and allowed it to return to normal color to see if the level dropped in the jar due to air bubbles leaving the fluid, and to see whether water fractions out. No water was observed, but the level did drop as the color turned darker, indication some entrained air.
Flow did seem to be better with lift down, but not good. Sometime flow would be better in first few seconds after shifting the remote, but quickly would sputter and spit.
What I have studied: I studied his owners manual. valves appeared to be original, but information was not that great. There is a picture of a device on the top of the transmission that would indicate a block shaped device to combine the flow of the main pump with the aux pump, but his tractor does not have this.
I studied the document mf130-180aux-hydraulics.pdf but the pictures are too dark to identify his specific connections, although I came to the conclusion that his are the very last remotes documented in this pdf.
In the mf130-180aux-hydraulics.pdf it seemed to be saying that his system is completely independent of the lift pump. I am curious...do any of you know that from where I said the hydraulic source comes from...the circular plate around the drivers left foot?
Anyone know what I am in for as I try to fix his tractor? Have you seen this problem, or fixed it yourself?
If I saw this in a factory setting, I would think the pump pick-up tube has a hole, or fluid level is going low near the pump, although the dipstick shows fluid level to be perfect.
I have not located/checked/cleaned any hydraulic filter yet. Owner's manual does not even mention it. Service manual will (hopefully) when it arrives.
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