Massey 253 intermittent hydraulics problem... Help?

[red alder ranch]

I just bought a firewood business and with it came a MF 253 tractor with a MF 236 loader on it.

It starts and runs great, but the hydraulics for the loader and lift arms are intermittent and very slow when they do work. He used to use this tractor to move logs around before he got a small excavator and then let it sit, but the loader did work back then.

I have a Yanmar 32hp that I've been using for about ten years, but a big farm tractor like this is new to me. Took some head scratching over the owner's manual to figure out all the levers, and I'm still not sure I have them all sorted.

The tractor has never had the three point lift or PTO used, it was basically used at a soil and bark yard for loading, and then the firewood guy has had it for nine years but has almost never used it. It spent most of the past 5 years in his barn. He had to have the injectors worked on about a year ago because it sat so long. Mechanic came out and sorted that out.

The fluid is exactly full and super clean.

There is a valve mounted to the left of the seat that was put on to control flow to the loader. Lines are connected to the quick disconnect in the rear. The guy thought that this valve was sticking, since a friend of his got things working again about a year ago by tapping it with a hammer... hi tech... lol

I was able to lift the bucket when I picked it up this morning, but it was slow. I walked it home for about 40 minutes and when I got home the lift arms had come up, which we couldn't get it to do in his barn. But when I let them down, they stayed down and would only intermittently come up a little bit. Same with the bucket.

The valve next to the seat has one lever. There is a "middle" position and then one position pulled up and two positions pushed down. The first position down seems to allow flow to the loader.

When it is trying to slowly lift, I can hear hydraulic noise at that valve but it stops when the loader stops working again.

I don't see any pics of a valve like this in the MF service manual. Not sure how I would go about testing or repairing or replacing it.

Name plate says Type 5485 and SN is R24492. No idea what year.

Where is the filter for the hydraulics? I found a picture of how to clean it out in the operating manual, but no idea where it is located.

What should I be looking for in solving this? It seems like it's probably something simple and maybe sticky somewhere, but I'm not sure what to try next.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MTGreen]

There are several posts about this on Yesterday's Tractor. Seems the consensus has to do with cleaning the suction filter which apparently there's a triangular plate underneath the differential that needs to be taken off to expose it after draining

 

[red alder ranch]

There are several posts about this on Yesterday's Tractor. Seems the consensus has to do with cleaning the suction filter which apparently there's a triangular plate underneath the differential that needs to be taken off to expose it after draining

Thanks, I just made an account over there last night and have been reading up on it.

Do you know if I need to drain out of BOTH drain plugs if I'm only working on the rear section? Ie, is there a "wall" of some kind between the two case parts? My fluid looks very clean, I hate to waste it all just to clean that filter.

Also, where can I figure out what specs replacement fluid needs to meet? The 1990 owners manual just suggests a certain MF brand fluid.

 

[kthompson]

I would see if possible to talk with the local shop Foreman on your issue and oil question. Often, they are willing to share simple thoughts on the belief if real issue they get it to repair. I would suggest trying to talk with him/her face to face. Take pictures of the setup. Massey, I think had two rear remotes systems, one dealer add on and the other factory install.

 

[MTGreen]

Suggest you do a Google search with the MF brand/spec number and you should get some hits. I imagine someone who has one will chime in here

I have cleaned a drain pan really well before draining then poured fluid back in using a coffee filter to make sure there's no contaminants. Works but takes forever to go through -be careful you don't lose the filter down the funnel bore.

However, if you do have a clogged suction filter, you quite possibly have lots of suspended contaminants and you may be better off replacing the fluid

 

[red alder ranch]

Was back on here after a long while looking for a thread where I asked questions about my Yanmar a long time ago, and saw that I never updated on this topic.

The fluid was FOUL, the clear stuff was what was sitting on the very top. Everything else was a sludgy, nasty mess that took forever to drain and clean out, but once I got a new filter screen and brand new fluid in there, everything has been fine on THAT tractor.

Put some cheap chyneez pallet forks on it and have been using it to load firewood logs into my little dump truck for over a year now.

thanks for the help!