New (to me) YM240D

[clemsonfor]

I got back to working on my tractor today and learned several things.

@California- Identifying the loader type on my tractor was much easier than expected. There's a label on it. :duh:. It's a YFL 240 which should come as no surprise.

First I removed the extra hydraulic hoses that were on the tractor but were no longer being used. Basically some hoses and a valve that had been plumbed to the rear PTO pump.

Then I pulled the hood off and removed the battery and the battery tray so I could get a good look at the forward mounted hydraulic pump. I wasn't able to find any markings indicating brand, model, volume, etc. The shaft turned by hand and, and once I removed the cover to the aux hydraulic tank mounted to the loader frame, I could see (milky) fluid moving through the system when I turned it by hand. I figured it was worth a try to get the pump coupled to the engine so I cut down a rubber muffler hanger so it was wide enough to fit between the flange on the pump and the flange on the shaft sticking forward from the engine. I then use two of the softest bolts I could find (hoping they would sheer if there were any problems) to bolt the two flanges together with the rubber bushing separating them. Fired her up and she started pushing fluid. The hoses between that pump and the reservoir are pretty large 3/4" or maybe 1". At about 1000RPM, there was a lot of fluid moving through that pump. I had no way to put any back pressure on it but it does turn. I called that a win. Eventually I think I'll plumb my loader into this system, disconnecting it from the 3PT setup.

Next job was to adjust the breaks and attempt to get the PTO lever loose from the diff lock. I removed the fender on that side and easily adjusted that brake using the turnbuckle. The PTO lever shaft ends in a 'housing' that wraps around the end of the diff lock shaft. There's a spring clip holding it in place and a grease fitting that should have kept the PTO lever from binding to the diff lock shaft, but it was frozen. I kept spraying it with penetrating oil but haven't yet broken it free. Maybe I'll have to heat it up.
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thats good to hear!!!

Also get that milky fluid out, milky fluid equals water. At least it was still milky meaning water was still suspended in the fluid but there is probably water layer on the bottom and who knows the kind of rust you may have in there!!!

 

[clemsonfor]

I don't think those rods look that bad and should clean up to acceptable.

Maybe post those photos in the TBN Hydraulics Forum to get opinions from people who see this stuff daily.

If you get it apart i would repack that cylinder and put new seals on it. It may still leak but for the price of parts and the money you save it may be worth it to you? Sure it may drip if that will bother you replace them at 10x the cost.

This is why i would try and store my cylinders with the rods retracted as much as possible.

 

[woolyAcres]

After a morning spent running all over Erie I came home with a small bag of replacement seals. In the end I've decided to go with the advice received here-repair the seals rather than replace them at >$200/each. For $25 I've got almost everything I need to put new seals on the bucket cylinders as well as a few spares of the seal most likely to be damaged by my dinged-up pistons (and dinged up they are according to the fellow at the first of many hydraulic places). I also learned how to measure O-rings and found a site to order the part I'm still missing as well as future O-rings. By all accounts, the seals were in pretty bad shape so I have no doubt this repair will show marked improvement.

After getting the cylinders back together I'll move onto that front pump. I can't really think of a way to test it without doing all the hook-up... But one step at a time....

 

[woolyAcres]

Heck I would try $10 of new seals, polish that rod, and see how you like it. Might be 'good enough for the girls I go with', to quote an old carpenter buddy.

Really, if you polish out anything that could snag a seal, then the seals should last quite a while.

After pricing a number of different things, this is my new approach. My wife keeps reminding me that dumping a bunch of money into the loader undermines the deal I got originally, and more importantly, doesn't fit the budget. So new seals here we go. I'm also going to dig back and find that 2-valve controller you purchased. I'm pretty sure I've got exactly the same non-serviceable controller you had.

 

[woolyAcres]

@California-

I hope the Valley wildfire isn't affecting you. That drought has really been a disaster. I hope you, your family, and orchard are fairing alright.

 

[California]

@California-

I hope the Valley wildfire isn't affecting you. That drought has really been a disaster. I hope you, your family, and orchard are fairing alright.

Thanks. There's nothing in my immediate area. Where I am near the coast we wake up to ocean fog every few days. So there's a little more more humidity, and grasses and brush don't explode into flame like the literally tinder-dry conditions all over the state farther inland.

Fires to the North of me, fires to the South of me. There are so many fires, and so large, that the air has been smoky here and for hundreds of miles from the fires, for days now. Here's an article just now about the fires near Napa, 40 miles East. 95 square miles burning, 400 homes lost.

Northern California wildfire kills 1, destroys 400 homes - Yahoo News

The smoke in the background of that photo is what it looks like all over Northern California.

But I don't want to drag your YM240 thread off-topic (again).

I think you will like that loader when you get the new seals in it. I don't think it will hurt anything if you see a little sweating from the seals occasionally and they last only 10 years instead of 20. I'll bet any backhoe etc that's been in service more than a decade has some seals that sweat a little, too. No big deal.

 

[clemsonfor]

Thanks. There's nothing in my immediate area. Where I am near the coast we wake up to ocean fog every few days. So there's a little more more humidity, and grasses and brush don't explode into flame like the literally tinder-dry conditions all over the state farther inland.

Fires to the North of me, fires to the South of me. There are so many fires, and so large, that the air has been smoky here and for hundreds of miles from the fires, for days now. Here's an article just now about the fires near Napa, 40 miles East. 95 square miles burning, 400 homes lost.

Northern California wildfire kills 1, destroys 400 homes - Yahoo News

The smoke in the background of that photo is what it looks like all over Northern California.

But I don't want to drag your YM240 thread off-topic (again).

I think you will like that loader when you get the new seals in it. I don't think it will hurt anything if you see a little sweating from the seals occasionally and they last only 10 years instead of 20. I'll bet any backhoe etc that's been in service more than a decade has some seals that sweat a little, too. No big deal.

As a forester who oversees logging operations i am around heavy equiptment on an almost daily basis. I have seen plenty of equiptment less than a year old that weeps at the cylinders..much of it has way more hours than yours does but as long as your not working or driving over some beautiful sod that could be burned by the hydro fluid in annoying little spots i would not worry a bit about it.

 

[woolyAcres]

@California- Glad to hear your slice of CA is not in danger. Sounds like it's a pretty bad fire. It was all over the radio this morning. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates and it gets under control.

 

[woolyAcres]

As a forester who oversees logging operations i am around heavy equiptment on an almost daily basis. I have seen plenty of equiptment less than a year old that weeps at the cylinders..much of it has way more hours than yours does but as long as your not working or driving over some beautiful sod that could be burned by the hydro fluid in annoying little spots i would not worry a bit about it.

I've finally come round to what you, California, and others have been saying for a while- get 'er working and don't worry about every little scratch or drip :thumbsup:

I ordered the final part I need and it should be here later this week which works out fine because I'm on the road (again) for the rest of the week and part of the weekend. So it'll be next week before I get back to this. In the meantime I'm going to research loader control valves. I have the same non-serviceable one as California. It lacks float and I'm pretty sure it's leaking internally. If the repair of these bucket cylinders goes well I'll pull the loader arm ones and rebuild them. I know where/how to get the parts now so it shouldn't be a big deal. I say shouldn't because one of the snap-rings on the cylinders I just did was a real bugger. Ended up busting the snap-ring while still attached to the cylinder. That was a bugger to get out. The other one was no problem.

 

[woolyAcres]

@California, I see the controller you purchased is still available at Amazon. I found this. What do you think? I'll have to do some plumbing but some of the hoses are shot so I think that's inevitable. This looks to have regen on the dump and float on the other spool. Is there anything else I should be paying attention to when shopping for these? PSI?