T6 FEL Question

[Matt W]

Thanks Dart for your help. I figured the whole valve body would need to be out to remove the spool. The piece I'm thinking about cutting is just the 5/16 rod, in order to rotate the spool enough for drill access. Thinking of leaving enough stub to center a drill guide made on my lathe. I'm betting a 1/4"drill will twist it free, may not need to even go the full 5/16. It won't be tomorrow as I have some digging to do for a neighbor.

Did you do a complete Restoration on your machine?

 

[agjones]

Just so it is out there....replacing the valve altogether is not that bad an operation. I can share some sources when needed.

 

[Matt W]

Thanks agjones,
Did you ever see if your machine will roll and curl in float and more importantly will it roll back at the same time as lifting the arms? I took off all the lines this afternoon and did a study: It is looking and feeling like the frozen shaft may not be the problem. With good access I could better see and feel what is happening. Is it possible the valve internally locks out the curl back when raising the arms as some kind of safety? It will go into dump but feels like the roll function is internally locked mechanically out when raise is called for? Maybe to keep a person from dumping stuff backwards from a high bucket.

 

[Dart1917]

You have a SPK valve and according to this you should be able to use both circuits at the same time. I think your frozen linkage is causing your problem. It sounds like you have to skills and tools to do whatever you need to to get this thing apart and repaired without screwing something up. Being a machinist myself, making special tools or parts isn't a problem. You probably know about McMaster-Carr already- they are a great source for commercial parts used on the machine. I found motor mounts, chromed rod for new pins, O rings for the valves and cylinders, etc.

 

[Matt W]

Thanks Dart,
That is great information. I will eventually get it even if I have to remove and overhaul the whole valve. The digging season will be over for my little bamboo farm in a few weeks. Then I can have the machine down for a while if needed. Yeah I had already checked McMaster-Carr to be sure they had the ball joint stud, they do have everything. And yeah while I'm no machinist I am lucky to have a pretty good shop. If you want shop tour, not sure about link protocol here but if you google "matt walker damascus" it'll lead you there. I'm supposed to be retired but this obsession with making this valve work correctly is cutting into my fishing time!

I packed ice water rags around the spool last night and took the the joint to cherry red and still no movement in that linkage. Never seen anything this stubborn.

I really appreciate you and agjones trying to help, it seems the T6 owners club is small. Other than this one issue I love the T6.

 

[Matt W]

Out with the old, in with the new. FEL working perfect now!
Thanks!

 

[Dart1917]

Glad to see you got it and it fixed the problem. Finally got to poke around your website a bit- Nice setup you got there. Always thought I'd like to try forging but I know I don't have the time to take my time and learn it the right way. That's a whole different skill set, knowing when the temps right, what materials work well together, etc. I watch Forged in Fire sometimes and being under the clock like that doesn't seem like a good way for an artist to work.
I did end up with a complete "restoration" of my T6. Still have to finish the ROPS, but everything else is done. Started out just wanting to go through it, clean it up, replace hoses, rebuild cylinders, etc. but the project grew until I had a bare chassis sitting there. I found other sources for parts, it helps that most of the mechanicals are commercial components. Things like that $100 plus timer relay for the glow plugs can be had from Rock auto for about $20 (Standard Motor Parts RY53) and it's the same made in Germany part just repackaged.

 

[agjones]

Glad to see you got it and it fixed the problem. Finally got to poke around your website a bit- Nice setup you got there. Always thought I'd like to try forging but I know I don't have the time to take my time and learn it the right way. That's a whole different skill set, knowing when the temps right, what materials work well together, etc. I watch Forged in Fire sometimes and being under the clock like that doesn't seem like a good way for an artist to work.
I did end up with a complete "restoration" of my T6. Still have to finish the ROPS, but everything else is done. Started out just wanting to go through it, clean it up, replace hoses, rebuild cylinders, etc. but the project grew until I had a bare chassis sitting there. I found other sources for parts, it helps that most of the mechanicals are commercial components. Things like that $100 plus timer relay for the glow plugs can be had from Rock auto for about $20 (Standard Motor Parts RY53) and it's the same made in Germany part just repackaged.View attachment 694489View attachment 694490

That looks great!

When can I drop mine off?

 

[Matt W]

Yeah Dart, I bet your machine wasn't that nice when it left West Virginia. I could never stand having my machine down for an extended period of time, but it looks like it has a big brother to use when it was in the recovery process.

I'll store away that bit of valuable info on the timer, thanks. Any others would be appreciated! My machine is absolutely useable now but the next little project will be fixing a goofed up tie rod. Some genius broke one of the ends off and left the threaded part in the tie rod, their fix was to weld another tie rod end to the outside of the rod . No sign of attempting to remove the broken piece. It's out of line enough to have pretty much ruined one tire already, so no rush in dealing with it. Looks like he could make a decent weld at least. So if you have one of those magic numbers for T6 tie rod ends that would be great. I've seen a couple of numbers floating around for T5s but not sure if the same was used on our machines?

Yeah, it is nice to have a good shop, thanks for visiting my site. I guess you can understand now that I'm pretty much a guy that likes to get a bigger hammer. I just didn't think the valve would stand it. Maybe finally old enough to realize all problems aren't solved with a bigger hammer .

 

[Dart1917]

I bought ES323R tie rod ends for mine. I bought off brand (Ultra Power) from Rock auto for a whopping $4.47 each. The taper stuck through the arm just enough that the nut didn't really pull the end tight in the hole so I used a washer big enough to go over the taper and then a smaller one on the threaded part.