Hydraulic lift arms creep up

[thelonepatriot]

I have a TO-20. The hydraulic lift creeps up if I set the lever on the quadrant in any position but all the way down or all the way up. The lift control lever on the quadrant stays where I put it. I talked to the former (now retired dealer) and he told me to loosen the four bolts on the quadrant and tap the quadrant forward until the up-creep stops. I did this and it only slowed it down. Any suggestions of what I need to buy before I tear it down or are there some internal adjustments?
 

[samn40]

Your tractor does not have position control so the arms will not stay in any set position except when you are ploughing or cultivating. There are attachments nowadays to get round this ...all external and no drilling or cutting at your tractor...JeffOh has plans on how to make your own, Maybe someone knows how to put up the link?
Sam
 

[John(UK)]

The setting for the lever is 2.5" from the top, measure from the front of the lever when it is at the top and the 2.5" to the rear of the Lever when it is down the Quadrant. The problem you have is because the hydraulic system is a Draft Only system and requires some pressure down the Top Link to the Tractor to make it work like you think is should do. Check this, hitch a plow or similar to the 3 point and fully raise it, now stop the engine and see if the Hydraulics leak-down noticeably. There will always be some leak-down, but it may be too much and that is making it noticeable. Checking it like this the 3 point should take about 10 mins to drop fully, when new they take longer. It may need a valve changing, but this will depend on how fast it drops. If you email me and tell me what happens and how long it takes I will send you some information about repairing it or re-setting it. Why do you want the hydraulics to stay in one position, if you tell me what you are trying to do I may be able to suggest a work-around for this that will allow you to carry out whatever you are trying to do. If you are using a Bush-Hog and this is what is causing the problem,there is definitely an answer to that, so let me know...John(UK)...fergusontractors@hotmail.com
 

[Arvin Haslem]

When I was plowing my garden last spring I was constantly raising and lowering the hydraulic lever as I could not control the depth of the one bottom 16 inch plow. A few days later when I wanted to disc the top 3 inches of soil to get rid of the newly sprouted weeds I couldn't control the depth of the disc. I would constantly have to drop the hydraulic lever and then raise it back to the desired level. The disc would then creep back out of the ground and keep raising once clear of the ground until I dropped the lever again.
 

[John(UK)]

Providing there is a constant pressure down the top link from the implement to the tractor it will control the depth. If you keep lifting the implement then there will be no pressure to the tractor. BUT, you can have a problem with the Draft Control Spring and Rocker behind the seat. If there is a lot of free-play in this then it would cause the problem that you have, there should be very little free-play in the spring (.020) a quick test is with the implement raised you should just be able to turn the spring with your hand, if it is very slack then it needs to be adjusted but often they are rusted now and difficult to do. You may be better using the plow for that job with the top link shortened a little more so the point will dig in more and provide the push on the top link and then you should be able to control it better. The top link should be 25.5" long from center of one pin hole to the other normally, but it is adjustable for instances like this.
The problem with your Disk Harrow, depend on whose Disk Harrow it was, if it was a Ferguson you should be able to do it, but again the problem is that it MUST have a pressure down the Top Link to send signals to the hydraulics of what it should do. If you are trying to disk very lightly then you must be lifting the Disks to do this to just keep them off the ground, consequently you are Pulling at the top link and not pushing as you need to do to make it work. You may have been better dropping the Disks completely and setting then at a shallower angle so it would roll over the ground more it would still cut anything that it runs over, and if necessary you could use the disks as they were intended for a second pass over the ground after-wards. The tractor is quite capable of using a Disk Harrow, it is what you are trying to do that is the problem. But you can do it if you try it like I mentioned.
If you still have problems with the hydraulics, email me at the address below and give me all the information again and tell me what model the Disk Harrow is and anything else that you can't do and I will send you the information how to set it and make it work as it should do....John(UK)...fergusontractors@hotmail.com