5600 Ford... I got it up, but I can't get it to go down

[TheEquineFencer]

A warm body that worked for me part-time got on my 5600 and moved it. Later he told me he couldn't get the lift to go down. It has a post driver mounted on it. My tractor has a FEL and post driver mounted. I have one side of the remote plumbed in a loop so I can use both devices. With the hydraulic control lever under the seat pulled back, flow goes out to the driver when it's not operating it passes straight though, then goes to the FEL joystick and passes straight through and back to a port in the driver that returns it to a case drain to the tractor. This works fine. I found the hydraulic oil full of a LOT of water. I'm guessing the gear shift seal caused this.

I've drained and flushed it pretty much. I need to do it again soon, but I have plenty of pressure. The problem is the lift will not lower. The lever will move and it appears the lever is moving the rod that goes inside the body. Here's where it get strange. I noticed when I move the lever for flow under the seat to the neutral position, this normally puts the hydraulics back to the tractor and not the driver and FEL, the engine loads and it sounds like I've overloaded the hydraulics like a relief valve has opened. I've tried letting it sit for two weeks and seeing if it leaks down, it came down a little but not much. I've tried bouncing it by stopping the driver at 1/2 stroke, I even took my G/F's 383 MF with a FEL and pulling it down, no go. The other lever beside the lift lever, I think it's for draft control, makes no difference.

How does the lift hydraulics work? Is it possible the warm body pulled up and the lever was seized and he sheared something coming up or down? What has me stumped is moving the lever under the seat to put the hydraulics back to the tractor causes the hydraulics to load up. It sounds just like I'm trying to lift too much with the lift and relief valve is opening.

I hate to pull the whole top off that the lever is mounted on as have no idea what can of worms I'm opening when I do that.

A hydraulic flow diagram or anything that tells me how the flow goes would be helpful. I do not have a HP gauge, but I can probably get one next week sometime. Then I'd need to know what ports if any to test at to see what I have where.

I'm convinced there's a check valve or relief valve or port stuck or plugged somewhere. I'm thinking now if it were an internal linkage problem, even with the lift lever in the down position, when the hydraulic are moved from the FEL back to the tractor, if it were a linkage only issue, the 3pt would go up and I would not hear the pressure relief valve unloading.

I can really use some insight into the fluid flow through this system.

 

[Bern]

Sounds like the lift spool is stuck in the raise position. I had that happen once on a 7600. Since that tractor had a two-speed PTO
on it, I was able to take the rear PTO shaft out and reach in with a broomstick handle and bump it back where it needed to be - the
customer never had another problem with it.

On a 5600 with single-speed PTO, you should be able to access that same valve through the round cover plate on the LH side of the
rear axle housing, after draining some fluid out of the rear axle first of course. Reach in with a long screwdriver or similar and
tap the valve spool back in place.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

This is not a failure with a textbook answer. Water
damage can manifest itself with any of the
suggestions you made yourself, and then some.
Pull the lift cover off and start cleaning things until
its fixed. Sounds like youre taking a swipe at your
hired hand with that warm body crack. Well
whoever is supposed to be taking care of the tractor
is apparently room temperature. Just sayin....

 

[TheEquineFencer]

You're correct on most counts, but he was truly a warm body. I'd leave, he'd sit on his butt and watch everybody else work...when I fired him and was taking him home....on the way out he said "wait a minute, I forgot something" , hoped out of the truck, ran back in the shop and filled himself a water bottle with lemonade, then got back in...as long as he was working WITH me, he'd work like I did. If he wasn't right there with me, he "went into idle mode" you make the call on that one. I spent almost as much time fixing equipment he'd tore up. Give him a lawn mower, 1/2 the time it'd come back with the wheels bowed out or something torn off it, blades bend, "oh, I must have ran over a root" or "I caught a fencepost"...after being told where not to mow because of roots.

As far as the water, it sits for months outside, yes my fault.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

(quoted from post at 07:45:13 06/15/21) Sounds like the lift spool is stuck in the raise position. I had that happen once on a 7600. Since that tractor had a two-speed PTO
on it, I was able to take the rear PTO shaft out and reach in with a broomstick handle and bump it back where it needed to be - the
customer never had another problem with it.

On a 5600 with single-speed PTO, you should be able to access that same valve through the round cover plate on the LH side of the
rear axle housing, after draining some fluid out of the rear axle first of course. Reach in with a long screwdriver or similar and
tap the valve spool back in place.

I may make a stab at that. It's just curious to me that it's up and the pump is up against a relief valve. Even if it leaks down, with the lever in the down position, it goes back up and against the relief valve. Does that seem right?

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 07:52:02 06/15/21) A warm body that worked for me part-time got on my 5600 and moved it. Later he told me he couldn't get the lift to go down. It has a post driver mounted on it. My tractor has a FEL and post driver mounted. I have one side of the remote plumbed in a loop so I can use both devices. With the hydraulic control lever under the seat pulled back, flow goes out to the driver when it's not operating it passes straight though, then goes to the FEL joystick and passes straight through and back to a port in the driver that returns it to a case drain to the tractor. This works fine. I found the hydraulic oil full of a LOT of water. I'm guessing the gear shift seal caused this.

I've drained and flushed it pretty much. I need to do it again soon, but I have plenty of pressure. The problem is the lift will not lower. The lever will move and it appears the lever is moving the rod that goes inside the body. Here's where it get strange. I noticed when I move the lever for flow under the seat to the neutral position, this normally puts the hydraulics back to the tractor and not the driver and FEL, the engine loads and it sounds like I've overloaded the hydraulics like a relief valve has opened. I've tried letting it sit for two weeks and seeing if it leaks down, it came down a little but not much. I've tried bouncing it by stopping the driver at 1/2 stroke, I even took my G/F's 383 MF with a FEL and pulling it down, no go. The other lever beside the lift lever, I think it's for draft control, makes no difference.

How does the lift hydraulics work? Is it possible the warm body pulled up and the lever was seized and he sheared something coming up or down? What has me stumped is moving the lever under the seat to put the hydraulics back to the tractor causes the hydraulics to load up. It sounds just like I'm trying to lift too much with the lift and relief valve is opening.

I hate to pull the whole top off that the lever is mounted on as have no idea what can of worms I'm opening when I do that.

A hydraulic flow diagram or anything that tells me how the flow goes would be helpful. I do not have a HP gauge, but I can probably get one next week sometime. Then I'd need to know what ports if any to test at to see what I have where.

I'm convinced there's a check valve or relief valve or port stuck or plugged somewhere. I'm thinking now if it were an internal linkage problem, even with the lift lever in the down position, when the hydraulic are moved from the FEL back to the tractor, if it were a linkage only issue, the 3pt would go up and I would not hear the pressure relief valve unloading.

I can really use some insight into the fluid flow through this system.

read the post title. priapism?

 

[Bern]

If the control valve is stuck in the raise position, yes, it would do that. The stuck control valve is telling the lift to raise
higher than it already is, but it can't raise any higher mechanically. So, the pump is still pumping against relief.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

I thought you were being unnecessarily hard on the
guy, but after you explain it, I must say Ive seen
people exactly as you describe.

 

[RodinNS]

Hahahahahahahah

 

[RodinNS]

I agree with Bern. The control valve is
stuck. It happens sometimes. I'd say take
the side plate off like he said, look for
the valve/spring protruding from the bottom
of the lift cover and give it a push.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Worst
case you'll have to pull the lift cover and
deal with it. Could be rust or something
else bound up in it.

Rod

 

[TheEquineFencer]

[/quote]

That was a hard word for me to comprehend, much less pronounce, I had to Google it.