fel hydraulic question

[BBQChef]

I dont know the make or model of my fel that is on my 641. It is not a one arm type. I went to use it yesterday to move some dirt and I noticed that after just a couple loads of about a half a bucket full each it was taking longer to lift. On my fourth attempt, it wouldn't lift any more. The bucket tilt still works fine but as of now, I cannot lift the arms to get the bucket off the ground even when empty.

I assume the front mounted pump is working fine as the bucket control still works. So I am thinking that my 2 spool valve has lost a seal on the arm control.

Is it easier to rebuild this, or shiuld I buy a new one?

Unless you all think it could be something else?

hydraulic reservoir is full. 2 cylinders for the arms, 1 per arm. No leaks anywhere in the system. Arm cylinders are gravity drop. No identification on valve, so it might be difficult to find a rebuild kit.

thanks for any thoughts or advice.

 

[souNdguy]

if tilt works, but not arm, swap the hose functions around to see if the tilt function lifts the arms. it's a semi-quick check.

depends on what type of valve it is as to if it can be fixed. some cheaper ones are metal on metal, others you can pull the
spool out and re-oring.,

 

[BBQChef]

Was going to do just that here shortly to know for sure. All I know is, it is old. Will post back after hose swap with results. Will also take a hard look for some sort of id on the valve.

 

[mhb@ufe]

It's not very likely that it would be a seal in the valve. Most loader valves only have seals at each end of the spool. Tilting the bucket takes a lot less pressure than lifting the loader arms. Can you tip the bucket down to lift the loader arms? If the bucket tilt will not lift the loader arms it could be a problem with the pump, pump drive shaft or relief valve. If it does lift the loader arms you may have an internal leak in one of the lift cylinders.

Mark

 

[BBQChef]

Bucket will lift the arms with no problem. Also, when I did have it off the ground with a load, it held position and would only drop when I used the control lever to drop it.

I dont think it is a cylinder as they only have the one hose going to them, if there was a leak in one of the cylinders the oil has no where to go,, and there are no external leaks.

 

[souNdguy]

the tilt lifting the bucket test is nice to look at, but tells you nothing of use. the hose swap tells you.

 

[BBQChef]

Apparant bad news for me. Went out and started it up and today I have nothing. No arm lift and no bucket tilt. Took a peek in the resevoir and still full, but nothing swirling around. No movement in the oil at all so it would appear that I am in the market for a new pump. Any suggestions?

 

[Roger in Iowa]

If there is a hose on the suction side of the pump, it may be collapsing internally and might be worse when the oil warms, thus the pump
cannot receive oil to pressurize. Does the pump make any noise?

Could also be a stuck relief valve. It could be stuck open or failed/failing.

 

[mhb@ufe]

Make sure your pump drive line is all good before you buy a pump. A single hose going to the lift cylinders makes them single acting cylinders making it difficult to do a hose swap.

Mark

 

[old]

If the bucket is empty and work it is light so it could still work. If the pump is run off the front of the engine good chance the drive shaft is going bad and slipping when it tries to lift the loader arms. Had that happen not long ago on my 841S and ordered parts from this site to fix it. Easy to figure out if you have 2 people. One to pull the control the other to watch and see if the pump stops turning. If it is the shaft you will need to pull it and count how many splines it has before ordering parts and be sure to replace the hub at the same time or the shaft will not last long guess how I know that

 

[BBQChef]

All hoses are heavy hydraulic hoses. Already have a new shaft as the old one busted the lovejoy fingers all off and it had been welded on by previous owner. Everything is turning, no slipping, and now, this afternoon when I hada guy who knows more about these thungs than I do come take a look at it, he said the pump is fine but is acting like it cant get enough oil. He said to drain it, replace filter or just take the filter out of the line altogether and refill with a heavier oil. So thats what I will try tomorrow.

Was actually able to raise arms and work the bucket tilt but took it forever and it was slow and jerky.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

If removal of the filter doesn't solve the problem, don't overlook the suction hose! Suction hoses normally have a spring inside of
them to prevent collapsing.

 

[shaun wallace]

I am with Old, splines on pump or coupler stripped.

 

[BBQChef]

Good news! The filter was severely restricting the flow. Not sure why. Oil was clean and clear and the filter still looked new inside, because it was new. It had been working just fine until the other day.

Removed the line from the filter and just a trickle of oil would come out. Filter is mounted between resevoir and pump. Went to take filter off and the oil came pouring out. Got a piece of pipe and replaced the inline filter and boy does it work good now! Better, faster and stronger than any time ive had it.

I used 68 hydraulic oil to refill.

New filter was the same as the old one I took off so not sure why the problem.

thanks for all the replys and thoughts.

 

[Destroked 450]

68 oil is a little heavy, equal to 30W
I use tractor hyd oil that's closer to 47 or 20W
Most of the hydraulics we have at a local mill I do some maintenance at uses 32 oil