Ford 655A Backhoe control problems

[hdeters]

I have a 2 stick setup on the backhoe. I have owned this unit since 1997. All of a sudden I am not able to lift the boom. I have plenty of pressure to make the boom go down as well as swing and every other function. It feels as if when I pull forward on the control it does not get full travel as if something is blocking the linkage or something in the control valve. I took the shields off the tower the controls are on to see what's going on with the linkage and to see if something is wedged in at the bottom of the linkage. There was nothing. I did notice the metal bar going from the control rod to the spool is bent likely from forcing downward on the control to raise the boom over time. It seems like the spool is not going down fully when pulling back on the control arm to lift the boom. The crowd lever on the other side seems to have a very positive stop both up and down and the boom only has a positive full travel feel when pushing forward on the stick to make the boom go down. When I hold back on the boom control it does absolutely nothing as far as moving the boom up.......until I hit the lever for the stabilizer on either side at the same time as attempting to lift the boom. When I do that it feels like it works like normal. The boom quickly comes up with no issue. But when I go back to not touching the stabilizer control the boom control again will not bring the boom up, only down and has plenty of force and speed down. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? By the looks of the linkage bar between the stick and the spool I am guessing I have not had full movement of the spool for a while. Before I found that holding the stabilizer lever makes the issue go away I kind of thought the screw holding the spring assembly at the opposite end of the spool might have backed out and is preventing the spool from fully traveling down when the stick is moved to lift the boom since that presses the spool down. Thanks Hans