hitch

[Anonymous-HT-0-HT]

My 3 point hitch will not lower by itself: I have to stand on it to get it down. The knob under the seat is turned all the way out and I confirmed that the valve is not sticking. I would appreciate any help. Any ideas out there?

 

[winston-HT]

I would look for some kind of obstruction either in the stop valve or control valve area. Trash, part of an o-ring, etc. Does your lift come up normal speed?

 

[alan-HT]

No history to provide -- like fluid needs changing or just changed and maybe wrong type?
Or problem just happened out of the blue -- or has been building up for a time?

Otherwise, you could go here:
http://www.hoyetractor.com/brokenlift.htm

 

[jgraham50-HT]

I removed , cleaned & checked the hydraulic valve as well as the stop valve bodies. All passages were clear and valves functioned freely. Springs are good. The lift works perfectly in the up position, but will not go down without weight being applied. I disconnedted all external linkage to eliminate possible binding.

Is it possible that the hydraulic 'piston' ( for lack of a better word) is sticking? This is on a YM1500, by the way

 

[Norm-HT]

I was just going to mention the piston. sounds like it is binding up, possibly from rust.

 

[winston-HT]

If you lift your arms up by hand will they stay up or go down? If they stay up it is probably lift cylinder, if they go down it wouldn't be the lift cylinder.

 

[jgraham50-HT]

The arms stay up when lifted. The bush hog weighs enough to pull the lift down, but the plow cannot. I was wondering: do the hydraulics push the arms down, or do they go down of their own accord when there is an attachement hooked up?

Thanks

 

[winston-HT]

Hydraulics only lift, weight pushes it down. It should go down with weight of arms only. If you can lift your arms up by hand and they stay up I would conclude either your lift piston is binding or the lift shaft where it goes through the bushings. Are the arms hard to lift when you lift them up by hand?

 

[jgraham50-HT]

I can lift the arms by hand, but not easily; seems like something is binding. They do stay up when lifted

 

[jgraham50-HT]

Thanks for the comments. Problem resolved. Bushings on the lift arm shaft have no source of lubrication and had gradually corroded, causing them to sieze up. I removed the hydraulic apparatus, disassembled & cleaned the bushings and shaft. I also applied a coating of 'never-sieze' to the bushings to prevent this from occurring in the future. If anyone else ever has this problem, make sure you make not of the relative location of the lift arms to the shaft splines before disassembling.