Hydraulic control

[Dan Artz]

The hydraulic system on my 1957 860 Ford tractor has been having problems for some time. When you start up cold in morning, the rear blade won"t come up until the engine has been opened up to full RPM and then after anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 or 4 minutes, all of a sudden the blade comes right up and then it"s usually ok the rest of the day. I"ve read all the other posts here relating to these problems and think I understand the valve problems. Last night, I was finishing up some dirt work on my road and as I started for home, the rear blade was in the dirt and didn"t want to come up. I managed to get it to come up a little and I made it home, but by the time I got there, the pump was making a howling sound and the blade wouldn"t stay up anymore. I"m sure I have a vane style pump and get the impression here that these are not as desirable as the piston pumps. I thought that the blade not coming up in the mornings meant my pump was worn out and now it has failed entirely. My local Ford tractor parts guy says that the vane and piston style pumps are no longer supported by Ford and he has no suggestions on fixing it. I"m a machinist and have cnc milling equipment at my house, so if that helps, let me know. What are my options? Do I try to find either style of pump in a wrecking yard and hope it has some life left in it or is there some aftermarket supplier that I can"t find on the internet. I"ve done some searching, but haven"t found anything. Are the parts inside my pump repairable and is there a need out there for some of these parts?

 

[souNdguy]

slow down.

1, check the hyd oil. might be nearly out.

2, the first part of your issue sounded like loss of prime. in a prime loss issue, first thing I do is replace the orings at the pump plumbing using the 13$ kit NH sells.. if that don't help, it's likely a pump shaft seal.

3, the vane pump is squaris, and the piston pump is more cylindrical.

4, vane pump repair kits can be had for very high dollar amounts.

5, piston pump replacement parts can be had.. as well as used piston pumps.. same with the plumbing for them.

lastly... something that was built can always be rebuilt given the right tools, enough time and resources.

soundguy