Hydraulic issue help requested

[Jamelia]

I bought a MF135 a few years ago to blow snow on our road, the road is about 1/3 km long.
The blower works perfect.
The bucket on the front works intermittantly, and I need to lift it before I can drive. When it sits for a week the bucket will go down to the ground.

Is the valve (I’m guessing its the diverter valve, pic below, the one with one handle and one hose) that touchy?
I changed the hydraulic fluid and filter, and flushed the whole system with diesel and changed the hydraulic fluid again.

I am thinking to remove the hose from that valve and see if fluid is gushing out. Is the diverter valve the correct name for this valve, and where would I get a replacement, with instructions?
I just know when I take it apart spring are going to fly out!!

The other valve, one to curl the bucket and one to lift looks more complicated, so I would like to start with the single handle valve first.

Thought, and/or advice??

 

[Jamelia]

Photos didn’t come through. I’ll try here
Nope, guess I can’t post photos

 

[Jim.ME]

Photos didn’t come through. I’ll try here
Nope, guess I can’t post photos

There seems to be a problem with most trying to post pictures since last Friday. I can't post any either. there are at least a couple threads currently active about this on other forums here.

Is the valve you are referring to located on the right side of the transmission cover, below the front of the seat?

 

[Jamelia]

There seems to be a problem with most trying to post pictures since last Friday. I can't post any either. there are at least a couple threads currently active about this on other forums here.

Is the valve you are referring to located on the right side of the transmission cover, below the front of the seat?

Yes, up is for the bucket, down is for the blower

 

[Jim.ME]

When the pictures get working again, we need some pictures of what you have. Does your tractor have a hydraulic pump driven off the front of the engine or is it using the tractor internal hydraulics? You say this valve swaps the hydraulics from the loader to the snowblower. A diverter valve was generally in the supply line from a front pump and used on some tractors to switch between loader and backhoe. When you say the snowblower is it hydraulic driven or do you mean the "diverter" valve swaps the hydraulic to the three-point hitch to lift the PTO driven snowblower? The transmission mounted valve (sometimes called the selector or isolation valve) that is tied to the tractor internal hydraulics has to be correctly positioned to send oil to the loader correctly and the draft control has to be in the constant pumping position to use the loader. There is a tube under that valve with O-rings on it that can fail. If the O-rings are failing it might give hydraulic issues.

It is a poor practice to leave a hydraulic implement on a tractor in the raised position when unattended, they should be blocked from dropping if they must be left up. You might not have kids around but if someone bumps the lever the bucket can drop doing damage to anything below it or striking a person which could lead to very bad results. If you have to leave it up find a way to physically prevent it from dropping if the levers are moved.

A loader bucket settling to the ground over the course of a week is not uncommon. Cylinder leakage internal along with leakage by valve spools is regularly encountered. Not knowing what brand/model loader valve you have the only "rebuild" to most loader control valves is to replace external seals. If you don't have oil leaking out around the spools there isn't much you can do to the valve. In general, the spools are a metal-to-metal clearance fit, and spools can't be replaced. The other thing that might occur is the centering spring breaking or adjusting screw for it coming loose. If the handles of your loader valve don't return to center that could be the problem.

 

[miangus]

If you are trying to operate a front bucket system and a three-point hitch mounted snow blower and the tractor has the MF two lever control valve; To operate the loader center the left valve pull the right lever to the rear and place the side mounted position control in the constant pumping mode, to operate the three-point after the loader is raised, center the right lever and lock the left lever to the rear. You will need to remove the position control out of the constant pumping mode position.

 

[Jamelia]

I bought a MF135 a few years ago to blow snow on our road, the road is about 1/3 km long.
The blower works perfect.
The bucket on the front works intermittantly, and I need to lift it before I can drive. When it sits for a week the bucket will go down to the ground.

Is the valve (I’m guessing its the diverter valve, pic below, the one with one handle and one hose) that touchy?
I changed the hydraulic fluid and filter, and flushed the whole system with diesel and changed the hydraulic fluid again.

I am thinking to remove the hose from that valve and see if fluid is gushing out. Is the diverter valve the correct name for this valve, and where would I get a replacement, with instructions?
I just know when I take it apart spring are going to fly out!!

The other valve, one to curl the bucket and one to lift looks more complicated, so I would like to start with the single handle valve first.

Thought, and/or advice??

 

[Jamelia]

If you are trying to operate a front bucket system and a three-point hitch mounted snow blower and the tractor has the MF two lever control valve; To operate the loader center the left valve pull the right lever to the rear and place the side mounted position control in the constant pumping mode, to operate the three-point after the loader is raised, center the right lever and lock the left lever to the rear. You will need to remove the position control out of the constant pumping mode position.

That is an extremely helpful reply.
On the two handled valve you are talking about (I think, geez I’ll be glad when I can post pics), and is on the right side of the drivers seat the outside lever moves the blower up or down. I never knew what the inside one did.
The two handled valve beside the steering wheel curls the bucket and lifts and lowers the bucket. When one works, the other works.

The single valve is in front and down on the right side.

I tried moving the inside handle on the two handles valve that moves the blower up and down, with the single valve up for the bucket. And it worked perfect.
So maybe that one handle is the problem. As I say, it is an intermittant problem, so after a few times, I will know.

Thank you, when I can post pics I will, and will let you know the result.

 

[Jim.ME]

This may be a matter of just having the right levers in the correct position(s).

Do you have an Operator's manual for your MF 135? If not, the link below should take you to a manual for a diesel, but the hydraulic info is the same for diesel or gas. It should help explain the two basic quadrant levers (Massey Ferguson calls this the hydraulic quadrant) near the fender and what different positions of the two levers control.

The valve mounted on top of the transmission is the control for the auxiliary hydraulics for a tractor with one internal hydraulic pump. It directs hydraulic fluid to either the 3-point hitch or remote cylinders (the loader valve on your tractor).

For clarity, the two spool valve up near the steering wheel (mounted to the loader frame) is called the loader control valve. It is actually a part of the loader, not part of the tractor.

MF 135 Operator's Manual

There is a separatee Operator's Manual for the Auxiliary hydraulics on the MF135 through MF 175 tractors. There is a scanned copy on the classic Machinery .net website, however quality is poor, especially the pictures.

You might be able to post pictures if you reduce them in size. Some have been able to accomplish this by reducing the size to the lowest setting on their phone or resizing on their computer/tablet.

Where abouts in the wide world are you located, if I may ask.

 

[Jamelia]

Trying photos cropped

 

[Jamelia]

Trying photos cropped

 

[Jamelia]

Trying from my phone. File size is very small now

 

[Jamelia]

So, for my final post, everything works perfect!!
When I used the snowblower and raised it to drive, it would lift all the way and start to chatter.
Now with the levers in their proper position, the blower lifts about a foot and stays there.

The bucket works when and where I want it to, every time.
Jim from Maine, you were incredibly helpful.
I am on PEI, so we’re practically neighbors!!

Thanks again so much for your help.