Snowblower Hydraulic Issue

[Ron(Ont)]

I have a new to me 7' Lucknow single auger snowblower. The hydraulic rotate did not work, so I bought a new cylinder, identical to the old one. It is about 22" long, 3" piston and 8" throw. I can only get about 1" or so of movement in either direction. Is it likely this cylinder needs to be bled? There is a 3rd set screw on the side.

 

[Jim.ME]

The cylinder will self-bleed when run full stroke a few times.

What tractor?

Does it have a double-acting remote control valve? If so, does it work properly on a different implement with a double acting cylinder?

If it has hoses with quick couplers on them to connect to your tractor remote couplers, I would firs suspect one of the couplings is not mated properly.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

MF 165. Yes, it is double acting. I have pulsed it back and forth dozens of times. All I can get is 1" of travel. I do not have any other remotes to compare. It does have quick connects, There is a front end loader that works properly.

 

[Jim.ME]

MF 165. Yes, it is double acting. I have pulsed it back and forth dozens of times. All I can get is 1" of travel. I do not have any other remotes to compare. It does have quick connects, There is a front end loader that works properly.

Can you move the rotate by hand so as to confirm it is not "stuck" in place?

What pump supplies the loader? Is the loader using the same remote valves and disconnects?

Does your 165 have an auxiliary hydraulic system for the remotes or is it using the same pump as the three point hitch.

The disconnects on the snowblower may not match the ones on your tractor.

Some pictures of how things are plumbed may help.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

Yes, I can rotate by hand. The FEL has its own valves. Yes, the FEL and remote uses the same pump as the 3 point hitch. Here are 2 photos where you cand see the aux. control valve and the 3 spools. I can get a couple more phtos tomorrow.

 

[Dieseltech]

Does the loader have a FRONT CRANKSHAFT driven pump, or does it use the THREE POINT PUMP?

 

[Jim.ME]

In his post with the pictures he said they all use the three point pump. I wonder how the valves are plumbed together.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

I think that I may have stumbled upon my problem. I checked the two QC for the FEL. One QC has a ball bearing valve and the other has a tapered flat tip valve. Is it normal to use one of each? The remote set at the end of the tractor has one of each, but the cables on the snowblower cylinder are both ball bearings.

 

[Jim.ME]

I think that I may have stumbled upon my problem. I checked the two QC for the FEL. One QC has a ball bearing valve and the other has a tapered flat tip valve. Is it normal to use one of each? The remote set at the end of the tractor has one of each, but the cables on the snowblower cylinder are both ball bearings.

I would say generally they will work, but sometimes not; It is best if the types of couplers match, i.e. poppet to poppet and ball to ball.

Your remotes are a separate valve from your loader valve in your picture, aren't they? Often on older loaders the arms were removed, and the loader lift cylinders were tied up to the mast posts and remained on the tractor. They may have done that for the bucket circuit so that if they removed the loader arms with the bucket and its cylinders, they could match couplings when they reconnected those two hoses, so the bucket function worked the same without any trial and error that might occur if all the couplers were the same..

How about a sketch of how both valves are plumbed. Especially the oil pressure supply and return lines.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

Here are 2 photos from this morning that shows the 3 spools. And a photo of the Remote connections. The lower one does not seem to be in as far as the top one.

 

[Jim.ME]

The lower coupling is not connected!!! Start by fixing that

 

[Jim.ME]

Here are 2 photos from this morning that shows the 3 spools. And a photo of the Remote connections. The lower one does not seem to be in as far as the top one.

Pictures help but without a picture showing the entire hose so both ends can be seen, a sketch is needed to tell where they go and which ports of the valve they are in. Where does the oil from the pump go to which valve? Where does the return from the valve that gets pressure oil from the pump go? How is oil supplied to the second valve and where does its return go? If I had posted those pictures, could you tell me what each hose went to?

Getting that lower coupler connected may solve your problem and the rest won't be needed. If it doesn't it will be well to make a good sketch. We can only see what you post, just trying to help you.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

I replaced the male poppet fitting on the upper hose, tested and had a bad leak on the lower hose. Went back to town and bought a replacement QC and fixed that leak. If I take off the rotator connection (no load) and turn on the lower spool, in about 30 seconds the cylinder will extend the full 8". It retracts quickly. Under load I get about 1/2".
The flow goes from the aux. control valve into the lower, single spool on the right side. It goes out the left side and into the left side of the dual/upper spools. The return flow is out the right side of the dual spool. Does that help?

 

[Jim.ME]

That helps.

Check the hydraulic pressure at the couplers you are hooking the snowblower rotation cylinder to.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

I do not have one. Can you suggest a modestly price kit?

 

[Jim.ME]

To be clear. When you said you have no other remotes to compare to does that mean you have nothing else that uses a double acting cylinder powered by these remote couplers? Or you don't have another tractor with remote couplers to test the snow blower on.

Have you ever used this remote valve and couplers, and had them function correctly on any remote mounted cylinder?

I do not have one. Can you suggest a modestly price kit?

You just need a gauge with at least a 3000 PSI range (5000 psi might be better). 1/4 NPT bottom mount, a male quick coupler nipple and bushings to fit mount the gauge to the coupler nipple. Liquid/Glycerin filled smooths the needle movement.

Given you are in Canada I don't see that I can say what gets you the best pricebased on the number of fellows from Canada complain about prices and shipping. You know sources around you better than I do. The two examples I posted below are from eBay and each under $15 with free shipping.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

To your 1st point, no to both. I have only had the165 for 1 year and just bought snow blower this summer. This is my 1st opportunity to test the remotes. I could not test the snow blower cylinder before purchase either. It is the fittings and adapters that are required that make getting a gauge tough.
I will look again, but I may be able to test the remote cylinder using the FEL bucket tilt control. There are QC fittings there.

 

[Jim.ME]

You need one male quick coupler tip (ball or poppet either will work), one gauge, and whatever fittings are needed to connect the gauge to the coupler tip If you get a tip that has 1/2"NPT female threads and a gauge with a 1/4" male NPT bottom mount fitting, you only need one pipe bushing 1/2 NPT male to 1/4" female NPT. These should be available local to you. Then you just plug it into a female coupler, operate the lever and read the gauge. That is about as simple as it gets.

Did you get that lower coupling to plug completely together? I think that may be what you were describing in post # 13.

If you can plug the remote cylinder hoses in place of the bucket hoses and the cylinder works correctly when you move the bucket lever it indicates a problem in the remote valving set up.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

I will work on a gauge setup and let you know. Yes, the lower coupling is all good now.

 

[Ron(Ont)]

So, I bought a gauge this morning, the upper QC was 2000psi @ 1000rpm, the lower one was 0psi. I moved the cylinder to the FEL QC's and it worked perfectly. Do I need to replace the single spool, or is it fixable?