2008 m6040f rops 2wd no loader: hydraulic steering and 3pt lift ordeal

[JGraves]

I recently bought a 2008 m6040f 2wd no FEL. Tractor is very clean and has 900 hours pulling a hay rake. Tractor ran fine for the first 15 hours I owned it. Did some very easy bush hogging jobs. All of a sudden I am having very similiar issues as to what is described in other threads, except my steering begins making pulsing sounds then gets hard spots to the point I can barely operate the machine. Once this happens, the 3 point barely lifts the arms up with no attachments. Takes over a minute for the arms to raise fully. At first start up it all seems fine. Once the temperature gauge starts to climb i slowly raise the rpm and begin moving the steering wheel and it begins to show itself. A minute or so later the tractor is basically not operational. I was told my pump is bad, but it sure feels like air to me and I find it odd it doesn’t have issues right out of the gate. The best way I can describe it is like running a truck with low power steering fluid, a little bit more aggressive in noise and operation of the steering wheel wheel.. I have changed the fluids, filters which didn’t help at all. I did get some pretty large buildup out of the system each time I flush it. It’s just getting expensive throwing new fluid and filters to continue flushing it. Is there anyway to blow compressed air in the system? I don’t see any signs of leaks air or water but the buildup I’m getting out sure looks like rust in my opinion. Worth noting that the filters were the incorrect number, but they were the same size as the filters I got from the dealership supposedly the tractor was only used to pull a hay and was born kept and overall looks very clean. None of the factory paint is missing from any of the bolts on the tractor so I don’t think anyone else has been through it. I’m trying to figure out a way to get more of the buildup out of the system
. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I appreciate your time.
Jack

 

[TheOldHokie]

I recently bought a 2008 m6040f 2wd no FEL. Tractor is very clean and has 900 hours pulling a hay rake. Tractor ran fine for the first 15 hours I owned it. Did some very easy bush hogging jobs. All of a sudden I am having very similiar issues as to what is described in other threads, except my steering begins making pulsing sounds then gets hard spots to the point I can barely operate the machine. Once this happens, the 3 point barely lifts the arms up with no attachments. Takes over a minute for the arms to raise fully. At first start up it all seems fine. Once the temperature gauge starts to climb i slowly raise the rpm and begin moving the steering wheel and it begins to show itself. A minute or so later the tractor is basically not operational. I was told my pump is bad, but it sure feels like air to me and I find it odd it doesn’t have issues right out of the gate. The best way I can describe it is like running a truck with low power steering fluid, a little bit more aggressive in noise and operation of the steering wheel wheel.. I have changed the fluids, filters which didn’t help at all. I did get some pretty large buildup out of the system each time I flush it. It’s just getting expensive throwing new fluid and filters to continue flushing it. Is there anyway to blow compressed air in the system? I don’t see any signs of leaks air or water but the buildup I’m getting out sure looks like rust in my opinion. Worth noting that the filters were the incorrect number, but they were the same size as the filters I got from the dealership supposedly the tractor was only used to pull a hay and was born kept and overall looks very clean. None of the factory paint is missing from any of the bolts on the tractor so I don’t think anyone else has been through it. I’m trying to figure out a way to get more of the buildup out of the system
. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I appreciate your time.
Jack

Based on the pictures sounds more like oil starvation to me. The sump seems to be full of hydraulic boogers (thats the technical term for detritus) thats clogging things up. Flushing with a cheap UTF is a lot cheaper than a new pump.

Dan

 

[JGraves]

Based on the pictures sounds more like oil starvation to me. The sump seems to be full of hydraulic boogers (thats the technical term for detritus) thats clogging things up. Flushing with a cheap UTF is a lot cheaper than a new pump.

Dan

Dan I really appreciate you taking the time to follow up. I’ve spent most of my life wrenching and building, off-road vehicles, rock buggies, and trail rigs. So I have a basic knowledge of mechanical things. But this is the first real hydraulic system I have dug into snd I’ve just been having a hard time Diagnosing the issue. I think you’re exactly right. I think there’s a ton of buildup on the bottom of the tank that continues pull new debris at each flush.im assuming it’s probably gonna take multiple flushes to get it out. The definitely makes a funny whining noise once the power steering starts getting hard and the three-point starts acting up and raising and small increments. To me it seems like Erin the line or blocked supply ports that are starving the system. I just wasn’t sure if I was wasting time flushing it or if there was a better way to help manipulate that stuff out of the system. I do have the hydraulic pump pulled all the way off the machine right now because I was planning on opening it up just to visually inspect everything inside and make sure there is no worn out worm gears or any other operational parts. So far I haven’t found many metal shavings at all just that big Rock like invitation build up that is soft to the touch and breaks down very easily. I’m hoping once I have proper flow back to the system the pump will no longer sound like it’s starving for fluid, assuming it hasn’t gone too far. But I was pretty diligent about shutting the tractor down as soon as it happened and only turned it on a few times since just a show People what I have going on.

Is there a way to blow out with compressed air in the cap off or suck out more debris with a shop vac now that it’s empty again or is filling the system up each time and flushing out whatever I can get from each fluid change the best way to continue cleaning the system. I’ve been operating tractors my whole life, but this is my first purchase And I’ve been super excited about it. I have a few clients waiting on me to get some Bushhogging done but I’ve been out of commission for the past few weeks. Thanks again for your time and information. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I don’t have the money to take it to the dealership and have them run through it all so I’m doing what I can to remedy the situation by myself. With a decent summary of what needs to happen. I am pretty self-sufficient and not scared turn the wrench. I just don’t wanna get cocky and do something that says me back further.
Jack

 

[TheOldHokie]

Dan I really appreciate you taking the time to follow up. I’ve spent most of my life wrenching and building, off-road vehicles, rock buggies, and trail rigs. So I have a basic knowledge of mechanical things. But this is the first real hydraulic system I have dug into snd I’ve just been having a hard time Diagnosing the issue. I think you’re exactly right. I think there’s a ton of buildup on the bottom of the tank that continues pull new debris at each flush.im assuming it’s probably gonna take multiple flushes to get it out. The definitely makes a funny whining noise once the power steering starts getting hard and the three-point starts acting up and raising and small increments. To me it seems like Erin the line or blocked supply ports that are starving the system. I just wasn’t sure if I was wasting time flushing it or if there was a better way to help manipulate that stuff out of the system. I do have the hydraulic pump pulled all the way off the machine right now because I was planning on opening it up just to visually inspect everything inside and make sure there is no worn out worm gears or any other operational parts. So far I haven’t found many metal shavings at all just that big Rock like invitation build up that is soft to the touch and breaks down very easily. I’m hoping once I have proper flow back to the system the pump will no longer sound like it’s starving for fluid, assuming it hasn’t gone too far. But I was pretty diligent about shutting the tractor down as soon as it happened and only turned it on a few times since just a show People what I have going on.

Is there a way to blow out with compressed air in the cap off or suck out more debris with a shop vac now that it’s empty again or is filling the system up each time and flushing out whatever I can get from each fluid change the best way to continue cleaning the system. I’ve been operating tractors my whole life, but this is my first purchase And I’ve been super excited about it. I have a few clients waiting on me to get some Bushhogging done but I’ve been out of commission for the past few weeks. Thanks again for your time and information. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I don’t have the money to take it to the dealership and have them run through it all so I’m doing what I can to remedy the situation by myself. With a decent summary of what needs to happen. I am pretty self-sufficient and not scared turn the wrench. I just don’t wanna get cocky and do something that says me back further.
Jack

Keep flushing eith cheap UTF until that stuff is eliminated and leave the pump alone. Id also find some cheap a$$ filters....

Dan

 

[JGraves]

Keep flushing eith cheap UTF until that stuff is eliminated and leave the pump alone. Id also find some cheap a$$ filters....

Dan

Thank you sir! I’m on it.

 

[Russell King]

Does that look like any type of clutch or brake lining material?

I have read posts about that material being involved but don’t remember what happened to make it get there.

You may be able to search and find some posts about it

 

[JGraves]

To be honest, I’m not sure. Would that be like soft/yellow metals in the clutch of a truck?

My best guess is air and moisture got into the system at some point before I purchased it. That combination created rust which overtime built up into those large deposits I showed the pictures above. Yesterday I flushed the hydraulic fluid three times. I used Tractor supply hydraulic fluid (udt equivalent for price) for the first two flushes. I recycled the fluid back into the buckets and used window screening to catch the large majority of the build up and swapped filters at each time. By the second cycle my issue was 75% better. On the third flush I went back to UDT with two new Kubota filters and the tractor is now running great.

I will definitely do a little research into what you’re speaking of though to make sure this isn’t gonna be an ongoing issue. I appreciate you reaching out. This form has been very helpful and the people that contribute really bend the needle in the right direction when diagnosing!

Jack

 

[Russell King]

Glad that you are making progress in getting it cleaned out.

If you think it is rust and have some of the material you can use a magnet to see if it is ferrous material. I doubt that any clutch or brake lining material would show any magnetic properties. Using a magnet would help with knowing if it is magnetic or not, but not much more.

Good luck