FEL sag

Jun 16, 2023
9
7
3
Texas
2023 L2502 55 hours

Saturday while attempting to hang a gate on the pipe fence corral, I noticed that the loader would not maintain it's lift position, engine running or not. I would suspect that with the hydraulic pump off sag would be normal.
I'm guessing the gate probably weighs 150lbs.

I also noticed this last year while moving dirt and gravel, when in transit to the dump site, i would notice that the bucket was un-curling a couple of inches. During the gate install the FEL drop was very noticeable with the hydraulic pump running. Is this normal?
 

PoTreeBoy

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WestTn/NoMs
2023 L2502 55 hours

Saturday while attempting to hang a gate on the pipe fence corral, I noticed that the loader would not maintain it's lift position, engine running or not. I would suspect that with the hydraulic pump off sag would be normal.
I'm guessing the gate probably weighs 150lbs.

I also noticed this last year while moving dirt and gravel, when in transit to the dump site, i would notice that the bucket was un-curling a couple of inches. During the gate install the FEL drop was very noticeable with the hydraulic pump running. Is this normal?
Yes, it's the nature of the beast. The control valves are designed for smoothness, not absolute shut-off. Kubota has an acceptance standard, several inches per minute of leak-down if I recall.
 

85Hokie

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I am gonna say with THAT few hours - something is amiss.

That tractor under warranty? IF so - take it back!!!!

If you left the bucket up in the air, empty and came back 4 hours later and it when down a small bit - I would consider THAT normal.

But to have it come down while using - that is unacceptable for that new machine.
 
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TheOldHokie

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2023 L2502 55 hours

Saturday while attempting to hang a gate on the pipe fence corral, I noticed that the loader would not maintain it's lift position, engine running or not. I would suspect that with the hydraulic pump off sag would be normal.
I'm guessing the gate probably weighs 150lbs.

I also noticed this last year while moving dirt and gravel, when in transit to the dump site, i would notice that the bucket was un-curling a couple of inches. During the gate install the FEL drop was very noticeable with the hydraulic pump running. Is this normal?
Pump running or not is meaningless in this problem so lets dispense with that discussion.

The loader is held up by the spool in the loader valve closing off the return line from the lift cylinders. If the lift cylinders are drifting close there has to be fluid. leakage somewhere in that circuit. If there is no external leakage the spool in the valve is allowing oil to leak backwards into the tractor.

As mentioned earlier there is always some spool leakage = cylinder drift. The issue is how mch and how fast. I would suggest you quantify that and get some opinions here about whether its excessive or not before running to the dealer. You need to have your ammunition ready to go before fighting that battle.

Dan
 

PoTreeBoy

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I hope that's hours not minutes:eek:

Dan
Yeah, hours I guess. I'll see if I can find the spec.

Edit:
I didn't find the spec somebody published, but here's a link to some calcs you made a couple of years ago that said an inch in 17 minutes wouldn't be excessive:

I'm sure I meant minutes per inch, isn't that the same as inches per minute :rolleyes: ?
 
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TheOldHokie

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Yeah, hours I guess. I'll see if I can find the spec.

Edit:
I didn't find the spec somebody published, but here's a link to some calcs you made a couple of years ago that said an inch in 17 minutes wouldn't be excessive:

I'm sure I meant minutes per inch, isn't that the same as inches per minute :rolleyes: ?
I was just thinking about those calcs earlier. I think I screwed up and only used 1 cylinder. For a loader with two lift cylinders it would be 2x the volume or 34 minutes. I will have to go back and see what I did.

Dan
 
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TheOldHokie

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I was just thinking about those calcs earlier. I think I screwed up and only used 1 cylinder. For a loader with two lift cylinders it would be 2x the volume or 34 minutes. I will have to go back and see what I did.

Dan
Yep - that calculation was for a single cylinder. On a loader with 2 cylinders the drift would be half as much or 1" in 34 minutes. If we triple the leakage to 9 cc/minute (prettu crappy valve) its down to 1 " in 11 minutes. Just for giggles tomorrow I will measure the drift on my relatively new LA525. I am guessing closer to 34 than 11 minutes.

Dan