Hi all, thanks for those thoughts. I serviced the tractor myself. but the problem was intermittently there before the service, just more often after, and frequency increasing. BUT SOLUTION, thanks to all you wonderful people, PaulL and Wolfman especially. Im a logic person so Ive been lying awake , using the valuable insights you have given me and working out the logic sequence. After swapping lift and lower hoses and the problem moving with the function, meaning the problem was in the tractor end. so , tonight I thought a bit more logically, using the very cool ideas from PaulL and Wolfman re connectors and switched the MALE ends of the lift QC and the next one down, one of the bucket tilt hoses, but connected the bucket end hoses back in their correct position - guess what??? The problem moved to the bucket tilt. Qc moves Ok, can see fluid path when I push it in manually. BUT, BUT , BUT , replaced the lift Qc (couldn't get the Kubota one but the hydraulic people gave me a better quality one), and my beloved tractor is back to normal - its FIXED!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH people! I note that the new fitting connects very snuggly, very tightly, whereas all the Kubota QC fittings seem sloppy, you can wiggle the hose when its connected. I suspect the QC fittings are a source of problems and Ill replace them all - much as PaulL and Wolfman have been telling me all along!!!
THANKS SO MUCH TO THIS FORUM AND THE GENEROUS PEOPLE OFFERING UP THEIR TIME AND WISDOM TO DOPES LIKE ME. I feel so happy its fixed but so happy I fixed it, not having it fixed unseen by someone else.