I have a late 70's model L245DT. This thing has been running great and working great all year.
I noticed a small leak of fluid on the left wheel seal, so before doing some work the other day, I checked the hydraulic/transmission fluid level, and it was a bit low. I had to add a quart to get it back to correct level, coming out of the bolt hole on the side.
Anyway, took the tractor out to work, and the 3 pt lift is not working. It lowers fine, but it will not raise. If I lift manually, it holds the arms up, and will lift them slowly at high rpm with no attachment. The day before, I mowed for about 5 hours, and it had no issues, was lifting and lowering the mower without a problem. Day before that, I was lifting large hay bales with it, moved about a dozen, 800-1000 lb bales, no issues whatsoever.
So, I did a bit of research, and went through the obvious things. Drained the fluid, cleaned the screen (it was dirty), added good, clean fluid. Still nothing.
Checked the vent. It was clogged, cleaned and put it back on. Still nothing.
So I took off the relief valve assembly on the left side below the seat, nothing looked weird there, didn't see any debris or anything. Flushed it out good, and put it back on, still nothing. Is there a way to test these relief valves?
When I lift it manually, the arms catch up and will hold it. But I noticed today, that when I turn the engine off, the arms will very slowly lower, it takes a few hours for them to drop with a heavy implement.
Does that sound like possibly the piston o-rings or possible the control valve or something like that? I admit, I'm starting to test the limits of my mechanical abilities, but I really need my little workhorse back!
I noticed a small leak of fluid on the left wheel seal, so before doing some work the other day, I checked the hydraulic/transmission fluid level, and it was a bit low. I had to add a quart to get it back to correct level, coming out of the bolt hole on the side.
Anyway, took the tractor out to work, and the 3 pt lift is not working. It lowers fine, but it will not raise. If I lift manually, it holds the arms up, and will lift them slowly at high rpm with no attachment. The day before, I mowed for about 5 hours, and it had no issues, was lifting and lowering the mower without a problem. Day before that, I was lifting large hay bales with it, moved about a dozen, 800-1000 lb bales, no issues whatsoever.
So, I did a bit of research, and went through the obvious things. Drained the fluid, cleaned the screen (it was dirty), added good, clean fluid. Still nothing.
Checked the vent. It was clogged, cleaned and put it back on. Still nothing.
So I took off the relief valve assembly on the left side below the seat, nothing looked weird there, didn't see any debris or anything. Flushed it out good, and put it back on, still nothing. Is there a way to test these relief valves?
When I lift it manually, the arms catch up and will hold it. But I noticed today, that when I turn the engine off, the arms will very slowly lower, it takes a few hours for them to drop with a heavy implement.
Does that sound like possibly the piston o-rings or possible the control valve or something like that? I admit, I'm starting to test the limits of my mechanical abilities, but I really need my little workhorse back!