L3301 Loader Valve Cover Removal

[NF6X]

I have a very young L3301HST with 19 hours on the clock. A couple of minor issues have developed with the loader valve, and I want to take a look at it myself before involving the dealer:

1. The mechanical lockout lever on top of the loader valve can no longer slide far enough towards the right to be engaged. It worked when I got the tractor. I haven't felt any real need to use the lockout, but something has clearly shifted out of its proper position.
2. The float detent is no longer strong enough to hold the valve lever in float position. I can still float the bucket by holding the level upwards, but it won't stay there.

I don't know if I can do anything about the float detent without digging deeper into the valve body than I would like to, but I would at least like to take a look at the lockout. I assume that the lockout function is external to the valve body. Maybe I'll get lucky and discover that whatever mechanical misalignment is affecting the lockout is also preventing the valve poppet from being moved far enough to fully engage the detent.

So that brings up the question that brought me here: How do I remove the plastic housing which covers the top of the valve assembly? I have a hunch that I will need to remove some or all of the bolts which I can see on the bottom of the metal plate under the valve assembly, in order to lift the valve up and expose whatever fasteners hold the plastic cover on. I don't have a service manual yet, so I'm feeling cautious about blindly digging into the loader valve assembly without a map.

 

[rentthis]

Take it back to the dealer before you do something he can deny

 

[NF6X]

Take it back to the dealer before you do something he can deny

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Yes some of the bolts underneath, you need to remove. It's been several years since I removed mine.

As for the detent not holding, the back "cap" is what you need to look into. You don't need to take the valve apart. I don't have photos of this...

I had a little time to look at the valve after work, right before the sun went down. The fix turned out to be very easy, and I didn't even need to get into the valve body at all. I found that the cover is held on by three of the smaller bolts on the bottom of the mounting plate:

One of the linkages had rotated out of position. This caused both problems: The lockout pin no longer lined up with the hole in the linkage, and the linkage bumped against the lockout assembly's bracket so that the joystick couldn't push the poppet all the way into the detented float position:

Simply rotating the linkage back into whack fixed both problems. Next time, I won't even need to take off the cover; the linkage can be rotated back into place with a suitable pokeamajigger through the lockout lever opening.

I also wrote this up on my blog: http://www.nf6x.net/2017/05/quick-and-easy-loader-valve-fix/

 

[The Evil Twin]

Old thread, but thank you for answering a question I had!