McCormick Loader #30 question-

OK so I added oil to my belly pump reservior today and got more lift out of my loader! That is the good news. The bad news is when I got it up about 4' it started spraying oil out of the right arm at the vent cap at the front of the ram. Funny thing is that one was leaking like crazy but that arm was going up faster than the other one (just about an inch or two, but still faster). The left arm vent did drip some but the right hand side was spraying enough to get oil on the hood and muffler. Needless to say I shut it down and need to figure out what is going on here. The right side cap does not look like a proper hydraulic cap, but rather like a bolt painted red. The left side cap looks like the proper style cap (square head, not the hex bolt on the right).
I have a service manual for the loader coming in the mail, just figured I would share and see if anyone has any insight.

the loader did go up about 5' before the leak got me worried enough to quit.

My question is should I just put a return line on the front of the rams back into the belly pump reservior and be done with it?
I suppose I will be better informed to answer that question when my book gets here (got confirmation that both the tractor service manual and the loader service manual both shipped today).

I did get a great deal on some 30wt oil at the discount auto parts store. Clearance for $2 a gallon! Going to go back and get another one tomorrow!

Cheers!
~Kevin

When used on an H, the model 30 loader stored oil in the upper part of the cylinder and used return lines in place of the vent to carry it back to the belly pump. The M pump holds enough oil it does not need the return lines, so it only has a vent. I assume yours has been seeping past the piston, and now that you raised it all the way, the oil that seeped past the piston blew out the vent.

The real question is- how do I fix the problem?

Rebuild the cylinders or put on a return line? Can't have the oil spraying all over my pretty tractor! Will it clear out or get worse? Lift seems to be strong still.

Where do I get parts for the loader? The how to part should be coming in the mail in a few days.

Cheers!
~K

If oil is getting past the seals or cups, it will probably get worse when you put pressure on it or try to get it to hold up. I think the only way to really fix it is to rebuild the cylinder and hope it isn't worn to where new packings will not fix the problem.

Hi Kevin,
I have a #30 loader on my 1943 Farmall H too. I have a picture shown of how high the loader should go. What "vent cap" on the cylinder are you talking about? My loader has no "vent cap" on the cylinders, only on the belly pump filler pipe. The #30 loader stores oil on the front of the cylinder, the plug on top is the filler. Do you have a hose running on the front of each cylinder down to the belly pump filler? If not, you need to do this on a #30 loader. It is kind of hard for me to explain it, but your manual should when you get it.

Andy.

Install the return lines. Use the loader, and then you will know if the cylinders need to be rebuilt or not.

I will wait until the manual gets here- there is no oil leaking past the cylinders that I can see- the oil is coming out of the caps on the top of the cylinder. The rams and front seals look clean, no oil there.

I guess I will wait to see what the book says about adding return lines to the belly pump sump. Obviously it isn't supposed to leak like this, but should I tighten down the vent caps? Right now they are only finger tight. The one on the left drips a little bit, but the right one is a geyser when the loader gets to about 4' high.

Rusty,

That is what my current thinking is too, although the book will probably be here before the weekend (and my chance to go get the return lines), so I'll check out what it says.

I'm just curious about how the heck does the loader know if it is installed on an H (where return lines are needed) or an M (where they are not, supposedly). If the caps are to be loose, what is to keep the loader from dumping oil out, if it is indeed designed for it to send oil back to the sump? Quite confused, but some hose and couplings will be a lot cheaper and easier than pulling the cylinders and rebuilding.

Loader lifts fine (empty, anyway) and I only added one quart of oil. Probably lost half of that already though. With the size of this leak I can see why it needed more fluid.
Previous owner had not used the loader (paint on bucket bottom wasn't even scratched up- repainted some 8 years ago!) and admitted he had not checked hydro oil in 4+ years at least.

you need to have 2 hoses on each cylinder, one on each end of both cylinders. the front part of each cylinder is a reservoir that holds extra oil that is pushed into the belly pump as you raise the loader. this gives the pump more oil and will be pumped to the back side of the loader cylinders to raise the loader higher.
hope this helps.