International 460 - 3 point hitch. Always going up or down

International 460 gas tractor.

Trying to blade the muddy ruts out of the road before it dries out and sets up.

First time for me using this tractor.

The rear 3 point hitch seems to always be heading up or heading down. I can't get it to just sit in one position. I keep having to wiggle/move/adjust on the lever to TRY to get the blade to not DIG in and try to raise the rear wheels off the ground or lift clear up.

Is there some other lever or setting that I am missing to just get it to sit in one position or float down?

There is something broken in the tel a depth control, weather it is just a sheared pin in the scening linkage or sheared or striped gears in the valve . Unless some one had mickey moused a hitch onto this tractor and hooked it up to the tel a depth control valve and if that is the case then it will never work wright . aftermarket three point hitchs and tel a depth valves are not meant for each other.So with out seeing at least pictures of just what the hello you have we are all guessing here.

ttiiggy: There are a set of spider gears in the hitch control valve that connect between draft control and hand control lever. Those gears are broken. I don't know if you can buy new spider gears.

I had this happen to a 560 around 1970, gears were available then but costly. I didn't use my hitch for plowing, so I changed the control valve out for a regular double-single action valve. Any control valve from a 230, 300, 400, 330, 350, 450, 240, 340, 460 or 560 will fit.

As Hugh and TV have indicated, you have a problem with the tel-a-depth system. If it is an International (read utility) I don't think it has the gears Hugh mentions, at least mine doesn't. If Farmall (row crop) it does. Look at the hyd cylinder and see if there is a mechanism attached to the top of the cylinder -- that is part of the tel a depth. Also check the linkage. Make sure the hitch is in the float position. But, you really need a manual, hard to explain without one. I had a similar problem with mine, but it was caused by the relief valve. If an International, it is behind the battery box behind the seat. I don't know where it is on the Farmall, as I don't have one.

Temporary THEORETICAL "barnyard engineering" solution to get you going in short order:

1. Run hoses from the fast hitch cylinder to another remote valve on the tractor.
2. Connect the hoses you detached from the fast hitch cylinder together so you don't lose all your oil.

CNKS: I think your tractor probably had the spider gears when new. Note they were gone from my 560 by the time it was 8 years old. That was true of a lot of them. The draft control was only marginal at best. In 1970, IH wanted big bucks for those spider gears. Most folks felt it just wasn't worth the dollars, for something that they never were sure it worked.

I know in my case I had a 300 rear chassis, I'd bought for parts, replaced that tele-a-depth valve with a regular double-single action valve. Bolts right in a 460-560 valve bank, and valves are the same, Utility or Farmall.

The only exterior difference between tele-a-depth valve and double-single remote is the shaft coming out both sides on tele-a-depth. On tele-a-depth one shaft is attached to control lever, the other shaft to draft linkage, inside there are spider gears between the two shafts. The valves may be positioned differently on a Utility from Farmall, but the valve is exactly the same.

I was one of the first in my area to have those spiders break. After my change over to regular valve, I got several calls on how to do it, I've done a couple of Utilities, configuration may be different, but the same parts are all there. And when you put it back together with the single-double valve, it will look factory.

Here are pictures for reference. What needs changed/fixed to make this work?