Super A Rear Hydraulic Issue

Hello,

I have a 1952 Super A which I have owned almost 2 years now. After I bought it I installed a touch control hydraulic cylinder overhaul kit because it was leaking. Had to pull it off couple of times, because the kit had wrong size o-rings on the control valve piston/cylinders. Anyway finally got that fixed. The hydraulics have been working fine for 2 seasons. I have a rear 60 inch finish mower that I have been lifting and cutting grass. Today I go to move the tractor and the rear lift will not pick up the finish mower. The front lift works okay but only have a snow blade on it - maybe about 100 pounds. I throttled the engine and if I physically assist in lifting the mower somewhat, the rear lift will go up and stay. If I let it down, it will not lift the mower and responds the same way,i.e. if I help lift the mower etc.

Does anyone have an idea why the rear hydraulic system is not working? Do you think it is the hydraulic pump? I checked the fluid level in reservoir and it is up to bottom of hole.

By the way, I changed the fluid 2 or 3 times when I had to pull it off for the o-rings last year so it is clean.

Thanks,
Jim

Did this happen all of a sudden or have the hydraulics been getting weaker slowly? When you move the lever to lift the mower can you hear the engine load down at all? Do you have access to a pressure gauge so that you check the system pressure? What are you using for fluid? What was the temperature like when this occurred? Sam

Damn.....damn, where is Hugh when we need him! We just lost our best Super A-140 expert....I promise he would have had your answer.

Check your hydraulic pump and seeing if it is working properly, would be the first thing I"d suspect. If it"s dying...replace it.

If the pump is fine, your hydraulic unit needs to come off again. When you overhauled it....perhaps you missed something...what, I won"t venture to say....but something is amiss. I cannot conceive the overhaul kit not having the correct O rings.....but I can conceive the rebuilder not installing them correctly. I am not slamming you....but you have got to pay close attention when rebuilding one of these units. They are actually quite simple......but you do have to pay close attention in reassembling the parts. And most of all, CLEANLINESS is next to GODLINESS!!!! Absolutely, positively keep everything spotlessly clean and allow no crud to enter the system.....even a speck can plug a passage or score a spool bore.

Look the internals over before reassembly....if you find scoring on the pistons or in the spool bores.....no rebuild kit made is going to fix that and if the bores are scored....fluid bypasses the pistons and results in poor lifting capabilities.

The rebuild kit mainly fixes leaks with new gaskets, and the O rings on the spool pistons generally restores the lifting power.

If your unit is not on the fritz internally, then the only other problems could be a plugged up screen in the reservoir....but if you"ve had the unit apart and put in fresh fluid....that really shouldn"t be the culprit.

After going through a lot of guessing (and cuzzing) at the hydraulics on my Case1030 my suggestion is to beg, borrow or buy a pressure gauge.
They just snap in at the coupling like any hose would and will tell you instantly if the problem is with your hydro system or the cylinder/implement.
Dell
PS- I'd like to see a photo of a rear mount finishing on a cub.

Hello Again,

I would send you guys a few photos I have but my computer is acting up and will not let me upload the photos to this site so if you email me with your email address I will be able to get you those pics. By the way, I got the hydraulic to work. It appears that the top link of the 3 point hitch was binding, however, I have to increase the throttle 3/4 to full to get the rear mower to lift. This was normal for my tractor when it was working originally. As Sam said, it may have something to do with temperature because in the summer time it was over 80 degrees. Its 60 now.

Thanks for your responses,
Jim