SC FastHitch / TouchControl does not work after painting

Argghhh..... Please tell me it"s just air in the system and it will work it"s way out.

Finally pulled the starter rod on my Super C last night after months of work. It was a happy moment to hear it run again, except to my surprise the hydraulics are not working. This project started with a leaky radiator, months later and countless hours later of preparation, paint is dry and ready to put the wheels back on.

Of all the things I disassembled, fixed, and re-assembled, to many to list here, you guys know the deal, the hydraulics were the least of my worries upon startup, because all I did was disconnect the FastHitch hydraulic lines. Already rebuilt the hydro pump last fall with new O-rings 'cause it was leaking into the crankcase. Drained and refilled the whole system and cleaned the screen as well last fall. All was functioning just fine when I shut it off before this project started.

I topped off the hydraulic fluid, been using Case/IH Hy-Tran. I worked the levers, both the TouchControl and the remote FastHitch cylinder lever back and forth a bunch of times. Took the TouchControl hydro unit filler plug out during all this hoping to see some fluid movement and/or let any air in the hydro unit escape, nothing.

I greased all the TouchControl arms before painting because I didn"t want the paint to get in-between them and bind them up.

I"m at a loss for all I disconnected was the remote FastHitch lines and the rods from the TouchControl levers. The hydro unit, pump, and metal tubes to/from pump to hydro unit remained intact during all this.

I"ll try it again tonight and hope it"s air stuck in the system, but anything else I can try or check?

Thanks

I wonder if your pump has lost its prime. I replaced both hydraulic lines on the Super C I had and I had no problems with the hydraulics.
It blew a line on the last pass across the garden. I would connect a pressure gauge to see if you have any pressure. Hal

Check the oil level in the reservoir, as the system fills with oil the oil level will drop fast.

Hmmm. At first I would assume the unit drained down again into the crankcase, but you said you pulled the fill plug and watched for fluid movement (I also assume that meant you saw the unit full). My stupid comment would be to make sure the control linkage is complete. I have had the rods connected to the touch control levers jump off the actuating arms on the hydraulic unit itself if a cotter key is missing.

I"m at a loss for all I disconnected was the remote FastHitch lines and the rods from the TouchControl levers. The hydro unit, pump, and metal tubes to/from pump to hydro unit remained intact during all this.

I"ll try it again tonight and hope it"s air stuck in the system, but anything else I can try or check?

Thanks[/quote]
You say you left them intact, but did you drain the fluid from the reservoir? If you did, the pump is probably not primed. If you did not drain it, you will need to check for system pressure like El Toro said.

I have had my touch control drained twice, once to fix the seal on the pump, and once to rebuild the touch control unit. Both times I had mixed reactions when I fired it up. Ironically when I rebuilt the touch control it immediately started working fine right off. However when I repaired the leaky seal I had a problem getting the pump to prime. I finally parked the tractor on a fairly steep incline with nose down, making sure the unit was full, and working the levers, and it immediately started working. You might try the latter method as sounds like you lost prime as others have said. Putting the pump to a lower level than the full touch control forced the air up and primed the pump.

I searched the archives and found someone else mentioned parking the tractor downhill, like Ron-MO mentions above. Since my tractor doesn"t have any wheels on it yet, not an option. However it"s on jack stands under all four axles, (Wide Front). So I jacked up the front end slightly and removed the front jack stands, then lowered the front end as far as I good to get a slight nose down attitude. Went and had dinner and came back an hour or so later, fired "er up and all back to normal. So that was it, pump lost prime and with the slightly nose up attitude it had on the jack stands there was no chance of any fluid getting to the pump, once it was nose down, no problem.

Thanks for the replies.