So I had a little mishap and the hoe rolled part way down a small embankment. Guess I should try harder to fix the darn brakes. I could get it out if the hydraulics hadn't completely failed. The machine runs and makes no strange noises, has no leaks, will move forward and back about 18" but the bucket and hoe are on the ground and the rear wheels between some rocks. I tried putting more hydraulic fluid in thinking the pick-up point wasn't submerged but that hasn't helped. Thanks for any suggestions.
Probably one of those switches I read about on this forum. They loved to hang all kinds of electrical junk on the underside and one trip over the brush and rocks and something is disconnected. Time to get the manual out and finding out what's hanging off the bottom and what it does. My old bomb hoe doesn't have anything down under that is gonna mess things up, why I like the old iron....
I'm in VT. I have a 580K. I'm racking my brain trying to think of what. My guess is either transmission, or shuttle linkage is buggered. I'm busy tomorrow, but will do what I can late day. I have manuals. Willie
Hydraulics will work on a much steeper angle than that so maybe the hydraulic pump packed it in ? Only thing I can think of for everything to quit.
Pump coupler disconnected itself?
You may find the pump coupling stripped out, pump shaft splines worn. After that you may have to go to the control valve for the loader, behind the starter, lift the flap up or remove the four bolts holding the panel on and the air filter hose and lift it out of the way as a unit. On the lower valve side above the starter you will see the relief valve with a threaded adjustment screw, that is the main relief, with the pressure off the system unscrew the relief as a unit, have rag ready to stop some of the oil from the valve. Look in the end for trash and wash out with some cleaner, reinstall and try it. The test port for the hyd system is on the frame under the injection pump, you will see a rubber boot cap with a test port, it should read 2500-2600 psi at full rpm raising the loader to full stop. By the way does the wheels still steer rt-lt or is it dead also?.
try a low pressure hydraulic operation, namely the outriggers to see if there is any pressure or flow at all. Check the oil level at your fill plug and seeing the machine is anchored, have a look underneath to see if a stick or branch did some damage.
Thanks for the ideas. I'm going back up there today and will try to look at those things. It's pretty rough ground. I'm going to add even more oil since the manual seems to indicate the pick-up point at the very front and it was low on hyd. oil to start. If that doesn't cure it, we will try to haul it out with the Muskeg which has a winch since the wheels are all working. Would be a cinch to drag it out with my excavator but that's about 50 miles away.
I woudn't waste my time with oil . I have been on much steeper grades than that with no effect . As said take the side plate off and look at the pump and coupler
The oil was still showing in the filler pipe but after letting it warm up for a couple of minutes, the hydraulics started working again. Got it out of it's predicament. Thanks for your ideas and support I'll be looking in the manual to see what might have slowed the oil moving from the fill tank to tha main tank.
Good to hear you got it going Pixie sure curios as to why you lost all hydraulics.
Just a educated guess but if the hyd oil was low to start with and adding oil never helped yesterday, you probably had a air bubble in the pump suction line. After setting overnight some of the air perked out and the pump finally picked up some oil and eventually pushed the rest of the air out while warming up. One should have heard the pump whine if low oil or running with no oil though.
Yes, I would have expected to hear noise from the pump. Since I came to a sudden stop while I was trying to use the loader bucket for a brake, I was pretty sure it was just a loss of oil thing. When the oil was full up the filler pipe, I was puzzled that it didn't pick up. But all's well that ends well, eh ?!!
how steep did it go // idea // your oil level was low and when it got steep enuff an air pocket moved up into the front end of hyd tank in frame where the pick up to the pump is so now the pump is grabbing at air just a guess but possible ? if its leaning back far enough and has air at that area by the strainer it would act as if your dry runing the pump ? so the pump sucked the air out maybe yehaw
Thanks for the picture, bobbyblades ! I think that's just what happened. Yehaw is right…bit of a wild ride. Thought I was going over backwards twice on the way down. Took a bit of wiggling to get it back out. The ground wasn't very solid and kept slipping out under the hoe.