I feel like this had had to have come up here before but a quick search didn't yield anything for a deere hoe. My 710 has excess movement in the stick extension. Was this way when I got it and I have procrastinated on fixing it until I had a shop. Thinking about doing it next month. Has anyone done this? I already have new steel blocks and plates. The service manual says to remove/reweld the ear that the bucket curl cylinder attaches to to get the stick extension out. I have not yet investigated if the pins on the extension cylinder are going to come out easy or not. That cylinder is leaking a bit so I was going to repack it while its out. Probably make new hoses too. might as well. Are there any tricks to this anyone knows? I was thinking I can take of the bucket, de-teach the cylinders, air-arc the ear off and use my forklift to slide the extension out. Then I can torch the blocks out pretty easily. I don't know exactly how your supposed to squeeze the new blocks against the new wear plates when you go to reassemble. I also don't know whats the best way to handle getting the extension cylinder back in. I am thinking I can leave one end on the extension when I put it back in, but getting the top lined back up seems like its going to be difficult.
The pins generally come out without any issues. Removing the extension is a big job but not difficult. Just follow the service manual procedure. Its in the manual.
Started taking it apart tonight after work. Got a seal kit for the cylinder from Deere. Was spendy. Started removing the mount for the bucket curl cylinder. Taking longer than I thought. Bought an arc-gouge just for this (excuse to buy one is more like it) ICweld makes it look so easy on YouTube. Slowly getting the hang of it. Uses a lot of air. Wish I had diesel compressor or something…. Hopefully will get it all apart tomorrow.
So I did get this out this weekend. Some mistakes were made. For the amusement of those wiser than me - and for anyone who finds with in the future when researching doing this repair - here is what not to do. I air-arced the clevis off. This took a while. Be prepared. The manual says you can also use a torch. Mine didn't fit in there well. Beware. Some of the weld is a little challenging to get in and cut. I pulled the pin from the rod end of the cylinder that moved the extension in and out. Thinking I could slide the extension out now that the clevis was removed. I was very very wrong. When it wouldn't come out, I pushed it back in with a forklift. The rod of that cylinder goes into a slot where the pin bore is. Well I ended up pushing it PAST that slot and somehow it turned 90 degrees on the other side. The manual references 6 cap screws and dowel pins that hold the support for the top of the stick extension. The book does not show at all WHERE these are. I went in figuring there wasn't much there and I would see them when I got it apart. Turns out they are UNDER THE CYLINDER, which is now stuck in the stick. The barrel does not come back far enough to expose any of the rod so there is no way to even try and spin it to get it out. I ended up cutting a hole in the stick to be able to get down in there and spin it back. I couldn't come up with any other ideas. Somehow in all this chaos the barrel got spun around 180. You'd think this wouldn't matter but somehow the front of the barrel or hydraulic fitting caught on something and I couldn't get it to budge. spinning it through the slot is near impossible I had to push the whole stick back in and get the barrel sticking out to be able to get a grip on it to turn it. Moral of all this. THE CYLINDER HAS TO BE REMOVED FIRST.