With valuable help and advice from forum members I was able, with help from my son, to change both brake master cylinders and now the brakes are free and work perfectly. A lot of work was done by my son, who lives in a different country but I think that a spring may have been omitted. It is a substantial but clean spring painted orange. Before the work both front bucket operating levers correctly and always centred, but now they will center from forward and backward but from right to left they will not center automatically which makes it difficult to use. Could someone please advise what mechanism and where situated effects the center from right to left. Thank you.
Do you have the Operators Manual ??
Hello, no never had a manual, the front control levers look different on my digger, I seem to have omitted the specifics, stupid man. It is a 1990 Case 580K turbo 4 x 4.
The serial number of your tractor would remove any confusion as to what series you have. There are big differences in them. Or, Is your gear shift on the cab floor or in the side console ???
Gear shift on console to right of driver.
You have a Series III.
I think you probably answered your own question, the spring likely pushes against detent rockers/ballbearings?? and thus centers the control. Why didn't you rebuild the brake masters? The kits are relatively cheap. I have the same tractor and will rebuild them when the weather... gets better.
Sorry, that was wrong images, I’ll see if I can find the right ones
Maybe someone on here can determine which of these may help you.
I doubt that the problem is in the control valve. I would be looking at a dry pivot in the control linkage. #11. Check #16 too.
Wow, thank you for all of that. First of all the brake cylinders were cheap, not Case genuine, only issue was there were mounting holes which were a bit too deep and had to be modified a bit. It would seem that the problem was not caused when my son replaced the brake cylinders as nothing shown in the above posts was touched as far as I can see. I followed the levers down, which went through rubber accordion gaiters, did not get down to the valves, I expect I will have to get underneath to see better. I thought that if it was something that happened when my son worked on it, the issue would have been under the floor or seat mounting panels, and I just found this big orange spring and thought that was the culprit. It may be a day or two before I can get under the digger, it is outside and it has been very wet and it is all mud.
My apologies, thought you guys were inside the valve too for some reason and forgot a spring. Must be a bad joint pivot. I'd think you should be able to feel it on the control at various points if it felt like the lever wanted to center, thus the spring is good, and something needs lube.
I do not understand why the two levers work different valves but they both self centre forwards to backwards, but neither will centre from left to right and seem to work in tandem. It makes it difficult to control, normally you just have to push slightly left or right to get a gentle movement, now it is difficult to find the middle where the hydraulics should not operate.
Maybe electrical? Do you have a return to dig switch that is bad or shorted out? Maybe try disconnecting that switch on the loader? Mine was disconnected when I bought the machine and has not worked even when I reconnected it.
I have no idea what a return to dig switch might be, it sounds like something a more modern vehicle may have, I think that mine is just hydraulic/mechanical.
Look on the left side of the loader about halfway down to the bucket. It makes me wonder too that since the wiring is on the left side for that switch, the same side as your master brake cylinder, that maybe that leftover spring has led to some kind of impingement of that wire? Shorting it out. I would think it would’ve blown a fuse though.
The single lever controls two valves to make it easier to operate the loader boom and bucket. Your machine has the return to dig feature unless someone has removed it. I think you need an Operators Manual. Those manuals have all the info in them for different adjustments and lubrication procedures that are not in service manuals. You need to thoroughly lubricate the linkage. Remove the pins that hold the two rods on the control valve spools. If the linkage moves easily in all directions you have problem with a spool in one of the valves.
I would not operate the machine with the levers functioning like that. It could lead to more harm. After reading of several machines burning up, I installed a battery cut off switch on the negative terminal. You should disconnect the battery until you figure this out.
About $20 on Amazon but make sure it covers series 3
I have quite a lot to do at the moment and cannot allocate the time to sort it out, I had the foolish notion it might be simple, just refitting a spring. I tried taking pictures but it was very awkward, above is the best I could do. I see that I will have to remove the plate from behind the engine to get access, it has been off before, but before I bought it in 2010, not all the bolts have been replaced. There seemed to be quite a bit of play in the assembly above. In the 14 years I have had the digger I have never had problems with the controls, it has been an excellent, reliable useful bit of kit.
There is a linkage on the RHS of loader frame for bucket levelling. The linkage goes to a pivot on the side & through the hydraulic tank - make sure the pivot is moving freely & not seized.