Hey all I am a golf course mechanic in Northern Michigan, we are building a second course and doing the rough in ourselves. I have a 315CL #CAT0315cccjc02695 My bucket curls up to the stick on startup then on shutdown relaxes down. The joystick functions for same are inoperable, all other machine functions are ok. Trying to see if this is a fix I may be able to handle or have to call in a service tech. No shop manual or pressure gage but pretty good common sense. Thanks Dan
You may have a broken rod or the piston just came off of it. Another worse case possibility could be a piece of metal is floating around in the system and jammed the spool in the curl position. When you stall the bucket control in each direction does it load up the system? Try it again and then take off and plug the two lines to the bucket cylinder and compare the load up test. You should see the plugged lines flex when you load them up. Come on back and swap ideas. Later Bob
I cannot stall it as joystick does nothing, but noticed this morning if I rev engine I do see lines flex up by bucket cylinder with no joystick input if throttle is eased to idle lines relax.
It sounds like you have a jammed spool in the main control valve. This is likely from a failure and a piece of metal jamming the spool. Let any pressure out of the tank then take the cap off of the bucket spool. GENTELY wiggle the spool around and up and down to see if you can lift it out of the bore. Do Not hammer it a light tap with a screw driver handle max. If it is stuck you might be lucky and get to the problem through the line ports. How long have you had this machine? Later Bob
Yes, pull the valve lines and put a small magnet in the ports. You are probably going to find a small piece of metal in it. May have to pull the upper cap and wiggle it to get it out. Next you are going to have to find the source of contamination. I have seen the bucket cylinder nut back off. This allows the piece of the nut that hold in the nylock section to contact the back of the cylinder and break off.
Thanks so much guys, this is the exact failure I have. It damaged the cyl. bore also, I am needing another cylinder and am looking for used or new one. At least I learned something and now moving to the next part of repair once I aquire parts. Thanks so much.
Is the control valve spool free to move? You need to change the oil, filters and flush the system out good. Later Bob