Pumped - Part II
Over the past few months, “Old Yeller” has been doing farm duty as pickup and wagon hauler. The 3 point lift simply hasn’t worked well enough to be a useful tool. The new tractor has a backhoe, and although relatively easy to remove and remount, it means a 3 point lift isn’t always available. So that was reason enough to revisit the lift.

Although our research (see part 11) showed a two reservoir system (one on the lift and one on the pump) should work, we have not been able to make the lift to work properly. So we decided to try using a pump without a second reservoir.

Our first attempt was to mount a Hy-Lo pump on the generator, rerouting the ram hose to the use the Hy-Lo control. We had the same issue – not enough lift. We also discovered a seal leak on the pump. Our conclusion was this wasn’t the solution.


Back to e-bay
Barry, in his daily wanderings through e-bay, found a used 12 volt pump, without a reservoir. This pump fit nicely in the same space occupied by the old pump/reservoir setup. In a rush to get a test done, connections were made to the ram and the Newgren reservoir. However, a quick test with the plow was another disappointment. The plow would not lift completely.


Time for the pros
Prior to and since acquiring his new tractor, Barry has been hanging around www.tractorsbynet.com. He took are lift questions to the parts and repair forum. Early suggestions included the possibilities of leaky “o” rings in the control valve. That seemed like a real possibility, since the valve doesn’t appear to have been touched in the past 50-some-odd years. Getting to the valve means dropping the lift.

By chance, another board member posted a question about how to learn about hydraulic systems. He was pointed to an Army Field Manual here.

Hosed
While reading the manual, Barry realized that he had failed to re-attach a small hose from the ram to the reservoir. For the ram to function properly, this hose needed to be in place. Since the Hy-Lo pump wasn’t set up for this line Barry had chosen to cap the ram. Now realizing that the return line served an important role, it also helped explain why the Hy-Lo pump hadn’t worked. The line had been in place with the old two reservoir system, so that eliminated it as a source of our problem there.

Up-lifting!
Somehow, in the process of changing out the pumps, the fitting need to reattach the return hose was lost. After a couple of trips to the hardware store, the proper fittings were found. Time for another field trip.

This time, the two-bottom plow lifted smoothly. Barry did notice a few leaks, so disconnected the plow and headed to the garage. After a few turns of the wrench, and taking the time to reconnect the between-the-seats control, back for another try. This time, the target was a 3 point blade. The blade is much lighter than the plow, but Barry had some real work to do, so off he went.

As the action shots show, the jeep worked like a real tractor, grading gravel in front of the new barn. The blade lifted smoothly and the between-the-seats control worked great.

Observations
Even with the pump running, the blade falls slowly. My guess is that the Tractor by Net pros are correct and the “o” rings are leaking. Since a rebuild of the control will require dropping the lift, we can live with the problem for now.

Barry’s notes:
I feel pretty silly not realizing that the ram return hose was important. These old machines weren’t designed with “spare” parts. The lift isn’t perfect, but is sure fun to use.

Evan’s notes: