Hello. I have a 99 873 F. It wont go into float. This thing has very low hours 840. So my question is could something be stuck due to not being used. When i first got it the aux only worked in 1 direction. I cleaned the aux valves and it works like it should. 1 was stuck. So I am wondering if the same issue could be preventing float. I just dont know what to check to adress the problem. Thanks for the help
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brdgbldr
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First make sure that there is nothing under the pedal keeping it from going all the way down.
The float works when two detent balls get pushed into a detent when the pedal is pressed all the way forward. Sometimes you have to push pretty hard to get it to work.
Several things can go wrong with the detent balls and springs. They can get stuck from lack of use. The springs can be too weak to hold the balls in the detent. The balls and springs could be missing if someone worked on valve and didn't replace them. Or they could just be worn out.
brdgbldr
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Yeah I was watching his video. Mine had no spring or balls. to the bobcat store i go tomorrow lol
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Our 873 C series did the same thing, wasn't being used enough and the float detent part of the spool got rusty to the point where it would actually cause the spool to stick and it was impossible to do any sort of precision movements with the boom. I took the valve out and apart and of course the little balls took flight into the abyss of our shop never to be found again. I did discover that the balls in an L style air coupling were a perfect match to the balls that stayed behind. I cleaned everything up as best as I could but it didn't help much so I sent the valve off to the dealer who replaced some bits in there with upgraded parts and it hasn't been an issue since…
I am not familiar with repairing a spool valve on these machines but have considerable experience dealing with rusty parts you need to save. This might be a good place to try Evaporust{a low Ph. solution}, it will eliminate only the rust and not harm the parent material. Harbor Freight carries it by the gallon for about $25. The part must be clean and oil free, read the instructions first before using, it is amazing stuff. Some tips for using it efficiently are to only use a container big enough to hold the part you are working on and do not put it back with the unused product when done with it. As the rust comes off the part it will appear as small flakes in the solution. For heavy rust you can remove the part occasionally and knock off the loose stuff to help move the process along. As more rust is removed the solution will become weaker, on occasion i will clean it through a coffee filter to get the rust bits out, it does not care if the rust is on the part or in the solution. This extends the life of the product in use. This is not a big deal on a small part, on larger ones it will give you the most bang for your buck. Keep in mind that once you use some, do not put it back with the unused stuff, that will degrade it's performance. I think you will have good luck with it on your rusty valve.
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Heat it up as evenly as you can, put some penetrating oil in there and GENTLY try to work it off. Once you get it moving make sure you wrap a rag around it so that the little balls under the sleeve don't go flying away in every direction like mine did. Once you have it off, give everything a thorough cleaning and polish, put some good quality light grease in there and reassemble.
