Yes the joysticks get harder to push, pull. The crowd and bucket get slow,the crowd is usaully the one that quits. I'm calling the boom the bucket attatches to the crowd if you move the joystick for a different funtion thing will go back to working but sometimes everything quits except the tracks they always work and using them will make everything else work again. The machine ran great untill I blew a hyd hose. I replaced the hose refilled the hyd and have had this problem since. There are three ports for pressure check on the pump what kind of readings should I have? I haven't check them yet but can get a set of gauges. I've been unable to find a dealer willing to give out any info. Thanks DavidWhen you say the controls get harder to move , do you mean the joysticks are harder to push and pull or the functions like the arm or boom are slower to react or have no power ------I see some similiar on 331's but not actual what you discribe , some will not function at all idling until you raise the throttle up some , I think that is from the pilot (low pressure ) not being high enough at idle ---------picture this , you have 3 stages on the pump , I don't remember the exact break down but it's something like this , one stage works the arm and one track , another section works the boom and the other track , the thrid works the rest , some of one section is used to create pilot pressure by lowering the high pressure down , and the pilot pressure is used to power the joy sticks -------from what I get out of your post I think pilot pressure may be your problem , give some more info
It sounds like two different problems in one , If both joystick feel harder to move than I would think maybe the pilot pressure is alot higher than it needs to be , I felt that before , the sticks are solid , really hard to move and slam back to neutral , sitting here listening to a servere thunder storm with the spec book out in the truck , we be gettin' hammered , like 16 inches of rain in 2 days , 2012?! , I seem to remember something between 300-500 psi pilot pressure , and curcuit pressures of 2250-2500 , you won't see the pilot pressure at those three ports on the pump as there is a valve that reduces the flow that is split off of one stage , makes me think of your second possible problem , each one of those hose ports on the pump works a couple of funtions , I don't remember whats on what curcuit but an imaginary example = like left track , arm and swing on hose one , right track , blade , bucket on hose two , the rest on hose three , so if one section is weak than a couple of funtions are effected as there are different banks of valve sections that are powered by it's own stage , there is something called power beyond , which is a tube that sends unused flow from one valve to another valve that is in use to boast that curcuit with the added flow from the other unsed section , am I making any sense to you cause I just lost myself , so any way , it is classic when you see what you discribe as you crack open another function and everything works fine , as one stage of the pump could be weak and the bank on that stage is getting flow thru the power beyond when you open the other bank ----------------when you changed the blown hose did you take other hoses off to gain access and possible put one back in the wrong spot , sounds like you might have the high and low pressure system hoses crossed up ---- you know a real simple cause of wacky function of a 331 is one of the foot pedals on the floor for either articulating swing and aux hydraulics being cracked open a little and stuck from rust ------a hydraulic schematics would be nice , you could trace out what functions are on each curcuit and maybe it would point you -----------if you think a section is weak you can swop say stage one hose to stage two and see if the problem goes to the other curcuitYes the joysticks get harder to push, pull. The crowd and bucket get slow,the crowd is usaully the one that quits. I'm calling the boom the bucket attatches to the crowd if you move the joystick for a different funtion thing will go back to working but sometimes everything quits except the tracks they always work and using them will make everything else work again. The machine ran great untill I blew a hyd hose. I replaced the hose refilled the hyd and have had this problem since. There are three ports for pressure check on the pump what kind of readings should I have? I haven't check them yet but can get a set of gauges. I've been unable to find a dealer willing to give out any info. Thanks David
I can relate to that,Sometimes the thumb function will lock into a kind of half mode, and the controls act weird. I will manualy cycle through the modes and it will clear.It only happens when I'm wearing gloves and inadvertently hit the mode button on the joystick at the rwrong time.It sounds like two different problems in one , If both joystick feel harder to move than I would think maybe the pilot pressure is alot higher than it needs to be , I felt that before , the sticks are solid , really hard to move and slam back to neutral , sitting here listening to a servere thunder storm with the spec book out in the truck , we be gettin' hammered , like 16 inches of rain in 2 days , 2012?! , I seem to remember something between 300-500 psi pilot pressure , and curcuit pressures of 2250-2500 , you won't see the pilot pressure at those three ports on the pump as there is a valve that reduces the flow that is split off of one stage , makes me think of your second possible problem , each one of those hose ports on the pump works a couple of funtions , I don't remember whats on what curcuit but an imaginary example = like left track , arm and swing on hose one , right track , blade , bucket on hose two , the rest on hose three , so if one section is weak than a couple of funtions are effected as there are different banks of valve sections that are powered by it's own stage , there is something called power beyond , which is a tube that sends unused flow from one valve to another valve that is in use to boast that curcuit with the added flow from the other unsed section , am I making any sense to you cause I just lost myself , so any way , it is classic when you see what you discribe as you crack open another function and everything works fine , as one stage of the pump could be weak and the bank on that stage is getting flow thru the power beyond when you open the other bank ----------------when you changed the blown hose did you take other hoses off to gain access and possible put one back in the wrong spot , sounds like you might have the high and low pressure system hoses crossed up ---- you know a real simple cause of wacky function of a 331 is one of the foot pedals on the floor for either articulating swing and aux hydraulics being cracked open a little and stuck from rust ------a hydraulic schematics would be nice , you could trace out what functions are on each curcuit and maybe it would point you -----------if you think a section is weak you can swop say stage one hose to stage two and see if the problem goes to the other curcuit
Thanks Fishfiles You got me thinking now. I will have to back up and start over, I have moved the hoses around on the pump no fix but didn't pay attention to if it change the way or what function would mess up worse. When i changed the hose it was one of the few that I could get to so no didn't get them crossed. I have a parts manual thet shows the hose schematics but hadn't thought of seeing which section goes to what part of pump. I'll try your sugestion and see what I come up with. My next step was to pull the pump and tear it down to see what I see. I'm a great machanic but lack hyd exsperiance I can take apart and put together anything but hyd are the dark side If I can see it I can understand but can't see inside hose to see whats happening. I'll also check the foot pedals didn't think of that. I did once have trouble thought the drive motors were going out had a hard time loading on the trailer not enough power. Figured out the linkage for the high/low speed fell off and was stuck in high. Thanks I'll let you know what I figure out.It sounds like two different problems in one , If both joystick feel harder to move than I would think maybe the pilot pressure is alot higher than it needs to be , I felt that before , the sticks are solid , really hard to move and slam back to neutral , sitting here listening to a servere thunder storm with the spec book out in the truck , we be gettin' hammered , like 16 inches of rain in 2 days , 2012?! , I seem to remember something between 300-500 psi pilot pressure , and curcuit pressures of 2250-2500 , you won't see the pilot pressure at those three ports on the pump as there is a valve that reduces the flow that is split off of one stage , makes me think of your second possible problem , each one of those hose ports on the pump works a couple of funtions , I don't remember whats on what curcuit but an imaginary example = like left track , arm and swing on hose one , right track , blade , bucket on hose two , the rest on hose three , so if one section is weak than a couple of funtions are effected as there are different banks of valve sections that are powered by it's own stage , there is something called power beyond , which is a tube that sends unused flow from one valve to another valve that is in use to boast that curcuit with the added flow from the other unsed section , am I making any sense to you cause I just lost myself , so any way , it is classic when you see what you discribe as you crack open another function and everything works fine , as one stage of the pump could be weak and the bank on that stage is getting flow thru the power beyond when you open the other bank ----------------when you changed the blown hose did you take other hoses off to gain access and possible put one back in the wrong spot , sounds like you might have the high and low pressure system hoses crossed up ---- you know a real simple cause of wacky function of a 331 is one of the foot pedals on the floor for either articulating swing and aux hydraulics being cracked open a little and stuck from rust ------a hydraulic schematics would be nice , you could trace out what functions are on each curcuit and maybe it would point you -----------if you think a section is weak you can swop say stage one hose to stage two and see if the problem goes to the other curcuit
331's don't turn worth a darn with the high speed on ----------an another classic example of power beyond on a 331 is when you are jacking the entire machine off the ground with the boom and dozer blade , with just the boom the machine will usually only lift itself up till the tracks are almost clear of the ground , but if you half cock the other joystick and send a little pressure to the arm or bucket while booming down with the other hand the machine will increase the flow and lift it's self up ----------the aux hydraulic foot pedal is notorious to stick partially on , when you climb into the machine it's right there to get stepped on and it is seldom or never used on some machines which makes it stick , a little off center will have ill effects on it --------Thanks Fishfiles You got me thinking now. I will have to back up and start over, I have moved the hoses around on the pump no fix but didn't pay attention to if it change the way or what function would mess up worse. When i changed the hose it was one of the few that I could get to so no didn't get them crossed. I have a parts manual thet shows the hose schematics but hadn't thought of seeing which section goes to what part of pump. I'll try your sugestion and see what I come up with. My next step was to pull the pump and tear it down to see what I see. I'm a great machanic but lack hyd exsperiance I can take apart and put together anything but hyd are the dark side If I can see it I can understand but can't see inside hose to see whats happening. I'll also check the foot pedals didn't think of that. I did once have trouble thought the drive motors were going out had a hard time loading on the trailer not enough power. Figured out the linkage for the high/low speed fell off and was stuck in high. Thanks I'll let you know what I figure out.
