LS180 no bucket tilt

[deercrossing]

2000 LS180 - I was using the machine and lost the ability to tilt the bucket. Not real heavy work just moving some dirt. Peddles are free, linkage is unbound. Aux is not engaged. Full of hydraulic fluid. I pulled the curl solenoid and can see the valve move in both directions. Any ideas?

 

[Shanmar]

Given all of that, one would have to believe it is sending oil to the cylinders. Can you notice the hoses move some (flex) when you try to tilt the bucket? You could disconnect a hose and see if oil flies when you move the valve. Just make sure you think through all the safety issues there. Finally, if there's oil getting to the cylinders then the seals on one of the pistons inside of the cylinders must be bad leaving oil by. New Holland does sell a rebuild kit. If you have a big pipe wrench and a serious impact gun I can tell you how we went about rebuilding ours. For us, the seal where the rod comes out of the cylinder would usually fail. Very seldom did the piston seals cause us issues, but that could be a difference in how the machines are used.

 

[deercrossing]

Thanks for the reply Shanmar. I would like to clarify I can depress the toe of my right pedal and get the machine to dump and hold its position but when I heel the pedal it will return to neutral position but no power to curl the bucket. So I would gather oil is making it to the cylinders but as you say the curl seal must be giving way and not holding the pressure. I was hoping to not have to pull the cylinder apart but that's better than a pump rebuild. Thanks.

 

[Shanmar]

Yea. If you have good lift power, the pump is ok. Sounds like a cylinder seal. Dumping doesn't require much force, so it will work that way. But curling requires force to lift the bucket, so the oil just passes past the seal on the piston. If you get it curled back with the bucket on, it probably leaks down to touch the ground pretty quickly also.

 

[deercrossing]

So, as an update for any interested parties - I pulled the cylinder off and an unexpected sound of rattling caught my attention first. It seems the 3/4-16 bolt that holds the plunger to the the shaft had worked its way loose and was no longer connecting the two. This was allowing the oil to push the rod forward but not to return. Both the bolt and shaft have some marred threads that need a tap and die attention but all other o-rings, seals, etc. seem to be in perfect condition. Thanks again for the reply.

 

[Shanmar]

Wow! I probably have near 30000 total combined hours on those series of loaders and never saw that one. I do know that when you take new ones apart there is evidence of loctite being on the threads. We always used a pretty stout impact and let it hammer a bit. You may want to include some loctite, blue at least, maybe red. Thanks for letting us know.