# Ford TW35 FEL hydraulic issues



## Brian8 (Dec 10, 2016)

So I bought the tractor in the spring. All works great and no issues at all with anything. Winter in MT came and is here and the hydraulics started to slow a little but not much. It got to -50 and I was plowing with the FEL and I hit a rock on the left corner of the bucket and now the left side of the loader is lower than the right side by 6" and I can't get the the hydros to work very well. It pulses when I try to lift bucket or tilt bucket up. It will at least raise it but very slow. The bucket will go down easy due to gravity and weight of bucket but it won't tilt down really at all. The fluid is good and clear and has maybe 100 hours on it with new filters at that time. Am I right that the hydros pull the fluid from the rear end/trains to the hydro pump? I replaced some hoses as they were leaking but don't have any leaking at this point. Please help me out as I need to move a ton of hay (100 bales) up to the house ASAP and it took me at least 30 minutes for me to flip a bale over as I had to lift the bucket up, tilt down, then tilt up as I lowered buck down, then tilt up again and lift forks up. This rate I'll get the hay up here in three years. Thanks


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## HarveyW (Sep 15, 2014)

Hello Brian, welcome to the forum.

"I hit a rock on the left corner of the bucket and now the left side of the loader is lower than the right side by 6" and I can't get the hydros to work very well."
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That's a severe bend in your loader frame. Your hydraulic cylinders may be in a major league bind trying to move it? An auto frame straightening shop may be able to straighten it for you.

Does your tractor have a front engine-mounted hydraulic pump. If so, this is the pump that drives your loader hydraulics. If not, then the hydraulic fluid comes from the rear end. 

You may have some ice formed in the system preventing the hydraulic system from performing. Can you put the tractor in a warm enclosure long enough to thaw it out?

Did the loader perform ok right after you hit the rock? 

The cold temperature will make the fluid more viscous and slower/harder to pump.

The hydraulic shock of hitting the rock may have damaged the pump or control valve. 

What fluid are you using in the hydraulics?


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## Brian8 (Dec 10, 2016)

*Update*

So I over exaggerated on the difference on the height difference of the frame. I took a measuring tape and it is only a 2" difference from the left side to the right side. I have hit a rock before and what I did then was put the bucket down and lift up the whole tractor and then let it down and when it came up it was pretty much the same height. I need to take some major measurements to see if the frame is bent or not. Unfortunately tonight I'm in a different battle.

Since the hydros' aren't working I have all this hay that needs to be moved and today a herd of 300 elk moved in and I'm calling in all my favors to try and get this hay moved or put panels around it otherwise I'm totally screwed as that many elk will destroy that hay in a matter of a week. 

The pump is in the rear on the right side of the transmission. I don't know if the hydros worked ok as I was having issues prior to the rock but I thought it was from it being so cold. I think a week before hitting the rock I was having issues where it would whine, try to go up and wouldn't move, then it would jump up, then move very slow. I thought I had ice in the system causing it to slow but I thought if I did the fluid would be milky and since its pulling from the rear end the fluid should get warm enough to thaw anything out that may have ice in it and I've ran it for three hours plowing with zero improvement in hydros.

When I picked up the tractor the guy didn't put the cap on the fill cap for the hydro oil so when I drove it up on the semi it dumped out a bit of fluid. I don't know what was in it but I had to put a five gallon bucket worth of fluid in it then and it was Coastal multitrac tractor fluid.


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## Brian8 (Dec 10, 2016)

I replaced a hydro hose as it had a wear spot that looked as if it had a pin hole in it and it fixed( or I thought it did) the issue i was having on being able to tilt up and down. the fluid is clear and wasn't thicker from the cold so the hoses are getting nice warm fluid running through them. I started it back up, checked the fluids, and tested it out. it would tilt up/down perfect, so I tried lifting up/down and it worked perfect, so I went to get the forks and tested lifting a round bale with no issues. I hooked up my trailer to the tractor and was going to start moving hay. the drive over (30 minutes) I kept testing the bucket and everything was still ****. i get to the hay stack and go to lift the hay and nothing works. I couldn't even hear the pump engaging at all. I went to look at the pump and noticed when I could hear it running it would move the hydros but then there were times that you would try to use them and couldn't hear a thing and nothing would move for 5-10 minutes, then all of a sudden you could hear the pump and it would work. To me it seems that it is pointing at the pump needing to be replaced, but I don't mind asking others and seeing what they think before I spend a bunch of money on it. 

also The FEL arm is bent a tad. I took the bucket off last night and put the front arm that was leaning down onto a wood post that was in the ground. Then I lifted the tractor up and used its own weight to try and bend it back to normal. It worked pretty damn good, but it didn't fix everything but the loader is a heck of a lot closer to being level now.


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## dozer966 (Dec 30, 2014)

If you are bending it back with its own weight have a look for hair line cracks . The loader might be compromised.


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## Brian8 (Dec 10, 2016)

It decided to warm up to 20 degrees today so I worked on the loader and all of its issues are due to the Rams being in a bind. I was able to temporarily fix some of it witch has gotten where it works great with the bucket on it but as soon as I take it off to put my spears on to move hay it binds a little and goes slow(which is still faster than before). I'll keep you updated on what all I end up having to do to get it fixed. Thanks


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