# LS MT125 Excessive Bucket Play



## Dave S (Nov 3, 2020)

Hello,
First time tractor owner. Have an MT125 with 39 hours on it. The other day removed the backhoe, attached scraper, then a same day reattached backhoe. No real issues other than had a bit of a tough time getting hydraulic hoses reattached (pressure). Fast forward a couple days later, put on a pair of bucket forks to move some medium sized trees. No issues, bucket moved up down, performed fine, etc. However, now notice a ton of upward play in the bucket hydraulics. With the bucket about 3 ft off the ground and horizontal, I can manually lift up the bucket at least 10 inches with no hydraulic resistance. Tried at different RPMs, still have the play. Can't do the same with the backhoe legs or bucket. Guessing something I did wrong that got air in the line. Is there a way to purge the loader hydraulic lines? I read another post talking about moving bucket to max position both ways and holding for a few seconds? Also checked Tony's Tractor Adventure to see if I could find anything but no luck. Any suggestions are much appreciated. FYI, I checked the hydraulic oil level and while it was low, I filled it but still have issue. Thank you in advance.
Dave


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## HarveyW (Sep 15, 2014)

Hello Dave, welcome to the forum.

Disconnect hoses from one end of your bucket tilt cylinders and catch fluid in a clean bucket, objective being to purge any air in the cylinders, and also to test piston seals within the cylinders. Reconnect the hoses and try the other end.

One thing to remember, when you are using forks on your bucket, you can put extreme force on the cylinder pistons & seals by pushing them at an angle with the tractor. I suspect that there's a good chance the piston seals are both blown.


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## Dave S (Nov 3, 2020)

Ugh...thank you for the suggestion. Appreciate the time.


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