Howdy Ben,

With a 55 year old tractor, it is safe to say that both the loader control valve and the cylinders are suspect. The leakage mode in a cylinder is past the piston seals, so you will see no external leakage.

Before you have your loader valve rebuilt, I recommend that you take a look at Prince valves as an alternate. Cost is about $200-$250. US made and good quality valve.

Good Luck with your new tractor.

 

I was under the impression that the valves couldn't be rebuilt or at least not really worth it compared to a newer updated unit. Also the fact that the lift cylinders will drop once you move the lever out of its neutral position just a little then it starts to rise has made me think that it's more related to the valve then the cylinders themselves. Is there an easy way to isolate each of the 2 and test whether it is the valve or the cylinders without losing alot of fluid?

If I were to remove a hydraulic line at the valve or cylinder would the system need to be bled or will it do that on its own expelling the air into the oil reservoir?
One thing I can't stand is when you have to constantly be on the lever to maintain a lift height. If it were like an inch a minute I could live with that but this is pretty excessive.

 

Take a look at this video and see if you want to try to rebuild the hydraulic control. From what I see there, it may not be very difficult nor very expensive to try. If you fail, you can still buy a new control valve without having wasted a bunch of money, You could also consider taking the valve to a hydraulic repair shop where they have seen lots of them and will be able to do the repair quite easily.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9mPi7yvaFk[/ame]

 

Here's a simple test. Raise the loader all the way up and watch what happens. It will of course begin the drop, but the question is how far? If the valve is at fault the loader will drop at an even rate and eventually reach the ground. If a cylinder piston seal is leaking the rate of drop will gradually slow and should stop at some point as the fluid escaping past the leaking seal will eventually become pressurized on the other side of piston and with nowhere to go it should at some point stop the piston's movement.

 

If you aren't leaking hydraulic fluid all over the place, I'm going to say it's in the cylinders. It's fairly easy to determine for sure though. Remove the bottom caps, there should be 2 or so bolts holding them on.

If they look like this, you have a leak at the valve:

This is easy and difficult to repair. The easy part is the disassembly and assembly. The difficult part is the parts. Mine took u-cup's, 1.5" OD, 1.25" ID, 1/8" width, 1/8" height. I had to take it to a parts manufacturer and they had the blueprint, and made them for me. Minimum qty 15, at about a buck a piece, so I was fine with that.

Taking it apart may be a challenge, but you should be able to do it without removing it from the vehicle. Had I known what I know now, I would have saved myself hundreds on new hoses. I wanted to take the entire valve body off and clean it though, as it was a mess. Also I really wanted to know exactly how everything worked, and there was a lack of detailing what parts were involved.

Every one is the same basic parts, the rods, the valve body, the rubber pieces at the top and the bottom, the springs, and the bottom cups to hold it in place.

 

I disagree. You can have external oil leaks everywhere on you're valve, and all that means is you have a mess. It won't affect trapped oil in the cylinders. The load checks and spool to body bore clearances control the trapped oil. The seals you mention only keep case drain or return to sump flow from running out on the ground and have no bearing on work ports.

 

I did receive the parts manual and the repair manual today for the tractor as well as downloaded the manual for the loader which is a wagner WM3 model it looks like from all the pics I have looked at.

I will have to try the test where you said to lift it all the way up and watch what it does. Wish I didn't live in the city and have to keep the toys up at the cabin an hour away.... won't be until next weekend when I will be able to get up there and see what's going on more as well as finally get to try out the brush hog some.