Farmall Cub

So, I just installed the International 5ft snow plow to my 48 Super A. When I lift the plow it comes up fine, then it will make a weird whining/screeching noise and slowly drop down, but sometimes it will come back up on its own, or after a quick throttle, or if I play with EITHER touch control levers. The noise will go away and then it will return and the plow will come down a little. It was doing this before and I replaced the fluid with Traveller Universal Tractor Trans/Hydraulic Fluid, and its still doing it. (I would use the CaseIH HyTrans but I don't have a nearby dealer)

For all intents and purposes the plow/hydraulics seem to function properly, but I'm concerned something is going to give. I cannot find a leak anywhere, but sometimes it will spit fluid out of the relief hole on the filler cap (I think because I overfilled the unit)

It worked fine when I had the A-189 plows on the rear (lifted via the left side), but its almost like the right rockshaft is struggling. It never did this with the draft control for the 189s either, which was connected to the same (right) rockshaft to the drawbar, it can't be that the plow is too heavy, can it? The plow will also drift down (slowly) when I turn the tractor off, but will come back up as soon as I start it.

Others may have some different useful ideas on your situation. But I think I see 2 separate problems here.

1) The whining/screeching sound may indicate that the stops on the control levers are not set properly and the sytem is opening the relief valve. The Touch-Control Serviceman's Handbook has an adjustment procedure on page 19. Here is the Guide: http://www.cleancomputes.com/Cub/Blue%20Ribbon%20Service%20Manuals/GSS-1024%20Touch%20Control/index.html.

2) The dropping down is probably because of fluid leaking past an o-ring either in the lift cylinder or a check valve. In either case, if it is bad enough to be a problem, the fix is probably to pull the system apart and replace all the o-rings. If you decide to do this, plan on it taking a while, pay close attention to how the parts come out so you can figure out how to put them back, and be scrupulously careful to keep things clean. Details are in the same guide I pointed to above.

By the way, there shouldn't be a relief hole in the filler. It should be a sealed system. You should have both rockshaft arms in the rear position when checking/filling the fluid.

Here is page 19:

In addition to Jim's information, also make sure some of your linkage is not binding. Front rock shafts greased, etc.

So, there isn't supposed to be a hole here? Well that is a concern, I could try sealing it, or is there a cap from like Home Depot or some place that I can just get for this threading?



Also, there isn't any snags in the linkage and everything is greased up, something is funky with the unit. Good to know about the clip positions, mine are just flopping around not screwed it, but still, it will do this even when I have it at half position.

that's a standard iron pipe cap. home depot / lowes / hardware store stuff

Here is a video that kinda illustrates what is happening:

You need to get the original correct filler plug (male threads and no hole). Also, keep in mind that they are talking about both the stop clips at the bottom of the TC unit (resivoir), and the control stops (winged stops with the thumb screws) that are located at the control levers. If your control stops at the control levers will not fasten just make sure someone can keep the levers from moving while making the adjustments. Most of the time, those control stops are loose and the thumb screw has been long broken off. They're just there for "presets" (kind of like memory seats, haha), or when adjusting the hydraulics as in this case.

Yeah, I had one that had the thumb screw broken off in it. I had to take the lever guides off and drill the screw out. They just slip around, I can fix them, but they aren't a priority. I got a replacement filler cap (as seen in the video).

I was going through the IH-8 Service Manual that I got with the tractor when I bought it and I noticed that the previous owner circled some things in the TC diagram.

He circled
-The two boots.
-Head Gasket
-The Pressure regulator valve seat seal ring
-The Pressure regulator valve piston seal ring

Could these result in a problem? I don't see any leaks from the head-gasket area and the boots. Would fluid working past those two seal rings cause (for the lack of a better term) a "Short Circuit" of hydraulic fluid?

There is no telling why or who circled those parts and you can't go by that. It could have been an assumption by the PO, or it could have been parts he replaced, parts he wanted to replace but never got around to it, or someone else who he got the book from could have circled those parts regarding their tractor.

Those control stops with the thumb screw can be rebuilt. They are the same as on a Cub tractor and I think Barnyard did a "How To" on them. They have removable threaded inserts and are fairly easy to rebuild.

The PO gave me the Service Manual and mentioned to me as a side note that he bought the manual since he was the one who restored it, so I'm going to assume he circled them. Also considering he wrote "Leak" with an arrow pointing to the seals, it kinda throws me in that direction. I'll start with the stop-clips on the unit, but I'm not going to rule out the possibility of bad seals within the unit either.

I'd also give him a call and see what he knows about it and see what he has to say. can't hurt.

I'm dealing with a similar situation the new to me '53 I picked up recently. I took cultivators off to put on the snow blade. After topping off the fluid and mounting the blade, the blade drifts down and then hiccups back up a bit. It will then drift down again and repeats the hiccup. No odd noises in my situation. I reviewed GSS-1024 as Jim posted and looks most like condition 5 on the troubleshooting chart. I already picked up the kit/screen filter to have in stock before I found this problem. Hopefully I can get thru the winter and take care of the rebuild in the spring.

Worksmart wrote:I'm dealing with a similar situation the new to me '53 I picked up recently. I took cultivators off to put on the snow blade. After topping off the fluid and mounting the blade, the blade drifts down and then hiccups back up a bit. It will then drift down again and repeats the hiccup. No odd noises in my situation. I reviewed GSS-1024 as Jim posted and looks most like condition 5 on the troubleshooting chart. I already picked up the kit/screen filter to have in stock before I found this problem.

Glad I'm not the only one!

Worksmart wrote:Hopefully I can get thru the winter and take care of the rebuild in the spring.

This is exactly what I'm planning. The days are numbered here in New England before we get snow and I don't want to be caught with my pants down when the flakes fall. So the rebuild is gonna have to wait.