D17 IV lift problem

I’ve searched and read about the lift arms not going down on a 17 IV. My dads has been sticking up for a while now and I told him I would see about getting it working correctly.

All the controls and linkages seem to move like they should. I think I’ve surmised that the rear lever closest to you when in the seat is the traction booster and the other is depth control? No labels so guessing a bit.

I also saw advice to take the cap off the traction booster valve and lube the heck out of it and tap it forward with a punch. Is the cap being talked about the closest to the fender?   Dad says the guy from the local “allis” dealer came out came out 6 months ago and hit something under there with a crow bar for about an hour before he got it released, only to have it stick again two days later. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the reply. He was trying to use it to plow and it stuck up with the plow on. I guess he had quite a time getting it off there. With both rear levers full forward and the tall outermost front lever full forward it still won’t come down.   

It is a snap-coupler tractor with add on 3 point. The two back levers move freely, most of their travel seems to be compressing springs though and not really moving much as far as linkages. Everything does seem to be free though.   Is that spool the outside one on the valve stack?

Thanks so much for the advice. Luckily he had another tractor with a loader to help get the plow off, so nothing on it now, but thanks for the caution.

I’ll tackle it tomorrow if the rain ever stops.

Still stuck ??   With both rear hydraulic control levers fully forward, there should be a gap between the "finger" and the front end of the spool plunger when the spool plunger is fully forward.  When the rear cover of the spool plunger is in place, there is spring pressure pushing forward on the spool.  If the spool is in normal operating condition, you can push it in (from the front) and it will immediately spring back out. If there is anything in the linkage that is rusted in place and not allowing the "finger" to have a gap between it and the spool, that is your problem.  So, what is it??   Is the finger in the way?? or is the spool plunger so tight in the valve body the spring can't push it forward??

It will not come down without you standing on the arms AND holding the tall outside front lever clear forward. Those arms will not drop by gravity unless there is at least 150 lbs on them.

Sounds like you have a lift cylinder problem.   The two lift cylinders are one-way style. Loosening/removing the hose connections at each one completely takes the hydraulic valves out of the equation. If the arms still can't go down, there is one or both cylinders causing it.

With the hoses disconnected and a long helper bar I was able to force the cylinders down. I hooked them back up and started the tractor and they immediately worked their way up as I expected. I can not force them back down tractor running or not with the control wired or held forward

I'm done. I can't fix something that I can't see. Hang the plow back on it and see what it does with a real load. I said it is the nature of the beast for the arms to want to creep up with the engine running without a load hanging on them. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  The Lift/lower lever (for the lift arms) link rod should be on the underside of the pivot shaft, while the other two remote levers are on the top. This is correct??