mechanic recommendation

I have a D17 IV that the lift arms will not go down on and it is acting like it has carburetor problems.  The arms only go down when the tractor is shut off or at a very low idle.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a mechanic to look at the hydraulics and the carburetor?  I would like to find someone in the central MO area.

Thanks.

If this is a "Snap-Coupler" hitch, you will have to idle the engine (or have engine off) and stand on the lift arms while holding the front outside lever all the way forward to get them to go down. This would be very normal.  It is also very normal for the arms to go up by themselves (slowly) without a load on them and the engine throttled up. If it is a 3 point hitch, same scenario only the weight of the hitch itself (which is much heavier than a snap-coupler) will usually let the hitch down when the engine is off or idling.  A 3pt hitch will usually stay down without a load on them with engine running. Hydraulic oil temps have an affect on this also.

The traction booster linkage under the console is probably rusted up and pushing against the valve.  Take pressure off the valve and your hydraulics will be fine.  As for your carb, take it off and give it a good cleaning - probably 40 years of junk in it.  Same wilth the fuel bowl at the bottom of your gas tank.

In your first post you said..."the arms only go down with the tractor shut off OR AT A VERY LOW IDLE"........now, you say "the arms go up at a normal rate with the tractor idling as if the arm lever is pulled back".........So, if is now the later, you have Traction Booster linkage pushing in on the spool activating it. Either one or both of the rear levers are pulled back or you have rusty or stuck linkage or the spool is rusty or stuck in.

If the linkage or valves are the hydraulic problem, and the pump is trying to lift all the time, that puts a pretty good load on the tractor and could be pulling down the motor and making the carb problem.  

Another thing that can happen on ALL hydraulic systems, is aereation... getting air bubbles in they hydraulic fluid... frequently, it's because hydraulic levels are low, or the suction tube for the hydraulic pump has an air-leak in it somewhere.  When this happens, the air bubbles get compressed rapidly by the pump, and shoved out the hydraulic lines into the cylinders, and once there, the air bubbles expand a little, and can cause the rams to extend.  The giveaway here, is that when you stand on the arms, they can 'bounce' against the air-bubbles. 

To clear aereation, shut the tractor down, stand on the rams to drive all the hydraulic fluid and bubbles back towards the reservoir, let the fluid level in the reservoir cool and settle (air bubbles show up as 'foam' at the top of the reservoir) and then bring the reservoir fluid level up to proper level.... then start it up and cycle the lift up and down a few times slowly... shut it down, let it cool, and repeat.

My WD was like this...  I could stand on the lift arms and push them down... and as soon as I stepped off, they'd creep back up.  I checked the valve adjustment, and everything seemed fine there...  after clearing the bubbles and getting the fluid levels right, it now works properly, although it doesn't like to come down by itself, it works fine with an implement on it.