I have a 1963 D19 that the hydraulics have been giving me problems for a couple of years.  Mainly when the weather starts to get cold, it takes forever for the hydraulics to start working, and then sometimes they stop working and you have to set there for a while at idle until the pump decides to start working again.  This usually happens multiple times. I use this tractor almost exclusively for feeding big bales to our cattle, and this intermittent operation turns a 15-20 minute job into 1-1.5 hour job.  By the time it finally really gets to working, I'm basically done.  This has been getting worse over the past several years.  It seems to work fine in the summer.

I have a guy working on it now, and he has pulled the pump out and taken it apart.  He thinks there might be something stuck in it.  He said I might need to get a remanufactured pump.  I have looked all over the 'net and can not find a source for a reman. hydraulic pump.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Or am I going to be limited to a used pump out of a salvage yard?  Or is there some other possibility that might be causing this problem other than the pump?

Yes, this is the original, internal pump.  And no, there was no water in the oil.  Oil looked good when it was drained.

DrAllis wrote: Remove the dipstick to the hydraulic system and pull out the cotter pin. Then bend the dipstick a little to the side and let the 3/8" ball fall out of the tube and throw it away. Now wash up the dipstick tube with brake kleen or solvent and blow up thru the tube with a rubber tip blow gun. If the breather is open you should see activity at the top. If it is totally plugged, you may have to remove the top cap and gut the innards, clean and reassemble. An open breather is imperative for that system to work. It sounds like it is low on hydraulic fluid. Maybe try and add an extra gallon and see what happens. That pump has less moving parts than a D-15 or D-17, so I'm confused on what might be stuck ??  What size are the cylinders on the loader?? They are 2-way cylinders, right ??   Larger cylinders that what an AC 500 loader would have will do nothing but make the loader slower. Also, if cold weather seems to bother it, maybe some new couplers and hose tips would be in order?? They could be causing a restriction with thick oil.

I will check it tonight when I get home, but I do not recall the dipstick being other than a solid stick of metal?

It wasn't low on oil, if anything I thought it might be over-filled.  What I drained out amounted to about 6 gallons more or less.

As to the loader cylinders, I will try also to measure them tonight.  It is an old Schwartz loader.

MACK wrote: While the pump is out, remove any caps that might be on any of the reduction shafts. Cold oil can't get to pump fast enough.         MACK

Sorry, I'm not too educated on that stuff.  Could you please expound on that?  Would those caps you speak of be something that would have originally been on the tractor?  Where would I look for them?

Thinking about it I think it was Mike Suess of Suess Auction that told me that about the valve. He and his dad owned the AC dealership in Stewartville MN way back in the 1970's and into the 80's.

By the way, what sort of hydraulic fluid should I be using?  Is Universal Tractor Hydraulic Fluid good to go, or should I be using ISO 46?

Thanks.

DrAllis wrote: Mr. Pitchfork.....did you clean out the hydraulic dipstick breather ???

That is on the agenda for tonight.  I did find it, though, just as you said it was.  Strange that I never noticed it before.  I can hear the ball check moving inside the shaft, so it isn't completely sludged-up, but I will tear it down and blow it out tonight.