Ark Loader

[JamesBe1 80]

Hi folks. I have a D-180 with an FEL on the front of it. I finally got my D-180 up and running after lots of repairs. The loader needs some TLC. I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the manual or might point me in the right direction (Toro has nothing on it.)

The tag on the loader says it's an ARK 7-3050. I'm not sure, but from what I read around the internet, it seems to be the same as an ARK 550.

Anyhow, the tilt cylinders (one much more than the other) slide out after a few hours. Is this a problem with the cylinder or the spool valve? If it's the cylinder, is it just a matter of replacing the internal o-rings? I wonder if anyone has a source for them.

The bushings and pins that connect the bucket to the frame and tilt cylinders are not all there. It appears to be a loose assortment of pins/bushings/bolts/washers. Not the best setup. I was wondering if anyone knows what the correct connectors are. I was able to check out the toro site, and there were a couple of poor resolution pictures to hard to identify parts that were finally listed as Not Available, so I guess the toro avenue is out.

I was thinking that if anyone has a good picture of how it should be held together, I might be able to find the parts at McMaster or Graingers. Just a thought.

Any help would be much appreciated.

James

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Did you look through the gallery images here on the forum?

I think there are some high resolution FEL picts uploaded there that may help you out.

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,041]

James,

The ark 550 I had on my auto 18 had pins with zerk fittings to grease. Depending on how much you plan on using it you should be able to replace what is there with non greaseable shafts like you by at tsc or other. You can simply grease them heavy prior to installing and just do that once a year of so. If you can find the oem ones that would be better but for homeowner use not really a major issue.

In terms of the loader not staying up and dropping, that is caused by a leak in the system somewhere. Check all your connections and see if there is a leak on one of the hoses or fittings. I would suggest using it and really getting it hot then park it in the garage (assuming it is a clean concrete floor) with the loader in the up position a few feet. As it drops you should be able to find the leak as it will drip on the floor. I would think if it is dropping in only 1 hour then the leak should be obvious. When that system is sealed correctly it should hold for weeks in that position. Once hot you should check the fluid and see if it is a milky color, if so then air is entering the system. It is not good to run it this way and could damage your pump.

If you cannot find leaks and the fluid is not milky, the next step is to check the loader valve. This is a little tricky if you have not doen it before. Sometimes you can get a little debris in the small ball bearing (smiliar to a check valve on a well pump) that will hang it up and not allow it to close completely. If that is clean you can try to adjust the pressure on the valve to push the plunger down tighter but if you do it too much you risk blowing a line or the pump.

IMO if you do the first step and you find there is not a problem there and you think it is the valve but are not comfortable with step 2 then pull the valve and bring it to a hydro shop to test it out. I think it should run about 550-600 lbs on the pressure side but the shop will know. For short money they can test it and if it needs to be rebuilt they may be able to do that for short money. My oem ark loader valve was bad and could not be repaired for less than what I was able to buy a new one for (non oem) from Burden's on line for. It required some re routing of the lines but the valve was new and worked well. Good luck-

PS- If you do not have a filter on the system you should add on. They can be purchased at tsc as well. Here are pics of my new valve.

[1maidenfan 201]

James,

The ark 550 I had on my auto 18 had pins with zerk fittings to grease. Depending on how much you plan on using it you should be able to replace what is there with non greaseable shafts like you by at tsc or other. You can simply grease them heavy prior to installing and just do that once a year of so. If you can find the oem ones that would be better but for homeowner use not really a major issue.

In terms of the loader not staying up and dropping, that is caused by a leak in the system somewhere. Check all your connections and see if there is a leak on one of the hoses or fittings. I would suggest using it and really getting it hot then park it in the garage (assuming it is a clean concrete floor) with the loader in the up position a few feet. As it drops you should be able to find the leak as it will drip on the floor. I would think if it is dropping in only 1 hour then the leak should be obvious. When that system is sealed correctly it should hold for weeks in that position. Once hot you should check the fluid and see if it is a milky color, if so then air is entering the system. It is not good to run it this way and could damage your pump.

If you cannot find leaks and the fluid is not milky, the next step is to check the loader valve. This is a little tricky if you have not doen it before. Sometimes you can get a little debris in the small ball bearing (smiliar to a check valve on a well pump) that will hang it up and not allow it to close completely. If that is clean you can try to adjust the pressure on the valve to push the plunger down tighter but if you do it too much you risk blowing a line or the pump.

IMO if you do the first step and you find there is not a problem there and you think it is the valve but are not comfortable with step 2 then pull the valve and bring it to a hydro shop to test it out. I think it should run about 550-600 lbs on the pressure side but the shop will know. For short money they can test it and if it needs to be rebuilt they may be able to do that for short money. My oem ark loader valve was bad and could not be repaired for less than what I was able to buy a new one for (non oem) from Burden's on line for. It required some re routing of the lines but the valve was new and worked well. Good luck-

PS- If you do not have a filter on the system you should add on. They can be purchased at tsc as well. Here are pics of my new valve.

stevebo, I am building my own loader and was planning on useing an extra lift valve that I have to operate the loader. If I install an inline psi valve should I be able to use the valve I have to operate the loader?

Thanks.

[JamesBe1 80]

Did you look through the gallery images here on the forum?

I think there are some high resolution FEL picts uploaded there that may help you out.

Thanx Craig. That's a great idea. I searched around the internet last night and came up with some large jpg's of a loader in a barn that had good shots of the attaching points. They look to be regular clevis pins. The toro site listed attaching parts that looked like there were grease fitting installed somehow. I don't think it would be a showstopper if I were to use regular clevis pins and grease them manually from time to time.

[JamesBe1 80]

James,

The ark 550 I had on my auto 18 had pins with zerk fittings to grease. Depending on how much you plan on using it you should be able to replace what is there with non greaseable shafts like you by at tsc or other. You can simply grease them heavy prior to installing and just do that once a year of so. If you can find the oem ones that would be better but for homeowner use not really a major issue.

In terms of the loader not staying up and dropping, that is caused by a leak in the system somewhere. Check all your connections and see if there is a leak on one of the hoses or fittings. I would suggest using it and really getting it hot then park it in the garage (assuming it is a clean concrete floor) with the loader in the up position a few feet. As it drops you should be able to find the leak as it will drip on the floor. I would think if it is dropping in only 1 hour then the leak should be obvious. When that system is sealed correctly it should hold for weeks in that position. Once hot you should check the fluid and see if it is a milky color, if so then air is entering the system. It is not good to run it this way and could damage your pump.

If you cannot find leaks and the fluid is not milky, the next step is to check the loader valve. This is a little tricky if you have not doen it before. Sometimes you can get a little debris in the small ball bearing (smiliar to a check valve on a well pump) that will hang it up and not allow it to close completely. If that is clean you can try to adjust the pressure on the valve to push the plunger down tighter but if you do it too much you risk blowing a line or the pump.

IMO if you do the first step and you find there is not a problem there and you think it is the valve but are not comfortable with step 2 then pull the valve and bring it to a hydro shop to test it out. I think it should run about 550-600 lbs on the pressure side but the shop will know. For short money they can test it and if it needs to be rebuilt they may be able to do that for short money. My oem ark loader valve was bad and could not be repaired for less than what I was able to buy a new one for (non oem) from Burden's on line for. It required some re routing of the lines but the valve was new and worked well. Good luck-

PS- If you do not have a filter on the system you should add on. They can be purchased at tsc as well. Here are pics of my new valve.

Hi Steve. I think you are right about the pins. I am probably going to replace them with clevis pins or maybe spring loaded hitch pins for easy disassembly. I like the idea of the filter, and will definitely add one as soon as I am up and running.

Thanx for the pics. That is a fine looking tractor. Do you still have it? I would like to be able to ask questions about it from time to time. Mine is in rough shape, and is going to take a lot of cleaning to get it in good condition. It was a barn find, but looks to have been painted blue on top of the original red, and then red on top of the blue. Now, it's all covered in grease and oil and flaking off. The metal still appears to retain it's integrity, so eventually, I will take it apart and strip and repaint a lot of it. Shortly after I got it, about two years ago, it lost power and started making grinding whining noises. I replaced the hydro pump to no avail. It was a lot of trouble replacing it with the FEL attached. It sat for a while until I decided to take the FEL off of it to try another pump. Same problem. I then replaced the hydro motor, and found the motor to be installed with several of the orings missing. While getting ready to run it up, I noticed that the right side of my engine was not getting hot. The motor ran very smoothly regardless, and with my lack of experience, I hardly noticed that the RPM's weren't really up there. To make a long story short, I found that my exhaust valve was stuck open on the right side cylinder (would that be the number two cylinder?). That accounted for the lack of power and smooth running. After I got it unstuck, it all ran fine. I have lots of sheet metal and misc parts off of it at the moment in the derusting tank to be cleaned and repainted.

I am pretty close to reattaching the FEL, and the parts that were used to attach the bucket were what I described in the first post (I am trying not to be too wordy). I figured that I should try to attach it properly. As for the droopy tilt cylinders, that was something that I noticed from day one. Now that it is off of tractor, it is sitting in the corner of my shed, and the left tilt cylinder is fully extended, and the right one is about half way. I should have it back on the tractor in a week or so, and after I purge the system, I will be keeping a close eye on it. I'll park it on some paper and look for any leaks. Wouldn't the fact that one cylinder drops more than the other indicate a problem not common to both cylinders? I thought perhaps the orings in the cylinder were leaking internally. I don't have any problem taking apart the spool valves. I have done it before on my C145, and they are really not complicated. I feel entirely comfortable working on them if I need to. I learned a long time ago not to take things apart unless I need to - it only causes more problems. Sorta the if it isn't broke, don't fix it idea.

A couple of questions about your tractor if I may - Parallel to the left tilt cylinder, there is a metal rod that is about three feet long. Mine doesn't have one of these, and I would like to know its purpose.

Also, what kind of pump do you have on the front of the tractor? In particular, on mine, the pullys appear to be nearly touching. I was wondering if maybe mine had an accident at one time, and the pump housing got pushed back a bit. Any chance of a picture? The one's that I find on the internet don't appear to be the exact same setup and/or don't show the pully details well enought.

Anyhow, sorry if I threw too many questions at you. I certainly appreciate any info that you can share.

James

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Another idea Jim, is for you to post picts here, of the areas of your tractor/FEL that you have questions about.

Supplying images of the areas in question, will help others to better understand what you're inquiring about.

Let's see that pump, and metal rod you're talking about? :dunno:

[JamesBe1 80]

Great idea Craig. I'll upload some as I took some pics today after knocking off a lot of old grime and grease. I just need to resize them and add them to my gallery.

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,041]

Here is the picture of the front mounted pump.

I no longer have this machine as I sold it to a member here a few years back. The 3 foot bar imo is useless however the function is to tell the operator when the bucket is level. The pump was on the machine when I bought it however I had to change the pulley size to try and slow it down as it was pushing way too fast. I cannot tell you the correct ratio as some other members here may be able to help with that. Good luck-

[JamesBe1 80]

Here is the picture of the front mounted pump.

I no longer have this machine as I sold it to a member here a few years back. The 3 foot bar imo is useless however the function is to tell the operator when the bucket is level. The pump was on the machine when I bought it however I had to change the pulley size to try and slow it down as it was pushing way too fast. I cannot tell you the correct ratio as some other members here may be able to help with that. Good luck-

Thanx Steve. Yeah, the bar to tell people when the bucket is level sounds kinda useless, but then again, what do I know. Your pump assembly looks a bit different then mine. Besides being covered in grime, mine is somewhat enclosed in a metal box. You'll see what I mean when I upload the pics.

BTW, if memory serves, can you tell me how you set the parking brake? Mine is/was never adjusted right. When I first got it, it would engage the parking pawl whenever you stepped on the brake. I never got a chance to sort it out before the hydro problems set upon me. For some reason, it doesn't work at all now that I have it running again. When I had the hydro motor off, I was able to look in the transmission and could see that the parking pawl wasn't broken off.

Also, am I correct in that there is no brake band on these tractors? At least mine doesn't have one. I'd hate to have to go out fishing for parts.

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,041]

DO NOT USE YOUR PARKING BRAKE

DO NOT USE YOUR PARKING BRAKE

DO NOT USE YOUR PARKING BRAKE

DO NOT USE YOUR PARKING BRAKE

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,041]

Okay, now that you got the message.... if you have an early (pre 76) D then you have a parking pawl. I made the mistake of using mine AFTER I did a total rebuild and reinstlled the rear end. I forgot to disengage it and pop it sheared the roll pin and would not move. out it comes again, split the cases and install new roll pin. It is a terrible design. I can only assume that the weak point you yours were the pawl teeth and they are probably all worn off not.

[AMC RULES 36,945]

You'd be surprised how many people can't level a bucket by eye. I know people who've been operating machinery thirty years and still haven't mastered the skill. :eusa-doh:

[JamesBe1 80]

Hahaha. Ok Steve, I get the idea. I will forget about the parking brake. I can sorta see how it can cause problems. Heck, I all too often leave the parking brake on on my C120. I am surprised that it still even works. As as aside, when I looked in the transmission (when I had the motor off), the parking pawl teeth looked perfect. I guess I won't have to worry about wearing them down as I will refrain from ever using it.

Craig, your probably right about keeping a level bucket. I bet I am going to make that mistake sooner or later as my bucket doesn't have one of those fancy indicators. Oh well, making mistakes is one of the best teachers.

Can either of you guys recommend a good chassis degreaser? I still have lots of grime to take off. I am reticent to use a power washer for fear of forcing water into places where it shouldn't go. Heck, even using the sprayer on the garden hose worries me.

James

[JamesBe1 80]

Here is a pic of the loader pump. Still lots of grime to remove.

Note how close the pulleys are:

Here are a couple of the loader without the bucket which I have stashed under a table nearby. Note the extended tilt cylinders. Also note that the lift cylinders are oversized. They have a label on the that says 2500PSI. Definately not OEM, but I'm more than Ok with that.

Here is the tractor without seat assembly, hood, front grille, and loader. The seat assembly is undergoing derusting and repainting, and should be ready to install in the next couple of days. I will start in on derusting and repainting the hood and grille right after that.

Here is the parking brake lever that I was going to ask more detail about, but now it looks like I should forget about it.

Some internal pics. I had just finished removing some of the grime. It was far worse before this:

There are a couple of more pics in my album if you care to look. Nothing really important.

Oh, also note the black on the loader frame. I have been spraying it with rust inhibitor when the temps get warm enough lately. I'll add a second or third coat of red as weather permits.

[CRE1992 135]

Purple power from home depot or walmart works great as a de-greaser if you use a power washer.

[pfrederi 17,155]

I use the parking brake on mine (the internal pawl) mine has no band brake. Lift the handle up and over to the latched position. The linkage will engage the pawl and sort of keeps the direction control lever from moving (well moving easily, enough so i am reminded to release the brake. I use mine to lift things and it is a pain to have the tractor start rolling away while i am trying to hook something up to the bucket. Just make sure you are not moving when you engage it and release it before you drive off. When I release it you can feel if the pawl freed itself. If it didn't rocking back and forth in the seat is usually enough to free it.

[JamesBe1 80]

Thanx CRE1992, I will pick up some tonite. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the lower 50's near me, so it will probably be a good day to try it.

Paul - What kind of hand brake are you talking about? Mine doesn't have a hand brake either. However, stepping on the brake pedal moves the motion controls back to neutral. At least they will once I get a chance to adjust them properly. I'll probably set up the parking pawl one of these days. Does yours ever engage when stepping on the brake pedal or only when lifting the parking brake handle?

Anybody have any experience with trying to take out some of the slop in the motion control setup? I have at least four inches of no action before things begin to engage.

Thanx,

James

[pfrederi 17,155]

The parking brake is on the lower dash panel in a L shaped groove. ( I can see the knob in one of your pictures (Near the left side of the panel). You push the knob up and to the left to set the brake. There is a spring which puts pressure on the pawl linkage so when the pawl teeth are aligned with the gear grooves it drops in. When you release it the spring pulls the pawl up. If it the pawl is wedged against the gear (the weight of the tractor trying to move the gear forcing it against the pawl) the spring isn't always strong enough to pull it free, hence the requirement to rock the tractor a bit to free the pawl.

The pedal has no impact on setting the parking pawl all it does is kick tthe motion control to neutral.

[JamesBe1 80]

The parking brake is on the lower dash panel in a L shaped groove. ( I can see the knob in one of your pictures (Near the left side of the panel). You push the knob up and to the left to set the brake. There is a spring which puts pressure on the pawl linkage so when the pawl teeth are aligned with the gear grooves it drops in. When you release it the spring pulls the pawl up. If it the pawl is wedged against the gear (the weight of the tractor trying to move the gear forcing it against the pawl) the spring isn't always strong enough to pull it free, hence the requirement to rock the tractor a bit to free the pawl.

The pedal has no impact on setting the parking pawl all it does is kick tthe motion control to neutral.

Thanx a million for the great explanation Paul. The key thing was that the "pedal has no impact on setting the parking pawl . . ."

As I said above, when I got the tractor, stepping on the brake pedal engaged the parking pawl. Obviously, someone monkeyed with it and set it up wrong. It would be nice to one day have it working in case I need it.

Looking at this pic, the brake rod on the right moves from front to rear (top to bottom in the picture) when the brake pedal is depressed. Before I changed it, all the nuts were tight up against the trunnion (?) which moved the parking pawl rod (the one on the left) into position. Also, stepping on the brake pedal raised the parking lever on the dash panel. This didn't seem logical, so I backed off the pair of nuts to allow the rod to move without moving the rest of the assembly (make sense so far?). It seems to be the way it should work, but then again, I am operating without the benefit of ever having seen how it is set up. The manuals are pretty sketchy as to how it should operate.

Any chance of getting you to look at yours and compare?

James

Edit:

Surprise surprise, I just found my parts manual, and looking at the illustration of the Brake, Speed, and Control Linkage, I find that there is only one nut on the brake rod. The rear one. The pair of nuts on the front (top part of the picture) shouldn't be there. No wonder stepping on the brake engaged the parking pawl. I will be removing them first thing tomorrow. I would love to find whoever put them there and beat them with the parking rod.

[AMC RULES 36,945]

:text-coolphotos:

[1maidenfan 201]

Was looking at my parking brake lever and mine is located where the shifting handle would be on a manual trans. My model # is 1-0601 which according to toro site makes it a '73 18 auto. You guys are saying that it is located on the dash tower, any reason mine is not?

Thanks

[JamesBe1 80]

Was looking at my parking brake lever and mine is located where the shifting handle would be on a manual trans. My model # is 1-0601 which according to toro site makes it a '73 18 auto. You guys are saying that it is located on the dash tower, any reason mine is not?

Thanks

Yeah, I think wheelhorse often made changes to the location of controls between different models for no apparent reason. But that's a matter of opinion. The technical reason (for lack of a better term) that yours is located in a different location is that it is a different model. The parking brake lever on my C-145 is located in the same place as your '73 18 auto. If I think to snap a pic of them this weekend, I'll post it.

But the parking brake lever really is located on the dash tower on the D-180.

[pfrederi 17,155]

The parking brake is on the lower dash panel in a L shaped groove. ( I can see the knob in one of your pictures (Near the left side of the panel). You push the knob up and to the left to set the brake. There is a spring which puts pressure on the pawl linkage so when the pawl teeth are aligned with the gear grooves it drops in. When you release it the spring pulls the pawl up. If it the pawl is wedged against the gear (the weight of the tractor trying to move the gear forcing it against the pawl) the spring isn't always strong enough to pull it free, hence the requirement to rock the tractor a bit to free the pawl.

The pedal has no impact on setting the parking pawl all it does is kick tthe motion control to neutral.

Thanx a million for the great explanation Paul. The key thing was that the "pedal has no impact on setting the parking pawl . . ."

As I said above, when I got the tractor, stepping on the brake pedal engaged the parking pawl. Obviously, someone monkeyed with it and set it up wrong. It would be nice to one day have it working in case I need it.

Looking at this pic, the brake rod on the right moves from front to rear (top to bottom in the picture) when the brake pedal is depressed. Before I changed it, all the nuts were tight up against the trunnion (?) which moved the parking pawl rod (the one on the left) into position. Also, stepping on the brake pedal raised the parking lever on the dash panel. This didn't seem logical, so I backed off the pair of nuts to allow the rod to move without moving the rest of the assembly (make sense so far?). It seems to be the way it should work, but then again, I am operating without the benefit of ever having seen how it is set up. The manuals are pretty sketchy as to how it should operate.

Any chance of getting you to look at yours and compare?

James

Edit:

Surprise surprise, I just found my parts manual, and looking at the illustration of the Brake, Speed, and Control Linkage, I find that there is only one nut on the brake rod. The rear one. The pair of nuts on the front (top part of the picture) shouldn't be there. No wonder stepping on the brake engaged the parking pawl. I will be removing them first thing tomorrow. I would love to find whoever put them there and beat them with the parking rod.

Some Pictures of the brake handle and linkages. Note the change in the spring compression when engaged. Second picture brake off, third brake on

Click picture for larger version

[JamesBe1 80]

Thanx Paul.

Those pics also show the location of the parking brake lever for 1maidenfan.

On mine, someone put the double nuts on the other side of the trunion (towards the top of the pic), and had a nylock nut where the doublnuts are. That was what made the parking brake pawl engage whenever you stepped on the brake pedal.

Interesting difference between our two setups. On mine, the thread on the rod on the right extends a considerable distance up the rod. The end of thee threads would be out of sight in your pics. I wonder if maybe someone swapped two rods or maybe it is just a manufacturing difference. Dunno. I do know that the trunnion on mine was hanging up on the threads every time I released the brake pedal. I finally solved this by using a larger cotter pin to stop the trunnion from drooping. It works pretty well now. Still, it'll probably nag at me for a while.

Also, is that a spring on the left rod pushed up against it's trunnion? I don't think I have one, but I will take a closer look today. I have the seat assembly out and was derusted and repainted recently.