Although many months have passed since I last wrote about the Ford 7610, the tractor has seen love and attention. After fitting the Trima 1420 loader back in early 2023, and making the loader legs in mid-2023, the loader has now been off and on a few times. However, the first time is always the hardest, and when refitting the loader after Kelsall 2023 there were some issues. Notably, the catastrophic failure of the loader hydraulic pipes!
Blowing the Loader hydraulic pipes.
Taking the loader off before the long voyage down to Kelsall went, surprisingly well. The homemade loader legs were perhaps a little too short, but the dismount was relatively successful. With Kelsall Steam and Vintage Rally 2023, all wrapped up, Sunday evening saw an attempt at reloading the Trima 1420 loader.
Carefully directing the front of the loader between the loader arms and the hydraulic pipes were connected to the Nordhydraulic RM200 control valve. Back in the cab and a curl of the bucket was followed by a catastrophic failure of the top pipe! On inspection, the pipes were all probably original here and would need replacing. And that’s where the loader sat for the next few months.
New Loader Hydraulic Pipes
Just a few months passed between rupturing the loader hydraulic pipes, and finally, I couldn’t put off the inevitable. I won’t ‘ buy cheap ‘ with more than 4000 psi of hydraulic pressure running through the pipes. Worse still, if you’re in a bind and have to get someone on-site to make pipes to order, the price is much higher.
The Trima parts catalogue lists all four pipes as the same length. This was fortunate, as it meant I only had one pipe full of fluid leaking into the boot. That’s another lesson learned.
After phoning many local places and getting no response, I eventually had to travel further. I managed to make contact with a shop that was happy to make replacement pipes while I waited. The total damage was ‘just’ £65 each, before VAT. This is not a bad price, but the costs soon add up.
It was money well spent for something so beautiful. Perhaps not beautiful, but these are some really sturdy pipes. All being well, they should outlast the tractor and loader. Better still, I shouldn’t get another UTTO shower!
Refitting the new hydraulic loader pipes
Refitting the shiny new pipes wasn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Not because I’d forgotten which way the pipes connected but because I was unhappy that the pipes were ever connected correctly. Neither the pipes nor the valves where marked up I first got the loader. Unfortunately, I’d had to guess the order. The control was not great, and I suspected this was due to a miss connection.
Loader connections.
The first step to get the pipes back on correctly was to map out the physical connections on the tractor. Relatively straightforward forward: just follow the pipe spaghetti and see which end of the lift or headstock ram arrived at. Pretty quickly, I had the pipe routes mapped out.
Valve block connections.
The next step was to determine which pipe went where on the control valve. Fortunately, translating the Swedish manual to English made the task relatively straightforward. I’m relatively optimistic that I can get these connections right the first time.
Marking up the connections.
With the offset connections on the valve block, working out the A, B, C, and D connections was harder than it might have first seemed. Both the valves and pipes are marked up to help me make the right connections in the future. I only wish I had the green and yellow tape to match up my notes in the manual.
With the valve block marked up, each end of the lovely new hydraulic pipes was marked up. The pipes were then installed onto the loader one at a time.
Installing the pipes
Interestingly, the order of the pipes on the loader does not match the order on the valve block. I’m pretty sure this is a different order from how I used to fit them. It might explain a few things.
The trima loader is back in action.
Less than an hour later, the new pipes are all installed. The tractor was driven back in between the loader arms, and the hydraulics all hooked up. Finally, after several months of delay, the Trima 1420 loader is mounted back onto the Ford 7610.
Of course, the controls now work so much better. Amazingly, up on the joystick now goes up, down goes down, and the other directions are a little bit better. I think I’ll still need to adjust the cables. However, the control is a lot better, and the hydraulic fluid is no longer escaping onto the windscreen.
It was a bit of an expense to get the pipes replaced, but now the main lines are as good as new. Interestingly, the pipes to all the rams have previously been replaced. However, a few pipes around the ancillary output will need replacing.
For now, the loader is back in full working order, and moving ‘stuff’ can commence!
M