joystick freezing in cold weather

Jayhawk238

Member

Equipment
2004 L5030 HST/CAB
Oct 30, 2010
97
10
8
73
Featherville, ID, United States
I have been doing snow removal since 1982 and I have never had the problem of the joystick freezing up overnight. For the past few nights it has been cold, -3 to +5. When the temp got up to about 12 to 18 I started the tractor to warm everything up before going out to blow snow. My problem is after having the tractor running for 20 minutes the joystick won't move. After pushing hard on the stick it will finally start to work except for the right turn on the chute. I've taken a heat gun to the QD's that control the chute and also used it on the hyd connections on the chute. After awhile the chute will also turn to the right. Does anyone have an idea whats going on? It's almost like there might be some water in the QD's but how would water get in them?