LA525 FEL control lever completely sloppy in one direction?

maltz88

New member

Equipment
L3301
May 22, 2023
3
1
3
Yelm, WA
Weird scenario yesterday. Disconnected the FEL bucket, and hooked up the grappler.

Shut the machine down and moved the control lever in all directions to bleed off hydraulic pressure to hook up the hydraulic hoses on the grappler.

Then after starting the machine back up, the control lever is completely sloppy for the main boom up and down and hydraulics don't operate. Left and right (bucket curl or dump) work perfectly fine, and grappler opens and closed fine. Just the up and down on the main boom doesn't function at all, and the stick doesn't even center itself now.

Any ideas?
 

ken erickson

Well-known member

Equipment
B7100 hst, 2650 front mount snowblower, L2501 hst qa loader
Nov 21, 2010
975
1,485
93
Waupaca Wisconsin
Weird scenario yesterday. Disconnected the FEL bucket, and hooked up the grappler.

Shut the machine down and moved the control lever in all directions to bleed off hydraulic pressure to hook up the hydraulic hoses on the grappler.

Then after starting the machine back up, the control lever is completely sloppy for the main boom up and down and hydraulics don't operate. Left and right (bucket curl or dump) work perfectly fine, and grappler opens and closed fine. Just the up and down on the main boom doesn't function at all, and the stick doesn't even center itself now.

Any ideas?
Exact same issue with my LA525 control three years ago. Under the black plastic cover there is a Heim joint that unscrewed itself leaving me with only curl function. Mine was a 15 minute fix after figuring out which bolts to remove from the bottom to allow removal of the cover.
I would guess it is a good chance your problem is the same as what mine turned out to be.

Part number 070 came unscrewed from part 110 . Bolt number 290 are the bolts to remove cover. I think there are either 4 or 5 of them?

When I first diagnosed the problem I was able remove the rubber cover 300 and peer inside to see the issue but was not able to get part 070 thread restarted and screwed down tight without removing the plastic cover.
Screen Shot 2021-04-09 at 1.05.02 PM.png
 
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maltz88

New member

Equipment
L3301
May 22, 2023
3
1
3
Yelm, WA
Exact same issue with my LA525 control three years ago. Under the black plastic cover there is a Heim joint that unscrewed itself leaving me with only curl function. Mine was a 15 minute fix after figuring out which bolts to remove from the bottom to allow removal of the cover.
I would guess it is a good chance your problem is the same as what mine turned out to be.

Part number 070 came unscrewed from part 110 . Bolt number 290 are the bolts to remove cover. I think there are either 4 or 5 of them?

When I first diagnosed the problem I was able remove the rubber cover 300 and peer inside to see the issue but was not able to get part 070 thread restarted and screwed down tight without removing the plastic cover.
View attachment 103188
That’s exactly what the issue was. Thank you very much! I love a very simple fix!
 
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