This is my file on trouble shooting the 9N/2N Ford lift but the TO Ferguson is identical except for the control rods on some years. The 9N-TO Ferguson lift has no position control.To maintain the lift at a given position the hand must constantly be on the control lever to continually re adjust. I can fix that for you if you will Email me at wzsherman@aol.com or see the link below. First thing is to be sure that the PTO is engaged! The most common places to leak on the lift is the piston rings and the pressure relief valve. In order to determine where the lift is leaking you should remove the right hand inspection plate that holds the dip stick for the lift oil.If oil runs out when this cover is removed it has too much oil in it and letting it run out is ok. Feel down to the bottom of the control rods and see if the control valve “T” shaped valve connection is firmly connected at both ends to the control rods. The rods have to be spread open to reconnect them if they have come loose from the control valve “T”. It is a lot easier to do this if you have both of the inspection plates off the lift housing so you can reach in from both sides. Start the tractor with a load on the lift arms such as a rotary cutter etc. raise the lift and observe inside the lift to see where the oil is leaking down.If the piston rings are leaking their will be a pretty good stream of oil coming out the end of the ram cylinder. If just a few drops this is ok.
If you should decide to replace the piston rings and you find that the cylinder is scored badly, you should hone the cylinder and instead of replacing the steel piston rings and the original piston you might want to consider replacing the piston and rings with the Ford model NAA piston and the Neoprene Rubber rings. The NAA piston and rings is the same size and the rubber rings will seal much better than the steel rings. Observe the oil in the resorvoir and if you see the oil swirling around the relief valve is probably leaking.It is the gadget that is screwed into the back of the hydralic pump just under the pto shaft.It will be under the oil and feels something like a spark plug. If before starting the tractor you will put your hand into the oil and locate the relief valve you can reach in and put one finger over the end of the relief valve and determine if it is leaking after the tractor has again been started. DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF PUTING A FINGER IN THE PUMP MECHANISM!!!! If however you don't see a signifacant leak from the top you can assume that the relief valve is leaking and simply replace it with a new one and thereby prvent the possible loss of a finger or two. I;ve never tried it,but I’ve read that you can drain enough oil from the lift reservoir to uncover the relief valve and see if it is leaking instead of using the obviously dangerous finger feel thing I described. There could also be a blown gasket somewhere in the upper portion of the lift but if so you will see a lot of oil coming down from the top and then it’s just a case of taking the cover off and finding the culprit. Be sure to release the control rods from the control valve T on the pump before trying to remove the lift cover. To fail to do so will result in a broken lift control valve stem.
Also be sure that the control linkage is attached at the “T” at the control valve connection. Zane in Alabama. If you should be having trouble with the lift not going down when the lever is moved to the down position I would suggest that while the inspection plate is off on the side of the lift housing you reach in and manually push the two levers that go into the oil in the reservoir and are connected to the control valve. The control valve sometimes sticks in the up position. If you should find that you can make it go down by pushing toward the front of the tractor internally on the control rods then you should drain the lift and pour about 5 gallons of clean kerosene through the lift with the drain open. It is best to pour it directly into the inspection hole. Let the kerosene that drains out sit for about 15 minutes and pour it through again leaving the portion that is in the bottom of the container to be discarded. This should have the residue in it that may have been causing the control valve to stick when it was carried into the control valve.
ANOTHER THING TO LOOK AT IS THE LIFT WILL NOT RAISE AT ALL IS THE DRAFT PLUNGER AND ANCHOR PLATE WHICH HOLDS THE BIG DRAFT SPRING ON BACK OF THE LIFT HOUSING.
If this is a 9N/2N and has only draft control I suspect that the draft spring anchor plate that is part of the plunger guide assembly has been bent or warped outwards. If this is the case you may have to remove the yoke from the end of the draft plunger link in order to remove the three 7/16" bolts that retain the anchor plate to the lift housing on the back of the tractor. This "yoke" is usually going to resist removing because it is a fine thread of close tolerance and over time trys to glue itself to the plunger and will usually have to be heated red hot with a torch to get it started moving to remove it. Do not use excessive force to try to remove it or you will surely break something inside the lift and then you will have even more trouble than you presently have. You can try moving the quadrant back by loosening the four retaining bolts that hold the quadrant to the lift housing and hammering it back along the quadrant's elongated mounting holes. This is what the elongated holes were designed to do but if it still will not lift your only option is to do what I said about the yoke on the draft plunger link. Be sure to try the lift before you go to all the troube of reinstalling the spring and yoke etc. It will work just the same as if it were assembled as soon as the anchor plate is re-installed. If it still won't begin to lift when the touch control is moved to it's full up position you can then use my old trick to attain enough forward positioning of the internal draft link by again removing the anchor plate that is held with the three bolts and then fashioning a shim from a 5/8" flat washer that you have made a notch in to accomidate the dowel pin in the anchor plate that keeps the draft plunger rod from turning when the yoke is turned when installing or removing. This dowel can be broken off if too much torque is put on trying to remove the yoke from the draft plunger. EXHAUST CONTROL VALVE SPRING DAMAGED OR MISSING
There is a more rare condition that will really put a monkey wrench into the operation of the lift on the 9N/2N. This is when the retaining spring that is an integral part of the exhaust control valve breaks or becomes too weak to actuate the exhaust valve when it is moved by the control linkage. The spring is located on the exhaust valve itself and has to be intact in order to move the valve when the linkage is moved. It may be necessary to pull the pump in order to inspect and repair the exhaust control valve. You should also inspect the spring that is connected between the front end of the ram cylinder of the lift to the knee portion of the control rods that go from the linkage at the top to the control valve in the bottom of the pump. This spring sometimes looses it tension from age and usage and must have enough tension on it to pull the control valve out when the lever is moved to the down position.
There is also the possibility that the exhaust port in the control valve bushing have become plugged with foreign material such as plastic shavings or gasket material etc. When this happens the only fix is to pull the pump out of the tractor and drive the bushing out and clean the ports of what ever junk is plugging the ports.
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