Merlo joystick

[v8willy]

Have a 2005 Merlo & the joystick has just started to travel a lot more in it's stroke, moreso when lowering, has also started to rotate a bit like it's loose.

Haven't looked at it yet, just looked below the boot & the whole lever looks to be rotating. Haven't the time to look more at the moment just hope it keeps going for a while.

Anybody been there? fix or is it a replace job? 7000 odd hours on it, has the joystick with the 4 buttons on top of it.

 

[Brad nz]

Have a 2005 Merlo & the joystick has just started to travel a lot more in it's stroke, moreso when lowering, has also started to rotate a bit like it's loose.

Haven't looked at it yet, just looked below the boot & the whole lever looks to be rotating. Haven't the time to look more at the moment just hope it keeps going for a while.

Anybody been there? fix or is it a replace job? 7000 odd hours on it, has the joystick with the 4 buttons on top of it.

There should be a locking nut on the joystick under the rubber boot as for the extra travel it’s not because it is turning and feeling like it’s giving you extra travel ? I can take a picture tomorrow of the locking nut if neaded cheers

 

[B'o'B]

Have a 2005 Merlo & the joystick has just started to travel a lot more in it's stroke, moreso when lowering, has also started to rotate a bit like it's loose.

Haven't looked at it yet, just looked below the boot & the whole lever looks to be rotating. Haven't the time to look more at the moment just hope it keeps going for a while.

Anybody been there? fix or is it a replace job? 7000 odd hours on it, has the joystick with the 4 buttons on top of it.

Sorted ours out with the same problem only last week. Under the second rubber boot there was a hex bolt that had worked loose and come out. It was directly under the joystick and a bit tight to get the Allan key on, it was a bit of a balance between moving the joystick over enough to do the bolt up and moving it too much so the holes didn’t line up. Simple enough job once you get to it. Our lower rubber boot had already split which made it much easier to get to the offending bolt.

 

[Farma Parma]

Had same with mine, slack hex bolts, what a difference once they were re tightened

 

[Planttech]

Have a 2005 Merlo & the joystick has just started to travel a lot more in it's stroke, moreso when lowering, has also started to rotate a bit like it's loose.

Haven't looked at it yet, just looked below the boot & the whole lever looks to be rotating. Haven't the time to look more at the moment just hope it keeps going for a while.

Anybody been there? fix or is it a replace job? 7000 odd hours on it, has the joystick with the 4 buttons on top of it.

Linkages tend to get a little loose over time. You want to tighten as soon as they get slack. The linkage repair kits are crazy money

 

[Chuckie]

Sorted ours out with the same problem only last week. Under the second rubber boot there was a hex bolt that had worked loose and come out. It was directly under the joystick and a bit tight to get the Allan key on, it was a bit of a balance between moving the joystick over enough to do the bolt up and moving it too much so the holes didn’t line up. Simple enough job once you get to it. Our lower rubber boot had already split which made it much easier to get to the offending bolt.

Mine did the same, but I think that there are 2 bolts down there, m5x16 I think they are, you need a long ball ended allen key and they are a faff too get back in and tight but a cheap fix for once

 

[v8willy]

Had a look at it this morning, had a bit of a poke around & found the 2 holes on the bracket, but couldn't find any holes to screw into....or any screws either & the boot was still intact.
So I nipped into the dealers to see if I could get a exploded view, got this which helped, & the repair kit is £200 odd if I needed it.

Found a slack screw just at the tip of my finger here, tightened it up not expecting much as the 2 holes still not sorted, but it worked, must be slack a while now as it's that tight now I keep thinking there is something wrong with it!

Sorted & back together again for zero cost, thanks to all on here

then drove across the yard & the steering had siezed....AH FFS what have I done now!!
Turns out the steering selection lever was sitting between 2 positions with the console being removed....

 

[B'o'B]

Had a look at it this morning, had a bit of a poke around & found the 2 holes on the bracket, but couldn't find any holes to screw into....or any screws either & the boot was still intact.
So I nipped into the dealers to see if I could get a exploded view, got this which helped, & the repair kit is £200 odd if I needed it.

Found a slack screw just at the tip of my finger here, tightened it up not expecting much as the 2 holes still not sorted, but it worked, must be slack a while now as it's that tight now I keep thinking there is something wrong with it!

Sorted & back together again for zero cost, thanks to all on here

then drove across the yard & the steering had siezed....AH FFS what have I done now!!
Turns out the steering selection lever was sitting between 2 positions with the console being removed....

That’s the one. The other two holes didn’t have screws in on mine either so I wouldn’t fret about that. But it’s always a bonus to have to free fixes in one day!

 

[C.J]

There should be 2 hex screws that bolt the aluminium bracket to the spool block.Mine kept coming loose so I drilled 2 more holes in the square tin tray in line with the spare holes in the aluminium bracket and bolted it together.Been fine for about 5 years .

 

[Farmergrum]

Had a look at it this morning, had a bit of a poke around & found the 2 holes on the bracket, but couldn't find any holes to screw into....or any screws either & the boot was still intact.
So I nipped into the dealers to see if I could get a exploded view, got this which helped, & the repair kit is £200 odd if I needed it.

Found a slack screw just at the tip of my finger here, tightened it up not expecting much as the 2 holes still not sorted, but it worked, must be slack a while now as it's that tight now I keep thinking there is something wrong with it!

Sorted & back together again for zero cost, thanks to all on here

then drove across the yard & the steering had siezed....AH FFS what have I done now!!
Turns out the steering selection lever was sitting between 2 positions with the console being removed....

Can do you a kit for a lot less than that... if required..

 

[v8willy]

Can do you a kit for a lot less than that... if required..

Not needed at the moment, but will be in touch if needed later.

 

[Chuckie]

There should be 2 hex screws that bolt the aluminium bracket to the spool block.Mine kept coming loose so I drilled 2 more holes in the square tin tray in line with the spare holes in the aluminium bracket and bolted it together.Been fine for about 5 years .

Yes mine had 2 screws in but not through those holes that are easy to get at. I can't remember properly but I might have taken one of the ball joints off to get to the worst one.

 

[Chuckie]

Can do you a kit for a lot less than that... if required..

Can you get anything for a Merlo at the right money?

 

[Farmergrum]

Can you get anything for a Merlo at the right money?

Yeah, parts for most makes of machine!

 

[colhonk]

@v8willy In your second picture with 2 studs missing,how did you resolve the problem? as mine has those 2 studs missing but there are no holes in the bottom piece,so I presume they have snapped off.

 

[Planttech]

@v8willy In your second picture with 2 studs missing,how did you resolve the problem? as mine has those 2 studs missing but there are no holes in the bottom piece,so I presume they have snapped off.

The bracket only has 2 screws in it. The other holes aren’t used

 

[colhonk]

MMMm, there is only one other screw holding that bracket on on mine.right in the middle of the gubbins`s hard to get to.

 

[Farma Parma]

Still waiting on Dealer to come out n sort mine again its well slack now yet them top hex bolts are all tight & can i heck see whats slack underneath all that grease in there

 

[Chuckie]

MMMm, there is only one other screw holding that bracket on on mine.right in the middle of the gubbins`s hard to get to.

There are 2. One hard to get at, the other almost impossible. You need to hold the lever fully to one side to be able to access it with a ball ended allen key.

 

[Planttech]

MMMm, there is only one other screw holding that bracket on on mine.right in the middle of the gubbins`s hard to get to.

There should be 4 holes in the bracket. The other two are identical position to the ones in picture just the other side of the bracket. Shouldn’t be too bad to access with a 4mm Allen key using the long ball end