I have the same plow. Yes it might be not be enough fluid. It is a pain in the neck to get to. I filled mine and still had an issue. I found out my issue which I think I fixed was the electrical connections. I replaced them and it has seemed to fixed the issue. When it gets stuck have someone push the lever and wiggle the connectors at the same time.The push pins get bent in there.
Good luck and report back.
I wish that I (and my dealer) had read this before I took mine in just before Xmas with the very same problems mentioned above. I had called power-tech and they said to not go off and buy their $870 Pump before checkng everything else with a stress on Electrical. I did all of that as best that I was able and along the way, there were a couple of indicators that it was electrical.
To save time I had called JD earlier and asked them to come to pick it up ( initially, I did a lot of checking intending to do it myself because the blade was stuck down and could not be moved until it was raised, but while checking it suddenly raised when I unplugged and replugged the main electrical line (has quick disconnect/connect plug connector) by then I had run out of patience and I was very cold because everything had quit working while outside, as I said, I could not move it inside with the blade down and inoperable. But when the blade had suddenly come up on its own I knew that I could not trust it to stay, so I then moved it all inside and having not heard back from the dealer I decided to check further while awaiting their call. ... they had told me they would check on truck availability and call me right back ... it was while waiting for them that I did most of my checking. I even removed the seats and most of the floor material that hid the wiring. By near end of day and still not hearing back I put it all back together determined to take a chance on the blade dropping during the trip, I called them to confirm closing time, calculating that I could make it, I told them I would drive it to them. It was not an easy trip and it was illegal also, but I got there, checked it in with the service manager. Told him what PT had told me and what I had found, told him it seemed electrical and that I knew the pumps were extremely expensive and I wanted electrical, and whatever checked out before rushing off and buying a new pump. ... it was a long time before I heard back from them, but the mechanic, not the service manager, did eventually call and indicated that he thought he had found the problem and repaired it, that he would further test it out plowing on their lot. That he would call me back soon being pretty sure it was fixed. When he did finally call back, money after the last call having been Friday, he said it was still not working and that it needed a new hydraulic connection manifold , that it had to e ordered and would take a few days, that it would cost over $700 and that with the labour already tallied up so far, the bill would be around $1500 .. that about floored me because that meant most of the difference had been in time spent basically checking wiring -and- mentioning that he had completely disassembled and reassembled the pump in checking it out (It turned out to be OK, worked great, no problems with that unit) .. it seemed that I was going to pay a huge chunk of change for that exercise ...) ... I had originally told them that I thought it was OK because when the blade did move it indicated that the pump at least worked then .. still suspected the electrical. I had also pulled all of the removable pressure/check valves on the manifold, found them clean, and replaced them, I had advised them of that fact also. Anyway, I knew that there would not be much labor for them to replace the manifold when received, so I reluctantly told them to order it because they had me over the barrel, I NEEDED my unit, snow was building up and more expected. That I thought the cost was out of line and that between Power-Tach and JD, someone had better find a way to reduce that cost to me. I mentioned that if not, might have to go online and spread the word via these forums. When that word got to the service manager, who had not been in contact with me since I had dropped it all off, he was irate that I would even think of doing such a thing and that if I was that unhappy they would stop work and return the unit now ... of course, I would be liable for the labor so far, a bit short of $1,000, mainly for the time spent on the pump that was not really called for because all they would have needed in the first place was to pull one hydraulic output line and stick a pressure gauge in and if it had pressure (and it would have) to look elsewhere.
Another week for the most part passed by and they told me the manifold had arrived, been replaced, all seemed well and they would plow their yard some more to e sure it worked and let me know.
Not until the next day did I hear from them, it had not worked and so they had to go over things again. When I did finally hear from them that it was fixed for sure, that they would not charge me for the additional labor it had taken and that in token of the all of the time that I had been without, they would truck it to me so that I would not have to drive it home. (I asked what the problem had been all along, answer: loose wiring connector!) ... a whole lot of time and money for something that should have been simple !) I may have not come here and told about it, having just chocked it off as a learning experience. But a notification automatically came to me with this thread, so why not tell others.
