Learning Center

Raise lowers the blade, or it goes the wrong way

Hold Raise and the blade goes down, or in automatic it drives away from grade. The fix is to swap two electrical plugs on the valve, never the hoses or the tractor flow.

  • Full Automation Kit

In the app Home › Pre-Flight Checks › Hydraulic Test - Hold to Move

The control module drives the valve's Raise solenoid to lift and its Lower solenoid to drop. If the two electrical plugs are on the wrong solenoids, every command runs backwards: Raise lowers, and in automatic the blade drives away from grade instead of toward it. Test this before every first job on a new install.

Before you start

  • The tablet is connected to the control module (green Wi-Fi icon at the top of the Ditch Assist screen).
  • The implement is on open ground with nobody near it. It will move during the test.
  • Swapping the plugs needs no tools, just your hands.

Time: 2 minutes to test, 5 minutes to swap the plugs.

Quick checks first

  • In Pre-Flight Checks, holding Raise lifts the blade and holding Lower drops it (how to test).
  • If it's reversed, make the machine safe and swap the two electrical plugs on the valve.
  • Never reverse the tractor flow or swap hoses to fix it.

Find your symptom

Tap the line that matches what you see. Check tells you how to spot the cause. Fix tells you what to do, one step at a time.

Holding Raise lowers the blade (and Lower lifts it)“If Raise moves down or Lower moves up, reverse the valve connectors.”

The Hydraulic Test in Pre-Flight Checks shows this reminder every time a control module is connected. Full Automation Kit.

The Raise and Lower plugs are swapped on the valve Most likely

Check:

  1. On the Ditch Assist Home screen, tap Pre-Flight Checks, the orange button at the bottom of the right-hand column.
  2. At the bottom of the window, under Hydraulic Test - Hold to Move, find the green Raise button (left) and the red Lower button (right).
  3. Press and hold Raise. If the implement goes down, the plugs are swapped.
  4. Let go. Close the window with the X at its top right.
Home screen: nine workflow cards and, down the right side, the Home, Survey, Grade, Settings and Manual buttons with the orange Pre-Flight Checks button at the bottom.
  1. Pre-Flight Checks. The orange button at the bottom of the right-hand column. The Raise and Lower test buttons are at the bottom of its window.

Fix:

  1. Make it safe

    Lower the implement to the ground. Turn the tractor flow to the remote off. Shut the engine down.

  2. Unplug both solenoids

    Pull the electrical connector off each of the two valve solenoids, one at each end of the valve.

  3. Swap them

    Push each connector onto the other solenoid until it locks.

  4. Test again

    Start the engine and turn the flow back on. Hold Raise in Pre-Flight Checks: the implement must go up. Hold Lower: it must go down.

Proportional valve with one solenoid and connector at each end of the block
The two solenoid connectors, one at each end of the valve. Swap them with each other.
In automatic the blade drives away from grade until it hits the stop

Same cause: plugs swapped Most likely

Check:

  1. Tap the red Stop button right away. It's near the top of the sidebar, under Home.
  2. Run the Raise and Lower test (steps above).

Fix: If Raise lowers, swap the solenoid plugs (steps above).

The benchmark or blade height is badly off

Check: Raise and Lower test fine, but the target is feet away from the ground: Current and Target at the top left of the grade screen are far apart.

Fix: The blade is chasing a target in the wrong place. See Grade is off.

To get a warning before Start next time, turn on Elevation Mismatch Check:

  1. Tap Settings, the fourth button down the right-hand column.
  2. Scroll down to the Pre-Start Safety box, just above CONTROLLER (how to scroll).
  3. Tap the switch next to Elevation Mismatch Check so it turns green (on). It's off to start with.
Settings scrolled to the Pre-Start Safety box: Elevation Mismatch Check with its switch off, Elevation Mismatch Warning at 30 inches, and Manual Grade Reference Distance Warning at 16 ft; the CONTROLLER box starts below.
  1. Elevation Mismatch Check. First row of the Pre-Start Safety box.
  2. Its switch. Off (white) to start with. Tap it to turn it on. The warning then shows when the target is more than 30 inches from the ground.
The design drains the wrong way

The outlet end is wrong

Fix: In the design window, tap the Outlet: Auto button at the top to flip the outlet to the other end. Steps with pictures: The design drains the wrong way.

The steering lightbar seems backwards

It lights the side you drifted to

Fix: The lights show which side you're off; the arrows point the way back. Steer toward the arrows. See Levee & Contour.

Still not fixed?

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