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the drive motor seems to engage more fully when there is addition load ( whether tilt or lift) on the hydraulics, lowering the lift seems to have no effect ( just bleeding hyd not powering) there is a little hissing sound that disappears when the hyd are used and seems to coincide with increased motor "grab"
i have not noticed any affect of steering on the drive, but need to investigate further. ( i am trying to avoid turning at high speeds for obvious reasons)

it is fully serviceable at this point, and i am happy to show improvement after cleaning linkage.

is it common to have reverse set to a higher max speed than forward?