300U Hydra-Touch Controls Upside Down???

My tractor has two Hydra-Touch controls for the loader to the right of the seat plus a third behind those for the 3-point. As I was surveying the situation I noticed that the two valves for the loader appear to be mounted upside down. The "S" and "D" stamped into the front of the valves to indicate hook up to "single" or "dual" hydralic cylinders are at the bottom of the valves rather than the top -- and the "D" is backwards, indicating its upside down.

Back when the system was working none of this seemed to make any difference, with one exception. The handles on the controls are not in the proper orientation. Rather than being "swept back" toward the rear of the tractor, they bend down and toward the front -- making it somewhat awkward for your right leg on the brakes. I've also noticed that the handles are attached to the left side of each valve rather than to the right side as I've seen in old literature. Again, this says to me that the valves were flipped over at some point.

HERE's MY QUESTION:

I would like to get those handles back on the right side of the valves so the handles can point up and back while clearing the seat. Can I do this by simply flipping the handle shafts end-for-end when I reinstall them -- leaving the valves bodies in the same orientation as they are now? If not and I have to turn the whole valve right-side-up, is there any trick to removing and reinstalling the fittings that connect the valves to the oil lines going to the cylinders?

Hoping this paints a picture in your minds eye, I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks.

Bob Kirk

Red Rider's given you good advice on the other items. I'll add a couple of points. The valve handles can be placed on either side of the valve; what's involved is taking the front cover off, then reversing the shaft that the handle fits onto so that the splined part sticks out the other side - you'll want to replace the cover gasket and the two O-rings on the shaft if you go this route.

Second point is suggesting a bit more trouble-shooting before tearing into the system. The valve orientations didn't cause it to stop working. Dirt may be the problem, but not necessarily. If you describe the symptoms on this board, you will probably get some good opinions about where the problem is actually located.

If you do decide to clean the screen per Red Rider's suggestion (and this is a must if you're serious about the dirt theory) be very careful to lift the reservoir cover STRAIGHT up, and that you have some place to put it or means to hold it, or the probability you'll replace the screen is about 99+%. That cover is very heavy, even if you've pulled everything off of it, so be sure you get set up adequately beforehand. LOL.