switched the hose (one way system) to the return side of the outlet and it raised when I moved the lever forward vs backwards. It did this twice then back to ground zero on both the pressure and return side.

doesn't this point to the tractor?  Does this tractor have an IVT/command arm with electronic hyd controllers?

fwiw, I'm running a 946 on a 7520 w/ IVT, and every so often the electronic levers act as if they are 'blank' in sending the signal,  so far the fix has just been to click it again (been this way for 4 years now).  Hopefully, it doesn't 'fail' altogether one of these days, but it's definitely a possibility.