Finally bought a bucket!

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Actually I think ansi now requires that outrigger pads be used on every setup. I'm not sure if the new standards have been released yet but that was in there when I read over the proposal.
 
That brings up a question I had. How much angle can the truck be at without fear of tipping? On flat ground, is it even possible to tip a truck?

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I've seen pics of tipped ones, I've also in person seen a 55 foot non over center high ranger(like yours) rear mount go straight off the side no outriggers deployed and not flip... very bouncy but tires stayed on the ground. Side to side you are supposed to be max 5 degrees out of level, I assume same for front to back but we've done worse, Your rotate motor will strain tho. We always try to get as close to level side to side as possible. Don't be afraid to pick your wheels up off the ground In the back if you are crazy sideways. If you had a forestry truck and set your outriggers high then go over the front you can teeter on the riggers lifting the back wheels off the ground but not the case of a rear mount. If you do need to level a lot use a lot of out rigger padding vs using a lot of the outrigger itself if you extend them all the way sometimes they will bind up on you and not want to retract grease helps that but still happens.
Thanks for the tips everyone!

The fiberglass splinters are tearing up my forearms.

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What's splintering? That's not good!!

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I've seen pics of tipped ones, I've also in person seen a 55 foot non over center high ranger(like yours) rear mount go straight off the side no outriggers deployed and not flip... very bouncy but tires stayed on the ground. Side to side you are supposed to be max 5 degrees out of level, I assume same for front to back but we've done worse, Your rotate motor will strain tho. We always try to get as close to level side to side as possible. Don't be afraid to pick your wheels up off the ground In the back if you are crazy sideways. If you had a forestry truck and set your outriggers high then go over the front you can teeter on the riggers lifting the back wheels off the ground but not the case of a rear mount. If you do need to level a lot use a lot of out rigger padding vs using a lot of the outrigger itself if you extend them all the way sometimes they will bind up on you and not want to retract grease helps that but still happens.

What's splintering? That's not good!!

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Nothing is splintering. The microscopic glass fibers irritate my skin. The same as fiberglass insulation. I cant touch the stuff.

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So whats the safety features of a bucket? What if a line blows? What if that large cable breaks? What if the pump or pto take a crap? Am I gonna fall?

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Short answer, maybe. Ideally, no. That's why you really need to get it inspected. I'm not breaking balls but you really should have known the answers to your questions before you bought it.
 
Short answer, maybe. Ideally, no. That's why you really need to get it inspected. I'm not breaking balls but you really should have known the answers to your questions before you bought it.
Why?

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Its going in for a clutch and inspection. I was just curious how they work in a failure. I'm not sure why now is a bad time to ask?

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I'm here to learn. You guys are my comrades. I want to know everything I should to be as safe as possible. I climb safe and I am treating the bucket the same way.

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So whats the safety features of a bucket? What if a line blows? What if that large cable breaks? What if the pump or pto take a crap? Am I gonna fall?

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1. If a line broke, all the cylinders or just the affected one will "lock" in the position it was in so no free fall. Then u better have a way to **** down the engine or u'll watch all ur fluids dumped on ur customers lawn or deiveway. Read my earlier reply.
2. If the pump or PTO take a crap u r stuck up there again read my previous reply.
3. If u mean the cable system that keeps the bucket upright. If it breaks u r fine. Again its function is only to keep the bucket upright. If u mean the large heavy chains things that rotates the booms, then bad luck u free fall. However that's very unlikely since that thing is way over engineered. Plus, it right there and u can see it all the time.
 
If a line blows nothing " should" fall. There are check valves that keep that from happening. If the leveling cable snaps you should be ok. Depending on where it breaks, the bucket may or may not tip over. If the main cable or chain snaps, you're ****ed. If that happens you really screwed up or you never look at your knuckle at all
 
Mine has a very large steel cable that lifts the upper boom. Then it has 2 smaller cables that I dont know where they go

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Miko0618,
U r a respected veteran here. I'm still green. It's quite an honer to share my knowledge and fresh learnings with u. If u say thank u for the in depth replies I shared with u then I have more. I'm just one step ahead of u on bucket and u r many steps ahead of me in other things. Just Like u I did not know a thing about bucket before I went out and bought one. I don't agree with some guys here who always stand at their pedestal and criticize us new comers. I try to b as safe as possible with the budget I have. I don't learn everything about bucket and then take out a mortgage to buy a new one and then have to work my tail off to make payments. I pay everything with the cash I have.
 
The smaller ones are probably the leveling cables.
When the inspection is done ask if you can be there. The guy doing it can tell you a lot about what to check on and look for. The problem with an older truck is getting parts. Manufacturers change things up and after so many years you can't buy parts. This is in an effort to keep older lifts from being used with out inspections. Getting a pin machined can take a couple weeks depending on how busy the shops are.
 
Miko0618,
U r a respected veteran here. I'm still green. It's quite an honer to share my knowledge and fresh learnings with u. If u say thank u for the in depth replies I shared with u then I have more. I'm just one step ahead of u on bucket and u r many steps ahead of me in other things. Just Like u I did not know a thing about bucket before I went out and bought one. I don't agree with some guys here who always stand at their pedestal and criticize us new comers. I try to b as safe as possible with the budget I have. I don't learn everything about bucket and then take out a mortgage to buy a new one and then have to work my tail off to make payments. I pay everything with the cash I have.
I appreciate all the info I can get. Peace of mind or "trust" is major in this field. I want to trust my bucket like I do my ropes.

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Mine is 97 and it uses large chain thing to lift. Older models use cable. Before I bought this one I looked at a 88 model. It's quite scary. The main lift cable was frayed.
 
Mine has a very large steel cable that lifts the upper boom. Then it has 2 smaller cables that I dont know where they go

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Two small cables are going to be for the bucket leveler.

Something you should always do and osha will get u for if you are ever inspected mid operation is wearing a fall arrest harness. They are for certain mechanical failures and also work operations that cause you to get pulled or flung out of the bucket. The harness does save lives! there is a company about 20 mins away from me that had a mechanical failure in the leveler system and it tipped the guy right out left him hanging 40 feet in the air! Now I think there was a little user error in that situation but somehow it happened. Now if you go and ram something and break the boom in half that harness will not do diddly squat besides hold you within a few feet of the bucket as it crashes to the ground but it's good security when you are reaching out trying to get that extra 4 inches of reach

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Ahhh I see. I will always be tied to the boom. My upper boom has a cable running through it. I'm thinking its to catch me if I snap the boom. I saw it in the inspection hole.

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Congratulations on your truck.

Is the oil level correct? If it's too full it could be blowing out. Not sure why else it would be dripping. Normally they will have blow by and a little evidence of oil.

On my Altec they recommend replacing the cables way more often than I do. I inspect mine pretty often. Not sure about the chain.

Wouldn't hurt to rebuild the lower control levers. It's not uncommon for that to happen. When equipment gets some age on it things will start to leak. I repacked the rotary joint in mine. $200. Started leaking again after about 2 months. I called Altec and they don't recommend rebuilding them. Just replace it. They couldn't have told me that when I ordered the seal kit. $850 for a new rotary joint. That's the valve below the rotation bearing where the lower hoses beneath the truck connect to the upper hoses running through the boom. . Also called a collector.

Haven't seen your boom. You can look and tell what's steel and what's fiberglass . Both of my trucks have steel lower with a fiberglass section in the middle and fiberglass upper boom once it gets away from the joint.

I have seen broken booms. Under normal use, they're not supposed to break. But you have no way to know if the previous owner was using it to push tops out with. Or if he overloaded it with persons or used it to load logs with. Both of mine have 2,000lbs winches on the jib. They are very sturdy but they don't carry only people. Sometimes I lift pretty good loads with them. Especially in storm damage. But I don't overload them. A 25 year old bucket won't take what a new one will. They may have had bad loads put on them that you don't know about. Check the rotation bearing. I had to replace the one on my Altec. $9,500 for parts and labor. Plus they had it for over a month. I've seen a lot of bucket trucks with slack in that bearing. That's the big bearing and ring gear at the turntable. Watch it close while someone runs it. When the boom comes over center you will see it move if there's slack. The boom will pop off if it gets too bad. They told me at Terex, where mine was fixed that Altec allows something like 1/4 slack. I can't remember exactly. But mime had about an inch. I was cutting it pretty close they said.


Inspect it or have it inspected. Watch everything closely. Have the ground man trained to run the lower controls to get you down in case on an emergency. Never ever ever ever ever go up without being tied in correctly. Did I mention ever? I also carry at least one climbline to rapell down on in case of a hose blowout or fuel filter clogs up. I also keep a fly reel spooled up with throwline and a small throwbag with me. It helps for setting your line and you can send down for things. If nothing else, keep a new package of dental floss in the bucket. It doesn't take up much room and can be sent down to pull up a line for self rescue. I keep floss in my Powered Paraglider in case of a tree landing.
The ring gear bearing on my truck will gap about a driver's license thickness when I rock it up and down. Side to side it goes about an inch in the ring gear. I assume the side to side slop is in the gears and the gapping I see during rocking is the bearing. Is this right?

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