Bucket trucks in the cold

[Tigwelder83]

Anyone else having issues with their buck trucks in the cold?

Have a 97' forestry truck (asplund) alitec lrv3, kubota pony and running the bucket without stalling the motor is an issue in the cold temps. (20 degrees)

 

[oldfortyfive]

Cold weather and hydraulics don't get along. Lots of warm up time is often needed and you probably want to look into a thinner hydraulic fluid.

 

[since16]

My 89 altec takes a bit to warm up but after that no. If i let it idle awhile with pto on it will warm. Really does not have a large tank actually.

 

[Tigwelder83]

My 89 altec takes a bit to warm up but after that no. If i let it idle awhile with pto on it will warm. Really does not have a large tank actually.

So you run it off the pto for the first few minutes? I just ordered a carb, wires, plugs, coil, etc gonna give her a tune up

 

[mike515]

Just because you turn on your PTO doesn't mean anything is warming up. You have to have some kind of movement on your oil to warm it up or a block heater on your oil tank. If you are using the right oil for winter, you will be fine pretty quickly. If you are using thicker oil...go to your tool lines at the bucket, take a single hose and hook it up from your male to female fittings....so it's an open loop instead of a tool circuit. Then make sure your controls are on the boom from the ground, bucket from the pedestal and on the tool lines at the bucket. Then get back in the truck and have some coffee for a few minutes. Your oil will be moving...and heating up a little while you wait. That should make the boom fly faster.

Or just get up there and fly the boom. It's going to warm up eventually.

 

[Oldmaple]

I had an 02 Terex and it took a while to warm up and not move sssslow. Yes, you need to move the boom around to warm the hydraulic fluid. It ran off the diesel truck engine (not a pony motor) and it didn't labor the engine enough to stall it though.

 

[mike515]

Sorry. I missed the part about stalling the pony motor. Run it off the PTO until it warms up.

 

[Del_]

It might be wise to drain a little fluid out of the bottom of the tank to make sure no water is in the system. Sometimes parking on a grade and trying to siphon from the lowest corner of the hydraulic tank works well.

 

[Ax-man]

You might want to check your hydraulic filter also making sure it isn't plugged. My old boom truck was having the same problem sort of but it really wasn't that cold out and even after warming up it was still slow . I didn't have an actual hydraulic filter but it did have a very fine wire mess screen that was clogged up with fine debris and that was the problem constricting the flow of oil . I cleaned the screen and the old truck worked like it should in cold weather after it got the hydraulic oil warmed and flowing good.

 

[mike515]

I don't remember if it was Altec or Hi-Ranger but I was talking to one of the technical support guys about a slow boom and he said that one easy thing you can check is to take just a little oil out of it, get a pan really hot on the stove and then pour the oil in. If it sizzles a little....it's the water sizzling. It didn't sizzle when I tried it. I think it had the wrong oil in it if remember right.

 

[since16]

Just because you turn on your PTO doesn't mean anything is warming up. You have to have some kind of movement on your oil to warm it up or a block heater on your oil tank. If you are using the right oil for winter, you will be fine pretty quickly. If you are using thicker oil...go to your tool lines at the bucket, take a single hose and hook it up from your male to female fittings....so it's an open loop instead of a tool circuit. Then make sure your controls are on the boom from the ground, bucket from the pedestal and on the tool lines at the bucket. Then get back in the truck and have some coffee for a few minutes. Your oil will be moving...and heating up a little while you wait. That should make the boom fly faster.

Or just get up there and fly the boom. It's going to warm up eventual

I am not going to claim to know how its moving thru my truck. I know its not flowing thru boom while sitting. Awhile ago i lifted up 10ft on first job blew a line and was coated w oil. I let the truck idle w pto on 10+ min every job. It was hot. No way it wasnt max operating temp.

 

[Del_]

Just because you turn on your PTO doesn't mean anything is warming up. You have to have some kind of movement on your oil to warm it up or a block heater on your oil tank.

There is oil movement when the PTO is engaged, so it does warm up.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

If it's a gear pump, oil is flowing anytime it's pumping.

 

[Tigwelder83]

Yes if pto is on oil is flowing thru pump & tank but without cylinder movement the oil doesn't change in the valves & past

 

[mike515]

Yes if pto is on oil is flowing thru pump & tank but without cylinder movement the oil doesn't change in the valves & past

Exactly. The tool line trick I posted earlier doesn't even get oil flowing through the entire system but it at least gets it moving a little.

 

[medalist]

If the pump is engaged it is moving oil but the heat forms when it's restricted thru the valve or other fixed orifices.
I used Mobil product's and DTE 15 would have been my low temp choice.
I've seen some rely on a leak as a periodic oil change...if I was responsible (liable) for safe bucket operation I'd be proactive in service and document it.
Any hydraulic tank should have a bottom petcock for water drain...

 

[oldfortyfive]

How about an oil tank heater? Maybe one of those magnetic engine oil pan heaters.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

How about an oil tank heater? Maybe one of those magnetic engine oil pan heaters.

They exist. I have a 1000 watt one on my firewood processor. Has the oil to 40-50* in a couple hours when it's well below zero.