Grove AMZ66XT buy or not.

[allessence]

Originally Posted by Whitetrash

Honestly, I would hold off on Hug A Tree oil. I understand your desire to not turn the homestead into the berth of the "Exxon Valdez". But, keep things in context regarding potential issues. Other than drive motors on the lift we are talking very short cycle times. Which means most leaks will be very small and rectified with a dixie cup full of floor dry. Start by fixing the major culprits as far as leakage. Assess actual volume to be handled and go forward from there. I guarantee "Green Oil" is going to be Hellish expensive and probably require you to flush and purge your whole system to actually accomplish your desired goal. Hopefully Ron will weigh in on this as he is the GURU on all chemical lube issues. But, after close to 30 years working with fluid power equipment. I think I'm at least on the right page on this.

yeah, that is what one would think, but this is not the case.. The unit leaked 30 gallons of oil in 3 days.

I'm not looking at this as a complete leaker.. I'm looking at it as I hate working with oils that make a mess.. I need to fill this thing up again to move the boom out to replace the leaking line and to drive it from where it is. Running it for 10minutes had 5gallons of fluid on the ground. LOL.

The swivel leaks and is one of the main leakers but the problem is that it has a self leveling feature which makes every hydraulic work at the same time and this powers the lines that are leaking.

Then when the motor/pump is off the low pressure side still leaks. the only way to fix this is to put in a ball valve into the low pressure line or fix all the leaks.. But it's a chicken and egg thing.. Line leaks at high pressure. swivel leaks at low pressure/no pressure..

To replace the line that is leaking the boom needs to be extended all the way.

[randydupree]

Maybe you should look for a unit thats not so needy?

[allessence]

too late. It's all ready in the driveway and I paid 2500 plus freight.

Best deal I could find.. I figure that unless something major breaks.. It's way ahead of the game.

Have you priced out how much these things cost?

The rental was about 1500 per week.

Sure I would have loved to have bought a fully functioning unit.. But when you consider what they are selling for and then shipping to spend 6000k+ I'm still ahead of the game..

labor is cheap right. I mean how many of us can afford to just go out and buy a piece of equipment like this.. LOL.. Well I certainly can't..

[Ironman]

The swivel is (unless there is a lot of visible wear) is easy to repair with O rings.
The hoses may need complete replacement rather than a patch or replacing of a section. You will have to see.
Working on telescoping booms is not fun.

Here is a swivel exploded picture. Not from your machine, but a steering wheel is a steering wheel wherever.

I would suggest some hydralic fitting plugs in the sizes you need. Plastic ones for dirt prevention, metal ones for working on the swivel so you don't drain the tank on the ground.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by allessence

labor is cheap right. I mean how many of us can afford to just go out and buy a piece of equipment like this.. LOL.. Well I certainly can't..

1. Labor is never cheap, your's or other peoples.
2. You cannot afford bio oil either.

What is the specification of the oil required? Not all hydraulic oils are interchangeable.

Brian and I recently discussed this for a lathe they have at his work.

[Rob65]

A few thoughts.

Can you disconnect / bypass all of the hoses that are leaking without moving the machine. I’m thinking here that you mentioned the self levelling automatically adjusts other services to the one you are operating. If all the other services could be bypassed then you could operate just the one you need to extend the boom etc.

I heard a horror story a while ago of someone who needed to change a 20,000 pound excavator to biodegradable oil as this was demanded before he could work close to a river. The guy drained his tank and refilled it with bio oil but did not drain or flush the rest of the system. Some sort of reaction occurred (that I’m sure Ron could explain what once he stops laughing). Basically some type of jelly type sludge formed and blocked up every small orifice and valve in the system. It cost £0,000’s to sort the mess out.

Would it be possible to attach a heavy gauge polythene sheet under your lift, maybe with some rope to catch the oil whilst you move it?

Rob


Sent from my iPhone using ShopFloorTalk mobile app

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Rob65

A few thoughts.

Can you disconnect / bypass all of the hoses that are leaking without moving the machine. I’m thinking here that you mentioned the self levelling automatically adjusts other services to the one you are operating. If all the other services could be bypassed then you could operate just the one you need to extend the boom etc.

I heard a horror story a while ago of someone who needed to change a 20,000 pound excavator to biodegradable oil as this was demanded before he could work close to a river. The guy drained his tank and refilled it with bio oil but did not drain or flush the rest of the system. Some sort of reaction occurred (that I’m sure Ron could explain what once he stops laughing). Basically some type of jelly type sludge formed and blocked up every small orifice and valve in the system. It cost £0,000’s to sort the mess out.

Would it be possible to attach a heavy gauge polythene sheet under your lift, maybe with some rope to catch the oil whilst you move it?

Rob


Sent from my iPhone using ShopFloorTalk mobile app

Still laughing!!!

That was good!!!

Oil is fucking oil right, it all mixes and works, just a bunch of fucking snake
oils salesmen telling me I have to buy a bunch of special shit...

Let say your total system volume is 10 gallons, you will need 30 gallons
minimum to flush the system. And you still will not have got it all out.

Different oils use different additive chemistries, they are not all compatible.

Mercury Marine once mixed R&O oil and AW hydraulic oils. Well after that
mess was cleaned up, it cost Mercury $2.5 million to rebuild the hydraulic
systems on 5 brand new CNC 5 axis milling machines.

But go ahead go play around and put whatever you want in the system and
save the fucking earth, when you lift takes a complete shit you will have a
much bigger mess to deal with.

Oh yeah and Global Warming is a fucking hoax!!!

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

3. Remember Oil came out of the ground and it is organic.

4. But hey its your money, not mine.
5. Expect rust.

#3 is a hard concept for the Left to grasp.
Years back, in the mining industry in BC, when the socialists were (still are) in power, they came up with the idea of calling mining a sunset industry and advised the young to stay away.
And decreed that only water based "oils" were acceptable for mine machine use.

#5 expect rust.
Well, long before rust occurs, the pump seizes up or grenades. BTDT
It cost companies a ton of money and lost production. And then they found out that the guy with the sole distribution rights from the US for that shit was the brother in law of the premier.
It took a long time for common sense to prevail. And I expect that won't last long.

[astronut]

Originally Posted by Ironman

#3 is a hard concept for the Left to grasp.
Years back, in the mining industry in BC, when the socialists were (still are) in power, they came up with the idea of calling mining a sunset industry and advised the young to stay away.
And decreed that only water based "oils" were acceptable for mine machine use.

#5 expect rust.
Well, long before rust occurs, the pump seizes up or grenades. BTDT
It cost companies a ton of money and lost production. And then they found out that the guy with the sole distribution rights from the US for that shit was the brother in law of the premier.
It took a long time for common sense to prevail. And I expect that won't last long.

Off topic but I have been seeing the term "BTDT" used in various posts. What does it mean? Thanks!

[allessence]

Originally Posted by Ironman

The swivel is (unless there is a lot of visible wear) is easy to repair with O rings.
The hoses may need complete replacement rather than a patch or replacing of a section. You will have to see.
Working on telescoping booms is not fun.

Here is a swivel exploded picture. Not from your machine, but a steering wheel is a steering wheel wherever.

I would suggest some hydralic fitting plugs in the sizes you need. Plastic ones for dirt prevention, metal ones for working on the swivel so you don't drain the tank on the ground.

I have ordered an oring and seal kit.. 80.00..

I plan on a complete replacement of the hoses vs an inline patch of new hose.. I plan on just running new hoses as need be.

First thing first is the swivel and the hose that is leaking.

The swivel I have looks like this and is known as a 7 port.

The boom does not look so bad as long as I can extend it all the way out.

so the question becomes do I power it externally with a hydraulic power unit to extend the boom? I have a 3HP unit I built for the gas booster. I could clean it and power it up to move the boom out. Replace the hose and then use the machine once fixed. This would save having to worry about oil leakage.

Also, I bought some oil cleaner with microbes.. Worked well to dissolve and clean up the mess all ready there.