My dump trailer stopped going down today. The pump makes running normal noises while holding the down button, but no movement. It is hydraulic down, not gravity down. I undid a hyd. fitting to lower it and get it home. I haven't tested it yet, but my employee said it still would go up after it stopped going down. Any ideas?
Check your remote connections. Mine would go down, but not up. Clean them well.
Remote connections? When I push the down button, the pump motor runs but there is no movement. I guess my question is: Does the pump just run forward/backwards or is there a separate solenoid or check valve or something else that is supposed to work in the down direction and a different one for the up where the down one could have failed while the up is still good?
If you had pictures of the pump and solenoid assembly, someone might have a idea of how your trailer is set up. Anything else is just a guess.
it is one of these:
I am unsure how they work. Does the pump run in 2 directions? Does it just run in 1 direction? If just one, I would assume that one of the solenoids would be activated with the pump using the up switch and the other solenoid with the pump on the down switch. If that is the case I will test power at the solenoid when the switch is activated as the pump runs with both up and down buttons. If the switch is getting power I assume the solenoid is bad for the down valve or the valve itself is stuck or clogged. It should not be clogged as no contaminants were ever introduced (unless a catastrophic pump failure happened).
The pump only runs one direction. The solenoid valves are what directs oil flow for either up or down. You have probably lost the down signal to the down coil from either the remote, wiring, or the coil on the down solenoid has burned out. Most I have seen don't use a double acting cylinder. Are you positive it is power down? Look and see if you have 2 hoses on the lift cylinder...............one at the bottom and 1 at the top of the barrel.
Check the wiring on the solenoids. I have had the spade connectors come off and cause similar problems. The "down" solenoid is probably not working, likely due to lack of signal.
I check the voltage at the 2 coils when operating. The up side (operational) had 9v, the down had 2.8v. I jumped the down coil from the battery and all worked fine. I disassembled the switch. The points were looking rough. Unfortunately a screw snapped off in the plastic housing which held the switch assembly in the housing. New switch getting ordered. Thanks all for the help!