Hi our manlift has started acting strange. Some hydraulic functions are slow or weak. The movement and up and down are very weak. Here is the weird thing, if you hold the basket tilt or swing then the other functions start acting normally. It also has a hard time coming down randomly Does anybody have advise or a service manual so we can figure this machine out ? Thanks in advance. Happy fourth of july!
little update, the old man popped by and we started "valving" some of the valves with the little detent on the side and identified that the right swing spool is stuck. we also found that if you valve the boom down valve it moves fine. i also had a chance to hook my test gauge up to it and attempt travelling with the high/travel both on high, the pressure is up past 3000psi which is good to see the pump is still capable of producing pressure & volume. i also ohm tested all coils & neutrals and they all are within manufactures specs. im thinking its time to pull the hydraulic filter and cut it open to look for contaminants. in the mean time I'll try to search for a lower micron filter to help clean the system out. if anybody has some suggestions and/or access to the service manual for this thing it would be greatly appreciated!
I have an old Grove manlift AMZ50XT. After a lot of searching I determined that Manitowoc Crane Company is the successor company for the bankrupt Grove Man Lift records. I contacted a local heavy equipment retail company that represents Manitowoc Crane Company. [MCC] The local guy put me in touch with an individual at the main office of MCC and he emailed me the complete Operator/Service manual [almost 350 pages] and the wiring diagrams. He was very helpful. I hope this helps you out. Additionally I am trying to identify a company or an individual like you described above -"the old man" that I an hire to provide me with troubleshooting advice. Any suggestions?
What do you want to know? I have repaired my machine and used it on a few jobs and sold it about 5 months ago.
Thanks for responding. This may be more information than you want but here is my story. Additionally I am a retired civil engineer with a 45 year career in interstate bridge building as a hands on concrete contractor. I have a good understanding on basic mechanical functions and electrical wiring. I live in rural WV with a cabin that needs a man-lift to do maintenance. My man-lift is manufactured by Grove Crane. Grove has gone out of business many years ago and it is difficult to get technical help. About a year ago I was installing a Starlink antennae up about 45 feet off the ground on the side of my cabin. My Grove has two modes of operation. Lift & Swing Travel & Steer. I was in the Lift & Swing mode with the Riser fully extended, the Boom all the way up and the Telescoping portion of the boom partially extended. I installed the support for the Starlink antennae and was ready to get back on the ground. First order of business was to Swing a few feet away from the house by swinging left. For the first time in 15 years the Swing toggle switch did not respond. I was able to get the basket back on the ground. I continued to use the man-lift by positioning the man-lift so I only had to Swing right. As the summer and fall went on I lost all the Telescope in/out , the Boom up/down and the R iser up/down controls. The Swing will not work unless the Riser is extended about 40 %. My instinct told me I had a problem in the relay board that takes the signal/s from the toggle switches and activates the hydraulic pump, solenoids, valves etc. I removed the relay circuit board [25 relays, etc.] and drove to a qualified electronic circuit board technician [4 hours away] to test the board. He said all the relays were working correctly. Additionally years ago I had a leak in the hydraulic tank which I fixed. However the oil caused deterioration of the insulation of the three wires that come out of the “level sensoring” device. At this time the only function that is operable is while in Travel & Steer mode I am able to go in reverse. So, I really do not know where to start to begin to correct the problem. I need someone that has a good working knowledge of the electrical/mechanical/hydraulic system integration to advise me on how to troubleshoot I am reasonably accomplished at fixing mechanical devices but need expert help. Finally I am of the belief that the “level sensor” only activates the warning siren to indicate an out-of-level condition and even though the wires were without insulation and probably shorting out against each other the wiring shorting should not affect the “ lift & swing ” and the “ travel & steer ” To in response to your question “what do I want to know?” I want to know the first thing to do to identify and repair the failure of the man-lift controls to operate correctly! Thanks Jim
hi Jim, we also had similar issues. it was the spools in the hyd valve. also sometime the machine wouldn't swing the basket when you wanted it to, but if you simultaneously tried to go up or down with the boom while trying to swing the basket, it would move immediately and perfect. you could literally rock the toggle switch and not get any hyd function on the boom and the basket would turn. never really did figure that out. i hope this was in some way helpful. i do remember having a common ground somewhere that got cleaned up. it was for the solenoids on the hyd valves.
Thanks for the response. On a few rare occasions the Travel function would not work. If I slightly steered one set of wheels at the same time as engaging the travel function the machine would begin to travel. Very strange. Jim
the only thing that made sense to us about that anomaly; is that under a load, a circuit board trace couldn't handle the current. then when the other circuit was closed (using another function) then the power made its way to the other relay because the other circuit was also active. it was not worth it to us to fix that. if i needed it repaired properly, i would try running some jumper wires directly from the correct relay for the function right to the plug on the solenoid and see how that goes. i would do that only after confirming that the spool isn't stuck or the coil wasn't the culprit, etc.
Hi Jim, Still fighting this? It sounds to me like the boom cables or other outbound (from the lower control box - LCB ) are giving you problems. I own a 1989 AMZ66 and have been through the electrical pretty extensively. You can have issues in the boom wiring that effect screw with the lower control box operation. Not sure what of your vintage, but there were versions with direct boom wiring (1 wire per control) and a so-called "MRC" control system that sent the controls down a couple of wires. I believe that the MRC systems were retrofitted out and replaced with direct wiring due to reliability issues - mine got the update to direct wiring at some point, so the bucket control wiring cables (two big cables) were still in pretty good shape when I acquired it. There are other wires that travel the boom to things like position sensors. In my case, these wires were badly deteriorated and when the boom would be positioned in certain ways, the 12v wires would short to the chassis and drag the power to all controls. Occasionally this would pop the LCB's self-reset circuit breaker, causing all of the controls to pulse on and off. If you believe your issue to be electrical, you should be able to eliminate the upper controls and associated wiring by unplugging it (large circular connectors?) from the LCB or at least unplug the outbound power wires from the LCB's relay board. A volt meter on the 12v power (after the LCB's circuit breaker) while you are activating the controls would be a good thing to monitor.
Has anyone had any luck getting a wire schematic for the AMZ68 XT? I am having issues with one for a customer. Secondary boom won't move but the basket starts to move when the boom is activated.
did you ever find a schematic I could really use one or some help on this machine
no sorry man i have two pdfs but neither of them are technical
Anything to help with the secondary or lower boom not raising?
im sorry i sold the lift and don't have anything to provide you
RPD - Manuals on the AMZ66 circa 1989 are all I have. Message me if you want to talk - maybe I can help.
I sent you a message
Jim-WestVirginia hi! I can't find a complete user manual or maintenance guide anywhere. I would really appreciate it if you could share it with me. My email address is " [email protected] "