OK, so right at the end of this big job, something happened and one (right rear) outrigger leg would not go down. It is a Grove RT-60S crane. When I press "Extend" and that leg button, nothing happens at all, no oil comes out, no unusual sounds (not that it would be easy to hear with the engine running). This same legs moves right and left without problems. Would anyone have any relevant experience before I tear into it to fix? What is most likely to go wrong? Thanks
Check electrical connections to relay valves . Had that happen on my truck cranes . I think we have some similar set up between the rough terrain & truck rig .
Thanks. I will look. I was lucky that it happened when the job was basically done.
Also, one more problem: the rear steering works well turning left, but barely works to turn right. Is that steering runs on the general hydraulic system of the crane, or on the steering pump?
Pulled a truck rig out this afternoon to run it through all functions as we need to set an A/C unit first of the week . Guess what ... The right rear outrigger jack would not move ? Crawled under and checked 12 volt electrical spade connections going to the solenoid valve bank . Have power on all wires and good connections . On my issue the solenoid coil is bad . Have to call dealer Monday & order one .
Truck rig doesn't run all the electrical through that electric swivel like the RT cranes do. I've had to deal with swivel issues more than once on an RT 755 Grove and it's enough to drive you nuts.
I will be pulling all my outriggers soon and will put new seals in all cylinders. I had a big job last month, and the crane performed admirably. I even used it to pull two big tanks out of a building over a steel parapet. The few things that did not work, like one outrigger, we'll fix. Clearly it is far more capable than a forklift,though a lot bigger. My RT-60S also pulls like a crazy bulldozer. Really a winner for what I am doing in general.
Sometimes you need to take a step back and remember that a crane is designed as a lifting appliance not a pulling appliance and by using it as one you could end up breaking something pretty expensive or worse still injuring someone
Took my valve bank apart this morning & pulled the single spool & solenoid out . Got it all apart . Solenoid windings look to be protected by molded plastic around the coil & spade connections . I could not help my curiosity ? Started digging in to the plastic next to the spade connection with a knife and the ground spade fell off . What had happened is the spade broke away from the coil wire under the plastic coating . Spliced in a new spade to the coil wire and we are back in business . Put it all back together and the right rear jack works fine .
Naturally the 3/16 bolts twisted off in the valve housing . Welded some 1/4 nuts on what was left of the bolt and let it all cool back down for awhile . Came back and turned everyone out . I think that Scrub Puller feller knows what he's talking about . The part's diagrams I put up in post 5 are for a Grove RT 59 . From what I can tell it looks to be the same set up as what I have on the TM 250 truck unit . I will just have to call Monday & see if the part number is the same ?
Yes, I think that my RT60S is similar, I looked at diagrams for my crane. Pretty simple, one valve controls the cylinder. The retract and extend buttons control which side has pressure, extend or retract side. The valves allow cylinders to work. I think that you are spot on in your diagnosis. Also great job on your repair and makeshift bolt repairs!
Yeah ichudov , Easy way to trouble shoot is with engine off and key on have a buddy work the outrigger button and crawl under with test light or volt meter to test at the valve body . If no power on the wire start working back to the cab . In my situation I had power to the valve body but no continuity on the solenoid spades. Good luck with it . It's generally something simple .
Nice repair job!! That could of got expensive quick!
Yeah thanks Bob , that's the best this hill jack could do on a Sunday afternoon . My guess is a new coil will be under $ 100.00 Just have to call the dealer in the morning . It also has a manual override on the bottom of the solenoid in case you are on a job and it fails . This crane came from Minnesota originally so I notice some evidence of old man rust working on some of the electrical components . I blame it on old mister freeze himself . LOL! HeavyEquipmentForums
Td I've an old parts crane and therefore have spare valves and solenoid coils if you want a couple spares. Btw that's a Parker valve. You dont have to go through grove to get It
That's good to know Knepptune about it being a parker product and you have a parts rig . I will more than likely be calling you in the future bro ! I called Payton this morning & ordered the new coil . I generally deal with the Lebanon Indiana store . One thing I have to say is they seem to be good to deal with and pretty sharp in the parts department . We were on a job in West Baden , IN setting an A/C unit at a service station . I see this Payton truck pull in beside my Grove , salesman hops out & introduces himself , hands me a business card and says give us a call if you need anything for that Grove rig . Now that's customer service ! Got nothing but good to say about them .:thumbsup http://www.wppecrane.com/locations/
And to think i couldnt get the local grove dealer to give me a price on a crane they had in stock. Finally gave up after the third phone call i made and 2 emails.
Wppe is pretty good. About three years or so back they had some employees walk out without any notice and at that time Cleveland crane sold parts cheaper. Now Walter Payton is generally a few bucks cheaper then Cleveland crane. Btw it's nice that they have their distribution center in Jeffersonville. If grove stocks it the Jeffersonville warehouse has it on the shelf and if your desperate you can drive there and pick it up that day.
Spot on Knepptune ! The solenoid coil I ordered from the Lebanon store will be shipped out of the Jeffersonville center . Should bounce in tomorrow on the UPS truck .
How much $$$ was the coil?
Coil assembly ( coil , bolts , & end plate ) are $ 140.80 Little higher then I guessed but not to bad . I cant complain at all , with the service I get with Payton . For the most part when I call them we are ordering O-rings or seal kits . I'm not a big spender with them but they give me great service on what I need at the time . I run old school Grove rigs and they give me old school service & parts . Not many places like that today so I give them all the support I can .:thumbsup
Not bad. Did you ever price seal kits for outriggers? I was thinking of refurbing them with new seals.
Yeah ichudov , On my TM 250 outrigger jack seal kits are around $50.00 from Payton .
Solenoid assembly showed up , all looks good . To the right is an outrigger Jack seal kit .
OK, great to see that. My solenoids look identical to yours. Actually the problem, mysteriously, went away. I did not do much to solve this problem, unscrewed and re-screwed the wire near the button in the cab, and touched the solenoid when cleaning gunk around it. Also opened the swivel, which looked good. Now it works. I am not sure how it started to work, maybe like for you there is now a poor contact inside the solenoid. My rear solenoids are not rusty at all, something which I attribute to the engine leaking oil ;-)
It's usually something simple . Guessing the problem was a spade connector at the solenoid . Probably made connection again after you cleaned around it ?
Either that, or the wire I took off and reattached near the button in the cab. I do not really like having intermittent problems.
Could have also been button connection wire . I'm the same way about intermittent electrical problems . Some times on the weekend I will just randomly pull a unit out & fire it up to go through all the motions . Pretty trouble free for the most part .... Once in awhile they throw ya a curve ball . I always thought Grove was ahead of most with the electric over hydro controls . They came out with that in the mid 1960's It's still working today .
Overall I rate this RT60S crane, for its age, as "10 out of 10". Made 40 years ago, it has pretty much all the features of RT cranes of today. It is obviously missing all the electronics and LMI, but as far as what it can DO, it is about same as modern cranes. Very high quality of build and very nicely done crane. I do expect it to have problems due to its age, it is unavoidable, as rubber goes bad with age. But I paid $10,000 for it and not $300,000. I recently put new tires on it.
I feel the same way about my truck rigs . They just keep on performing the job they were built for . Don't need the electronics myself . Just a reliable crane that will perform . And Grove provided just that . With parts support as well ..... You aint going to go wrong with the big G crane .
Really the o/r's are about the thing we ever have trouble with, on our old groves. The only complaint I have with them is that most really need bigger hyd pumps. The older groves are just slow. No way around it. And they're boom heavy as all heck. But at the end of the day they will go toe to toe with anything in their class and out lift them all. Dang good old cranes.
Did a job today, assembly of a furnace, very nice so far, the crane was fully working. The pictures show its progress. More to follow tomorrow.
The RT 60 will prove to be a valuable asset for your operation .
My RT59S does not have balancing valves on the outrigger cylinders.....might want to put those pins in....just sayin...
RT 59s holding valve Yeah shipman , at first glance it looks as they don't have a holding valve . You just see hose fittings in the box tube of the out rigger jack . The holding valve threads in at the top of the barrel inside the box tube . Like you say still not a bad idea to use the safety pins .:thumbsup
Here are some more pictures of that job. All done today, the crane is back in my yard. No troubles happened this time. http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Building-a-Furnace/
I bought the straps on ebay. They are liftall 3 inch wide and 20' long lifting slings. They seem to be pretty universally usable for almost anything.