Ive been doing maintenance on a new to me Genie Z45/25. Drained the hydraulic fluid today and replaced the three hydraulic fluid filters, two for the pump and the in tank filter. Both filters on either side of the pump looked good, though there was a good bit of metal (some brassy looking flakes, silver flakes and a couple of silver chunks - can't upload pictures for some reason) in the plastic housing that the filter is seated in. Magnetic drain plug for tank looked normal, a little mushy black. My question is where would be a likely source of metal in the in tank filter? I'm not clear on how fluid flows through. Specifically, I'm wondering if it was the pump would one of the two filters near the pump be more likely to collect it while metal in the tank would be more likely to get flushed in from somewhere else? Was pretty bummed to see that metal in there.
Maybe an old cylinder failure and tank not cleaned out or the pump is starting to wear internally. Clean and change the filter. In 50-100 hours pull the filters and look again. Wouldn’t get to bummed about it until you start to seeing a pattern or you notice problems start to occur.
That is what they are for. I might figure out where they were in the system, there is normally a screen on the suction side of any pump and filters in the return. Bet a lot never get changed and are oem, doesnt get service till it doesnt work.
I wish I could get history on it but it was a rental unit and I don't think they'll give you anything. I was thinking of disconnecting and checking each hydraulic motor at the wheels to see if any metal fragments in there. If the pump is letting pieces go out would they collect in either the filters nearest the pump instead of the in tank filter?
I was thinking of pulling the tank off and checking the suction screens and cleaning. So the filter in the tank is for returned oil? That makes sense as it's at the top of the tank. From the hydraulic schematics it looks like there's a "charge" filter between the tank and pump but no filter between the pump and everything else. Sound right? Thanks for response, was thinking that metal in there meant the hydraulic system was about ready to mess the bed with metal shavings getting in valves and whatnot.
Could be on its way out but you have no history to base that on. I suggest replacing filters and rechecking but be aware rental places sell equipment that's not worth fixing so they probably knew where it was headed.
Rental companies sell equipment based of hours/age and resale value. Rental companies sell based off hours/age and resale value and do all scheduled maintenance. Might be some shady operations out their trying to dump crap, most are going to take care of equipment and fix what's broken. Called the rental place today and got history of repairs, nothing done that would explain metal I saw, so whatever is coming apart is still in there.
Thanks for all the advice, gonna run it and check the filter for more metal. All the functions work so not much to go off of in terms of tracking down the problem.
I think I've narrowed down the problem to either a drive motor or brake. Any suggestions on which of these would be most likely to put non-magnetic brass into hydraulic fluid? Brakes are acting odd, kind of grabby (machine rolls for a bit, grabs, rolls a bit more, grabs again), and I seem to have lost high speed on drive function. Only getting slow speed on flat ground with toggle set to flat ground mode. Any suggestions on troubleshooting this would be appreciated.
Turns out the machine doesn't like it when it's spun all the way around, driving backwards. If it's facing the right way it operates normally, so back to square one.
The tank filter is a return oil filter. The metal can come from anywhere in the system because all of the oil will return to the tank. As suggested above, clean what you can and replace the filters. Go ahead and run the machine for 50 or more hours then reinspect the filters. The metal you are finding could be left over from a previous failure. Brassy looking metal particles will come from the pump or drive motors.