Outriggers are stuck

[txlinkbelt]

Have a Linkbelt 8640 crane, all four outriggers where out for job. Now they will not retract. Thinking the 4 way directional cylinoid valve could be the problem. Has anyone had this happen? Thanks!

 

[CraneMechanic73]

Have you checked the electrical for the retract switch to the retract coil??

 

[crane operator]

I guess I'm a little confused. Get to job, beams out, outrigger jacks down. Finish job- jacks up and beams in. Are you saying that the jacks came up, but the beams didn't go in? or that neither jacks or beams will retract?

I'm with cranemechanic though, that its probably electrical.

 

[funwithfuel]

Does this have the dog clutch for winter starts, it could be out of engagement.

 

[txlinkbelt]

The jacks nor outiggers are moving at all! Crane doesn't have dog clutch. We put a new 4 way directional solenoid valve on, wasn't the problem! We have fire to all soleniods ....seems voltage was a little 9 to 10 volts to solenoids.

 

[funwithfuel]

Does this have the "jack box" on the pendant hanging off the back wall? We had damaged wires in the box from switch to switch. If that's all in good order then I would look hard at the collector. They are notorious for holding moisture and promoting corrosion. Good luck

 

[txlinkbelt]

Yes it has a remote box in cab and outrigger controls on each side. We'll definitely take a look at them. Thanks so much for you input!!

 

[funwithfuel]

I'd be more concerned with the rotary contacts and ground in the collector. Depending on age and environment, moisture has probably done its thing.

 

[Natman]

On my National 1300 boom truck, one of my rear beams would at time fail to retract, only doing so after fiddling with it long enough...., never knowing what finally made it wake up and retract. Everything checked out mechanically and hydraulically it seemed anyway. Mine has a 6' cable to a box with all the buttons, so you can step around the truck and watch them do their thing, I failed to stow it one day and drug it done the freeway for a few miles. Luckily only ruined one button and to my surprise was able to get a exact replacement, without having to figure our the wiring if using a different switch. So just last week, I ordered another of the same rocker type dual function switch, and on a hunch replaced it, only took 5 minutes. Since then the issue seems to be resolved, though it may be too soon to tell as the proplem was always intermittant. A good example I guess of checking the simple (and cheap, $18.00, in my case) things first before diving deeper.

 

[txlinkbelt]

We've checked all breakers, switches, and electrical swivel..no corrosion! It's still sitting at same job since last Thursday....had lift with it today and crane works great accept freaking outriggers!! Got a Beltlink technical specialist calling tomorrow may be he'll have an answer!!

 

[CraneMechanic73]

Just a long shot if ya get the chance. Dead head your steering to one side while you try the outriggers. One other thing comes to mind as well. You mentioned that control box that mounted over your right shoulder. Always had operators banging those things a couple of times when the switches were going bad to get function.

 

[CraneMechanic73]

Ever get outriggers to working??

 

[txlinkbelt]

Ever get outriggers to working??

We got them to extend, not for sure how!! I reversed wiring to the the four way directional valve and got them to retract so we could bring it back to our shop to work on it! We have been stumped at this ordeal haha....definitely an electrical problem! The upside to this, we had lifts at the job sit all this week so that was a plus!

 

[crane operator]

I don't know what you are talking about with "four way directional valve". Typical system has extend or retract for flow, then separate solenoids for individual cylinders. Front left jack, front left beam, etc.

So when you hit switches, you have the choice of extend or retract, and then you choose which cylinder does that. So there is one two way directional valve, that is either extend or retract, and then all the cylinders.

I'm assuming that you simply swapped wires on the directional, which means that you simply have a lack of power coming from the retract switch side.

Do you have the fender control panels as well as the upper cab pendant? Its easiest to check voltage at the switches on the fenders, and see if you have the correct voltage there, and then you can work toward the upper or toward the directional valve, depending if the fender controls are working correctly.

 

[txlinkbelt]

I don't know what you are talking about with "four way directional valve". Typical system has extend or retract for flow, then separate solenoids for individual cylinders. Front left jack, front left beam, etc.

So when you hit switches, you have the choice of extend or retract, and then you choose which cylinder does that. So there is one two way directional valve, that is either extend or retract, and then all the cylinders.

I'm assuming that you simply swapped wires on the directional, which means that you simply have a lack of power coming from the retract switch side.

Do you have the fender control panels as well as the upper cab pendant? Its easiest to check voltage at the switches on the fenders, and see if you have the correct voltage there, and then you can work toward the upper or toward the directional valve, depending if the fender controls are working correctly.

I was referring to the retract and extend valve as the four way directional. We have good voltage on all the switches and solenoids. We do have fender controls and upper cab, checked voltage and its good. Cleaned all grounds on outrigger boxes and main frame also.
This is one for the books for sure.

 

[CraneMechanic73]

Got a serial number for this machine??

 

[crane operator]

So you have good voltage coming to the switch, does good voltage come out of the switch?

You've already proven that the problem isn't with the solenoid at the directional. So- that leaves a problem in the wiring between the switches and the directional. To prove that, make a jumper between the switch on the fender and the directional and see if everything works.

Then you can go about eliminating where the problem is in the wiring, likely a short in either fender or the swivel. Pull them off and one at a time hook them back in the system to see what works and what's broken.

 

[terex herder]

Do all the solenoids become magnetic when energized? Have you swapped coils?

 

[Knepptune]

The only similar problem I’ve seen was on a grove. Not sure if a linkbelt would be wired the same, but it had an o/r activate solenoid. The activate solenoid got juice on extend and retract. To do that it has to run through diodes from the directional control switch. The diode from the retract side came loose and the crane lost retract but we still had juice at the directional control valve and all the individual o/r functions. Hooking the extend wire to the retract side of the directional control brought the o/r back in. The extend side of the circuit still activated the outriggers so I knew the issue wasn’t with the valve itself.

I would check your schematic and see if a link belt uses the same set up.

 

[txlinkbelt]

Got a serial number for this machine??

Sn # F8J3-6094