Has anybody out there had more fun than me trying to get a solid days work out of a truck? The rbd I have been supposed to be using lately is broke down almost all the time. Either the boom refuses to work , or cuts out during a lift, or the truck’s check engine lights keep coming on due to clogged exhaust filters. I have had it out twice in 3 weeks and both times it went into limp mode. Of course today the boom had a mind of its own too!
These new diesels are terrible with all of these mandated emissions, def fluid, exhaust filters, etc , you just as well plan on a little road trip everyday, put it on the nearest interstate or major highway and air it out, the idling is what kills them. What brand is the digger?
That’s the kicker, to get to the job we are on first thing in the morning is about a 10 mile run on the highway. Now being fair ,usually these trucks are not much of a problem, this one is a lemon , though , and the fleet manager just keeps on dumping money into it. The digger is an Altec. Now I have never been a fan of Altec , especially this electric over hydraulic setup. The boom will just plain stop operating, just as if you hit the emergency stop button. Fellas that have known this unit longer than me tell me both truck and boom have been nothing but trouble. It’s kind of a running joke now, the first time it went into limp mode I suggested they just burn the truck, the second time , I suggested dynamite!
Rob, get your mechanic to call Altec support and all he will have to say is 2 words "COLLECTOR RING" they will know exactly what he is talking about , some things that might help would be before operating each day raise the boom and completely rotate the boom both directions to clean all the contacts on the collector ring and see if that works if not you have a problem with the collector ring , we have had several of these new Altec diggers with this issue. Charlie.
Hey Charlie! Thanks. The digger I am using is older but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit that might be the problem. It seems once you get the boom above a 45 degree angle is when we have trouble, it actually acts like the emergency stop button has been pressed. I will start trying your suggestion tomorrow.
Hey Charlie. We finally found the problem with our Altec rbd, it was a bad ground in the operators control panel. The Altec guy fixed it and added a second one for insurance . The rbd has been working well since then.