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What's your hoe doing?

T-town

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2014
Messages
353
Location
NE PA
Occupation
retired !
I am, it seems, shut down now for the cold season.
I was pleasantly surprised to be able to navigate the driveway hills with no effort. We had a couple of inches a week back or so followed by a good coating of ice.... so much that the 'yard' has expansion cracks like a pond gets. Made for some tricky walking up until this week with enough of a thaw to unglaze that stuff. Anyway, no plowing gets done on my future drive during the winter due to no need to access the property. And my BIL's next door so I can walk onto the site.
We are supposed to get a plowable dump Sun night.
But..... I was able to finish my electric service project.... and called an inspector to get that complete for the power company and the guy came out that day.... within a couple hours!
Now I will "get on the list" for the pad transformer and should be good to get energized in the early spring..... whenever I can get the trench opened up without causing too much of a mess.

KIMG0352.JPG
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Hey Willie B...a little help from a friend

Thank you, that's the one. A friend rigged a normal wood splitter to a backhoe. it works...sort of, but kind of cumbersome.
This thing looks like a better system. The geometry tells me it lacks the 15000 LBS of push my 3 point splitter has.
 

Clawed Backster

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
415
Location
Sunny Valley, OR
20220115_161220.jpg 20220115_134648.jpg 20220115_145648.jpg Pretty slow process when you are the backhoe operator, splitter operator, wood loader, and wood stacker.
It would probably go 3 times as fast with two people.
I ended up wasting so much time switching from one task to another that my splitter ran out of gas before I got the pickup fully loaded.
Had to throw in a picture of my wood cutting partner. He's not much help, but he's a great supervisor.
 
Last edited:

gasifier

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
127
Location
St. Lawrence River Valley, N.Y.
My retired neighbor/friend pulled the batteries out of my CAT 426 and left them on my front porch for me today. She didn’t want to start even with heater plugged in for over four hours. I brought them in when I got home from work for a bit and put them on the charger one at a time. Seems the batteries didn’t like the -12 F and strong wind overnight. :eek:Why I didn’t park it in the barn last night is beyond me. :rolleyes:I could of had it out of the wind and a tender on the batteries. Lesson learned. Luckily that work that was going to be worked on today can be done whenever. It will be there when I get to it.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
My hoe is inanimate!
I hoped to get firewood from the shed, move some generators, move driveway sand to the garage before snow tonight.
Yesterday, I started it. The engine has a grid heater in the intake. After a few seconds of that, it started instantly. I let it warm up at 1000 RPM, & moved some other vehicles.
Ten minutes later an alarm was going off. The Stop sign displayed on the instrument panel. A symbol with a crankcase, above a wedge, an arrow down the ramp.
I've searched service & operator's manuals, can't find that symbol. Seth thinks Too low RPM.
Today there are 13 codes.
Hydraulic filter blocked.
Unknown Error
Water sensor check failed. This part has been ordered since September.
Fuel Metering unit; #1 injector pressure too high.
Another Fuel Metering.
Oil pressure sensor fault. Not to be confused with low oil pressure.
Fuel sending unit, Also back ordered since September.
Water in fuel, See above failed water sensor.
Charge pressure switch closed, no frequency input to trax connector.
Others old faults related to shift problems now seemingly resolved.

This is a 2014 Case 580 Super N. It's pre DEF.

I've had four other older backhoes over the years, nothing this complicated!
 

gasifier

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
127
Location
St. Lawrence River Valley, N.Y.
My hoe is inanimate!
I hoped to get firewood from the shed, move some generators, move driveway sand to the garage before snow tonight.
Yesterday, I started it. The engine has a grid heater in the intake. After a few seconds of that, it started instantly. I let it warm up at 1000 RPM, & moved some other vehicles.
Ten minutes later an alarm was going off. The Stop sign displayed on the instrument panel. A symbol with a crankcase, above a wedge, an arrow down the ramp.
I've searched service & operator's manuals, can't find that symbol. Seth thinks Too low RPM.
Today there are 13 codes.
Hydraulic filter blocked.
Unknown Error
Water sensor check failed. This part has been ordered since September.
Fuel Metering unit; #1 injector pressure too high.
Another Fuel Metering.
Oil pressure sensor fault. Not to be confused with low oil pressure.
Fuel sending unit, Also back ordered since September.
Water in fuel, See above failed water sensor.
Charge pressure switch closed, no frequency input to trax connector.
Others old faults related to shift problems now seemingly resolved.

This is a 2014 Case 580 Super N. It's pre DEF.

I've had four other older backhoes over the years, nothing this complicated!

Ugh. This backhoe usually starts and runs no problem. Even when it’s colder. But I left it out in that wind. I think that wind was bad news for those batteries. They were on the side the wind was coming from.

After charging them one at a time last night my retired neighbor/friend put them in this morning and it started. (I had to work this weekend.) Started hard as it was -13 overnight. But I left it plugged in overnight too. He said the starting aid really helped. A quick hit of that switch inside next to the key has helped a couple times.

I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32?

Or you get it warmed up even warmer than that by other means.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
How would I know if they were frozen or not when everything is that cold? - teens

Not being sarcastic. Trying to learn.
A charged, or partially charged battery will not freeze in cold. A discharged, or dead battery might freeze. Frozen batteries might get puffy. Or open the vents to see if liquid is frozen.

I think I had never heard there was hazard in charging a frozen battery. I thought it just wouldn't take charge.

Yes, 50% of trouble calls with standby generators involve a frozen battery. When they are too old, they won't take charge. Sometimes the battery charger in the machine fails. Another sometimes, the starter is damaged.
Not an absolute, but a new battery every four years certainly statistically improves charger & starter life.

I'll watch this thread to learn more.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
"I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32?"

I can't yet say. Temp here peaked at 14 degrees. I bought a block heater for it but haven't yet installed it. Meanwhile I put two 500 watt magnetic heaters on the oil pan. After a couple hours it started, ran fine, only the usual alarms; engine service overdue (only today have I learned to reset after service). Each time I move the tractor fuel level sensor alarms, and each time seat isn't latched full forward or reverse. Emergency brake seems ALWAYS in alarm. It either wants to be on or off. I'm very accustomed to alarms. I think of it like a nagging wife. All those alarms, a back up alarm, and a heater fan on high makes nearly the same noise. I wear ear plugs.
 

gasifier

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
127
Location
St. Lawrence River Valley, N.Y.
"I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32?"

I can't yet say. Temp here peaked at 14 degrees. I bought a block heater for it but haven't yet installed it. Meanwhile I put two 500 watt magnetic heaters on the oil pan. After a couple hours it started, ran fine, only the usual alarms; engine service overdue (only today have I learned to reset after service). Each time I move the tractor fuel level sensor alarms, and each time seat isn't latched full forward or reverse. Emergency brake seems ALWAYS in alarm. It either wants to be on or off. I'm very accustomed to alarms. I think of it like a nagging wife. All those alarms, a back up alarm, and a heater fan on high makes nearly the same noise. I wear ear plugs.
Wow. Time to figure some of dat chit out.:)
 

Clawed Backster

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
415
Location
Sunny Valley, OR
"I wonder what your backhoe and codes will be like when it warms up over 32?"

I can't yet say. Temp here peaked at 14 degrees. I bought a block heater for it but haven't yet installed it. Meanwhile I put two 500 watt magnetic heaters on the oil pan. After a couple hours it started, ran fine, only the usual alarms; engine service overdue (only today have I learned to reset after service). Each time I move the tractor fuel level sensor alarms, and each time seat isn't latched full forward or reverse. Emergency brake seems ALWAYS in alarm. It either wants to be on or off. I'm very accustomed to alarms. I think of it like a nagging wife. All those alarms, a back up alarm, and a heater fan on high makes nearly the same noise. I wear ear plugs.
Man, if you lived close to me, I would offer to straight trade you for my 1980ish Ford 555. All of your alarm issues would be gone.
I am a mighty generous fellow that way. :D
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
These alarms go on until corrected. Fuel sensor & filter water sensor are failed parts. I ordered new parts in September, they have been back ordered since. There was a problem with shifting into first gear. It now shifts reliably, I had the dealer clear the code months ago, but they came up again. It seems I haul the machine 140 miles round trip, or pay a mobile mechanic travel time to clear codes, then they flash again, or others.
This machine clearly was intended for a full time factory trained, factory tooled mechanic.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Man, if you lived close to me, I would offer to straight trade you for my 1980ish Ford 555. All of your alarm issues would be gone.
I am a mighty generous fellow that way. :D
I think of that. I had a 1988 Case 580K, and a 1991 John Deere 410C. Good machines, both. I had in mind I was getting more power, fewer repairs, better features. What I got was a thousand electronic gremlins nobody can fix.
 

edgephoto

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2019
Messages
727
Location
Stafford, CT
How would I know if they were frozen or not when everything is that cold? - teens

Not being sarcastic. Trying to learn.

Easiest way to see if they are frozen is remove the caps and look into the cells. A frozen battery won't take a charge and I have seen more than one explode.

Wind chill has nothing to do with actual temperature. It is a fake number. Just what the temp. "feels" like on your skin. Wind will cause heat to transfer faster but the temp is the same with or without wind.

If your batteries are 4 or 5 years old they are at the end of their life. Also if a standard, not a deep cycle, lead acid battery ever goes below 10 volts it will never again hold 100% of it's capacity. It will almost surely fail prematurely too. The cold does two things to make cranking difficult, first is a cold battery has less capacity than a warm one, and your engine has increased friction. Both these thing contribute to a slow crank.
 

gasifier

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
127
Location
St. Lawrence River Valley, N.Y.
Easiest way to see if they are frozen is remove the caps and look into the cells. A frozen battery won't take a charge and I have seen more than one explode.

Wind chill has nothing to do with actual temperature. It is a fake number. Just what the temp. "feels" like on your skin. Wind will cause heat to transfer faster but the temp is the same with or without wind.

If your batteries are 4 or 5 years old they are at the end of their life. Also if a standard, not a deep cycle, lead acid battery ever goes below 10 volts it will never again hold 100% of it's capacity. It will almost surely fail prematurely too. The cold does two things to make cranking difficult, first is a cold battery has less capacity than a warm one, and your engine has increased friction. Both these thing contribute to a slow crank.

Thank you for info. Appreciate it. These two batteries were able to get it started in the very cold temperatures yesterday morning. They are large, Caterpillar batteries with 09/19 on them.(Not sure who makes them for Caterpillar) So 3 years and 4 months. Don’t know when actually bought and put in machine. It still cranked hard, but I had left the machine plugged in overnight. Neighbor did hit it quick with the starting aid switch and said it probably wouldn’t have started without it. I’m going to go plug it in now and let it warm up a few hours. Lots of snow coming down that will need cleaning up. Luckily for me I’m off today and tomorrow.:)
 
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