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Bucket truck body on a trailer?

davejo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Messages
99
Location
va
Logsplitter running better after a carb cleanout. it runs everything pretty good except the winch or when you switch from base control to bucket control. The RPMs drop in half when you move that lever so there must be a lot of resistance in powering up the bucket control valves.

Replaced the blown hose, it was an outrigger hose and was chafed as it ran across the truck frame and blew out the chafe.

I have a 20 hp lawnmower I might be able to use to power the pump that came with the bucket truck.
https://www.munciepower.com/products/detail/pf_series_gear_pump

My tractor doesn't have remote hydros but I guess I could get a pto driven pump or something like this
https://lynchburg.craigslist.org/grd/d/auxiliary-hydraulic-valve/6558850908.html

lots of helpful ideas here, thanks
 

Delmer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2013
Messages
8,863
Location
WI
The resistance might be the extra length of hose up to the bucket and back. You might be pushing too much volume through that hose?, or it's just not as much power behind the pump as designed. I can't see how you'd need 20HP to run that bucket. I'd want the right sized pump on a 5HP. That might be a big belt reduction to the original pump on the truck.

I still think the log splitter should do it fine in high pressure stage. Maybe you have to "lock out" the low pressure stage if you want to use the log splitter pump, probably better to get a different motor set up with a heavier duty pump than the typical log splitter though.
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,942
Location
Lawrence, KS
How much wiring does it take to put a 5.4 engine in a 7.3 truck? If you have the transmission, PTO, and pump, why not make it a drivealbe truck again?
 

davejo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Messages
99
Location
va
At some point I might put another engine in it.

My next scheme is to power it off a Bobcat 753 via the remote hydro ports. For this I think I need to bypass the bucket truck holding tank since the bobcat has its own reservoir. Then figure out which way to set the joystick switch to get the fluid flowing in the correct direction as I assume fluid flowing backwards in the bucket truck is going to at least blow the filter off the return line etc.

I resisted doing this initially because the bobcat has milky fluid and I didn't want to contaminate the junkyard bucket truck:) Milky fluid needs to be addressed anyways so that should be the next step. Bobcat is a loaner that sits around most of the time.
 

lumberjack

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
1,044
Location
Columbus, MS
It sounds like the two stage pump’s unloader valve is set too high for the boom’s operating pressure. Does it stall when running the log splitter?
 

davejo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2016
Messages
99
Location
va
I dewatered the skidsteer hydraulics and hooked it to the bucket truck. Seems to work great, very quick responses, only slight drop in rpm when using the spool levers. (~ 45hp SSL)
 

Georgia Iron

Senior Member
Joined
May 6, 2012
Messages
871
Location
USA - Georgia
Occupation
Concrete building slab and grading contractor
A 4 x 4 F550 if the front drive axle if ok has good value. Hard to find complete and people want those axles with misc parts... A lot of guys up north look for body parts for those trucks due to them getting rusted out. You can probably do good selling off the parts from that truck on craigslist. I had some guys drive to GA from IN to buy parts from a truck like that.... The body parts work on F350s and such.. The axle assembly is different however.. you might have a lovely dana 135 in the rear with 4.88 gears.... rated at 13,500 lbs awesome unit... if you do then the front has 4.88s also, so hard to find.... send it to me :)

The transmission with pto take off is valuable as is the transfer case.... If it is a manual you have a zf6 awesome trans crap clutch...

Harbor freight sells an 11 hp electric start motor for almost nothing... go get one and move along with your idea.. you can buy a used belt drive gear reduction gear box on ebay that will attach to 11hp with a lawn mower belt and run that unit fine.... It will never bog the 11hp I run a stone crusher with one...
 
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Jumbo

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
682
Location
Black Diamond WA
Occupation
retired
When you cost everything out, slipping a replacement engine in sounds much more viable. You are getting into re-engineering something and unless you are good at designing hydraulics, you had better have a good bankroll. I learned long ago, that bucket trucks are designed for the engine that comes in a truck, and are truck specific. There is speed control, and a myriad of other small items that you learn about. Usually the hard way. When my employer turned the truck over to us "the crew" we never could get things to work right. It was a cobbled together mess that had to have two people when in operation, one to do the work and one to get the first down when/if things went screwy.
 
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