Bucyrus H3

Anyone happen to have any manuals for a Bucyrus Erie H3 Hydrocrane?

I'm in the process of buying one. I've got a partial of the operators manual, and a complete parts book, but it would be nice to have everything I can get my hands on.

This is a small truck mounted unit that can do 5 tons close in with a 2 part line, and has around 35' of boom. Going to get used to help move some material to repair a 200 year old mill pond. After that, just some minor lifting around the property. Truck is a 1958 F-700, and it appears the crane and truck have been together the whole time.

This has been an extended process... Finally closed the deal. Waiting on getting the machine delivered, as I can't road it currently. (air brake leak) Guy delivering it is busy hauling Christmas trees, so it'll still be a little while...

Contrary to the above (and what the title says)... The Ford is actually a 1965 F-750.

Unit needs a couple hoses replaced, but overall it seems pretty good there. I'm sure I'll find issues once I can really dig through it, like every old machine.

I did come up with the correct load chart for it thankfully. It's a bit more detailed than the bronze plate on the side of the boom.

Still looking for maintenance, and complete operators manual...

This is where the photo should be, but I just haven't got the damn thing web accessible yet...

I ran a H5 a little back in the mid 80's. It had been worn out about three times before I ran it. It still worked well and was a great clam. It is probably the most unique hoisting tool I have ever operated. They were real popular with municipalities and rockery outfits in our part of the world. Interesting concept, a crane with no winch save the take up reel in the cab.

The guy selling it raved about it. Said he had never really used the clam, just the hook, but never had an issue with anything other than an old hose here and there, and having to repack a cylinder on an outrigger. The clam is the real reason I got it. I've gotta get a lotta yards of clay and rock in to an obnoxious spot. After getting the damn rebuild, then the pond will need some dredging... If that all goes well, then I can repeat on the second dam, lower down the hill. An H5 would have been nicer, just for a little more chart at my reach, but the H3 will do it, and it was 15 miles from where I need it to be...

They have a odd motion on them like the house is going to come off the turn table. That takes a little getting used to you can see in this video how the house leans toward the boom. I am envious of you though. I guess I enjoyed that machine more than I thought I did.

I noted that in the above video, and then when I picked up the clam during testing. The clam weighs 1200#, which isn't loads, but it was enough that the house moved a bit. I was going through the parts breakouts last night too see if there's any adjustment to take up some of that slop. Nothing really screaming out, as "adjustment, or shim". I'll be giving that a serious check once I can get under it, and down to the pivot from the top. My suspicion is it shouldn't move that much, and both mine, and the unit in the video have some wear. That Florida machine was probably run to death doing curbside trash constantly. Not a lot of weight, but a lot of cycles...

I'll add that there isn't a slewing ring in there, the house sits on rollers, and as far as I can tell from the parts breakout, there's just a big nut that holds the house down to the sub-base plate/roller track. I suppose it might be possible to either tighten the nut, or shim under it, but that's really just a guess until I can see what's going on.

Ours did the same thing and the center had recently been rebuilt. The company owned it for years. The first time I picked a load up with it and it settled on the roller table was memorable though. It was “what it did.” The machine went on another 5 or 6 years and I lost track of it.

Honestly, that makes me feel a lot better. It's unnerving when the house moves like that, but if it's just the way of things, I can get used to it. (I'll still be checking it out)
Cranes aren't my background. Lots and lots of rigging experience, but just not with cranes... All the heavy equipment in my life has been old, and sloppy, so a little movement where things should be tight doesn't really bug me normally, but not being familiar with cranes makes me less comfortable saying a little slop is fine...

Yeah, the slop would be a real attention - getter.
Little Bugger is pretty rapid, gets the job done.

Toolslinger said:

Honestly, that makes me feel a lot better. It's unnerving when the house moves like that, but if it's just the way of things, I can get used to it. (I'll still be checking it out)
Cranes aren't my background. Lots and lots of rigging experience, but just not with cranes... All the heavy equipment in my life has been old, and sloppy, so a little movement where things should be tight doesn't really bug me normally, but not being familiar with cranes makes me less comfortable saying a little slop is fine...

Click to expand...

Post what you learn about that. I haven't seen that machine in 30 years or so. If you can eliminate that slop it would make it much more "comfortable" to run.

That's the plan. There is very little on these machine online at this point. I found one person with an H3, and an H5, and there are a couple others in photos, plus the 3 or 4 videos. That's pretty thin... Now I just need to get off my ass and get photo hosting again so I can get images up...

And no... I'm not one of those people that leaves a thread hanging (forever)... I hate when you're looking for info, find the exact question posed in a forum, and never a followup...
I just got my hands on an owners manual.
Among the other info in there, are instructions for how to snug up that center area, and how much slop there really should be. Not going to be near the crane for a while to see if I can improve what I have.



I've been picking away at this over the summer when I can.
So far, it got:

• All new hoses (3 left that I haven't quite gotten to yet)
• Pulled one of the horizontal outriggers out due to it being packed with sand/silt/mouse nests which sheared the attachment pin.
• Fixed the truck's air brakes (still more to do, but no more holes in reservoirs, and everything works)
• Fixed truck charging system
• Fixed truck overheating issue
• Came up with a full parts manual for the crane (not that the part numbers do me any good, but the drawings are fabulous)
• Came up with the outrageously expensive owners manual... I need it, so I paid for it, but damn... I'll be happy to copy/scan it should other people need it at some point.
• New air filter and housing on the upper. Had just an incorrect steel enclosure on there, and a piece of insect screen... Sporting a nice new Donaldson radial now.

It still needs:

• Truck's cooling system is leaking. Heater core for sure. Someplace else too, but haven't found it yet. Hoping it's simple, and not a head gasket, or block issue. Not oil in coolant, and no coolant in oil, so there's that at least.
• Still have to really clean up the air brake system. Someone used rubber air hose here and there. It still works, but I really want to get that changed over to the hard plastic tube. The existing oem copper lines will stay for the foreseeable future.
• Full lube job on the crane. Now that I have the book, I can actually do this rather than trying to count zerk fittings in the parts book. There are a lot of fittings... I mean there are a LOT!
• Need to replace the hoist cable for sure. (185' of 1/2" spin resistant IWRC, so pricey, but not unbareable)
• Need to check the swing cables. Think they're ok, but I think they need some adjustment since there's a bit of slop in the swing.
• Most likely needs some cylinders rebuilt, however, they seem to be getting better with a little use. I suppose the seals may have just dried up a bit, and are softening up again with some movement/oil.
• Will need to check the pressures, and reliefs.
• Need to get an oil pressure gauge on the upper. Has one screwed inn to the block, but I want the one in the cab working.
• Need to check the governor on the upper just to be sure.
• Need to replace the fuel filter on the upper.
• Need to replace engine oil on both upper and truck engines.
• Would like to quiet the upper down some. Perhaps add a muffler (don't honestly know if there's one on it now or not). It's pretty brutal in the cab when it's running with any RPMs. Ford 240 or 300 straight 6.
• Truck needs a whole lot of electrical work.
• Truck only runs when choked. So, could be a dirty carb, vacuum leak, or who knows... It does run very nicely with the choke though.

Got to do my first pick with it. We have a hinged section of porch to cover some windows. Cable broke, and deck crashed down. Needed to pick it up a little to do some repairs. Could have easily done it other ways, but it was nice to use the crane for the first time. I will say, getting in and out of that cab when the unit is either forward, or back sucks. Need to come up with a ladder, or stairs that hangs on the duals before I kill myself. And, before anyone jumps me on the shitty cribbing job, the unit was well within the range of operating on it's tires alone. The porch is only a few hundred pounds. I have lots of nice 4x6 ash cribbing ready to go when I do something real.

Toolslinger,

Have you had any luck tracking down more manuals? I just picked up an H3 and looking for some manuals.

Toolslinger said:

Anyone happen to have any manuals for a Bucyrus Erie H3 Hydrocrane?

I'm in the process of buying one. I've got a partial of the operators manual, and a complete parts book, but it would be nice to have everything I can get my hands on.

This is a small truck mounted unit that can do 5 tons close in with a 2 part line, and has around 35' of boom. Going to get used to help move some material to repair a 200 year old mill pond. After that, just some minor lifting around the property. Truck is a 1958 F-700, and it appears the crane and truck have been together the whole time.

Click to expand...

Any luck finding more manuals?

As a matter of fact, I have... I've got the full parts, and owner's manuals now. I don't know if they had a service manual available. Most of the service info I need is in the owner's though. The only real missing info is what the various hydraulic circuits should be running at in terms of PSI. I believe the pump is supposed to be putting out 6000. I haven't checked to see if there are any circuit reliefs on the valve stacks.

Toolslinger said:

As a matter of fact, I have... I've got the full parts, and owner's manuals now. I don't know if they had a service manual available. Most of the service info I need is in the owner's though. The only real missing info is what the various hydraulic circuits should be running at in terms of PSI. I believe the pump is supposed to be putting out 6000. I haven't checked to see if there are any circuit reliefs on the valve stacks.

Click to expand...

The only manual I can find online is a couple hundred bucks. Which Manual have you found most useful? The guy I bought it from said he thought that there is a way to bump up the PSI on the Hydraulics to 6000PSI when you have it under heavy load. Do you know anything about that? or is he just a little confused since the hydraulics are rated at 6000PSI?

Thanks

I spent a few hundred on the books I've got. I tried for a while to track someone down with a set, and pay to scan them, but eventually just ponied up the money. The owners/operators manual is really the one with the most information. The parts book is handy to be sure, but there isn't a lot of useful text in there. The line drawings are great to figure out how things go together though, or for example to count the number of grease fittings you need to find...

I don't believe there's any way to bump the pressure. Perhaps he was talking about bumping the flow. The pump is split, with a fraction going to half the valve stack, and the rest going to the second half. You should have pedals in the cab that allow you to divert the flow to all one valve stack to increase speed on that set of functions, but then the other functions are dead. The third pedal (if you have it) is for the line that runs out to the clam so you can dump without using the level.

So you have a picture of your new toy?

The truck she is sitting on has some issues but the crane works great! Thanks for the info. I can only find the owners manual I haven’t been able to track down a parts manual, do you have any suggestions? Also, do you know what kind of hydraulic oil it takes?