• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

help with man lift

lgammon

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
303
Location
kingsport, tn
well i am building a house for myself and a buddy let me borrow a grove amz66 manlift. well it is kind of buggy. it likes to only go one direction regardles of the direction you tell it to. does anyone have any ideas???
 

willie59

Administrator
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
13,396
Location
Knoxville TN
Occupation
Service Manager
Calling a Grove AMZ66 a "buggy" is being kind. Grove has made many good products over the years, the AMZ66 is an exception. These machines were one of the early machines where Grove began converting analog signals at the platform controls to digital signals, sending it down the boom cable to lower control box, then converting back to analog signals going to valves. This is all done with complicated pc boards and cirucits. The situation you describe is not unusual with these machines, they truely have a mind of their own. I have seen these models do some quirky things. Personally, I wouldn't trust one to raise me in the air. Not that it would drop me, but that it might die and not start again, I simply don't trust 'em. ;)
 

willie59

Administrator
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
13,396
Location
Knoxville TN
Occupation
Service Manager
i guess that is why he said keep it till your done. any ideas on a fix?

Sorry, can't help with that, been too many years since I worked on one. Even when I was working on them, the AMZ, I was working on one with problems and even Grove factory tech's couldn't tell me what to do with it. Maybe someone will jump in here and offer advice. Otherwise, I suggest going to a rental store and get a JLG to do the job.
 

JeremiahSr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
204
Location
Houston, Tx
Occupation
Vice Pres./General man./Technician
Hmmmm....does it only do this in the basket or at the ground controls as well? If only in basket... inspect the two handles and see if they are the same. The old snorkels were but the newer ones have different joysticks and aren't interchangeable. Call grove and see if they are same part number maybe? If they are swap them and see if it follows. Most likely in the computer board AtcoEquip was speaking about. There are variable switches on the joysticks as well....if they are same part number maybe swap them. Thats the best advice i can give on this machine. Never worked on one before. Any time i get something new i go to the ole "theory of elimination" tactic. Good Luck!
 

willie59

Administrator
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
13,396
Location
Knoxville TN
Occupation
Service Manager
Does this go for the MZ66 as well as the articulated model? I'm considering an MZ for my ranch.


Welcome to the forum flingwing. :usa

Not sure about the particular machine you are looking at, but I worked on MZ66A machines of the late 80's vintage, and they were nothing like the AMZ models. Not sure if they made changes to them in the later years. I will say the MZ66A was a very heavy machine compared to other manufacturers comparable rigs, made them a bit of a challenge on soft ground, but they were solid units. What year model is the one you're looking at? If you go to look at it, open the lower control box and see if there is a large electonic circuit board in there. If there's not, just mostly terminal strips, relays, and such, it's electrical system is not like the AMZ. BTW, Minnpar is the distributor for Grove aerial lift parts now. :)
 

willie59

Administrator
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
13,396
Location
Knoxville TN
Occupation
Service Manager
LoL, I was responding to your post at this thread from an email reminder. Once I checked forum posts, I noticed your new thread. :tong
 

Dualie

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
1,371
Location
Nor Cal
I have had to shimmy down the boom of one of these piles several times. Less than awesome these units were.
 

flingwing

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
13
Location
Santa Cruz Mountains CA
Hopefully my experience will be better than that, and I'll never be up in the basket without someone nearby to lend a hand with a manual operation if I don't pay attention to the battery condition indicator. Were most of the issues you had running out of power? If I were in business, I would not run one of these things, but for my purposes here (time is not money, only time) it should work for me.:beatsme
 
Top