My "New" F350 Dump Truck

[chris_girard]

Thanks guys. May be a little while before I can get to it. Tied up for awhile with office work/tax season...yuck. Even with just a couple of employees, it still sucks!

 

[treesmith]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I am noticing though that I am having problems dumping loads. The truck came from the factory with a Chelsea PTO mounted inside the cab floor by the shifter (the truck is a 5-speed standard). Truck needs to be in neutral with the red PTO knob pulled out to engage it. After it warms up, there is a black knot that you pull up on (which is extremely hard to do) and this is supposed to raise the dump body. Even when I rev up the motor and the loads are light though, it is having a hard time?

Any of you truck guys out there have any clues why this would be? Maybe I need new PTO cables and new hydraulic fluid?

I haven't dumped my 1-ton since the last load of shingles I dumped in 2011, but I think mine has a similar setup. IIRC, the black knob is the valve control, and is sleeved, like a lawn mower throttle cable. Mine got real stiff due to rust once (under the truck). I think spraying the offending area with a liberal amount of WD40 helped. If that is the case with yours, the seizure may be restricting the valve lever travel. In other words, you perceive it having a hard time, when the issue is the valve is only partially open. May be totally irrelevant to your situation. Just thought I'd mention it. (Straightening any errant kinks in the cable will make it operate smoother as well.)

 

[Grendel]

Awesome.

 

[No_Bivy]

I haven't dumped my 1-ton since the last load of shingles I dumped in 2011, but I think mine has a similar setup. IIRC, the black knob is the valve control, and is sleeved, like a lawn mower throttle cable. Mine got real stiff due to rust once (under the truck). I think spraying the offending area with a liberal amount of WD40 helped. If that is the case with yours, the seizure may be restricting the valve lever travel. In other words, you perceive it having a hard time, when the issue is the valve is only partially open. May be totally irrelevant to your situation. Just thought I'd mention it. (Straightening any errant kinks in the cable will make it operate smoother as well.)

exactly......I had with similar problem. Make sure it is routed correctly. You could have someone stay in truck while you crawl under and actuate manually to see if there is a difference. BE SUPER CAREFUL.....

 

[FireFighterZero]

Is it whining or is it just not lifting quickly? Lifting at all? Is it kind of stuttering?

Does it go down quickly?

 

[pantheraba]

Make a video?

 

[Tree09]

Try soaking the cable in penetrating oil, and then working it back and forth a ton. Go so far as spraying the part in the cab. Unless the cable has a rubber coating on it, it should loosen it because it's built like a slinky. The goal is to get oil on the inside of the cable and then break the rust free. Worst case you have to swap it out, not the end of the world either. You also might want to try disconnecting the cable at the valve and then operating the valve. While you have it off pull it out farther and really pour some oil in the sleeve part of the cable, and work it back and forth. .If it's still lifting slow and such, and your fluid levels are ok, it could be a seal in the valve. There could also be air in the cylinders from sitting so long, so bleeding them or even just lifting it up and down repeatedly will help it. When equipment sits forever, small problems like this start to appear. The seals dry out, stuff corrodes together, etc. Fortunately you should be able to get it working like new again with minimal parts. Now would be a good time to grease the pivot hinges and scissor mechanism as well. Check for rust and eaten away steel around those critical components, but whatever you do, mechanically lock the bed upright. People have died working on dump trucks by trusting the hydraulics to hold it upright.

 

[ruel]

Does throwing a 4x4 down at the pivot point count/work well enough to secure the bed? That's what I've seen mechanics do, but I also need to do some work on a dump bed.

How would you recommend securing@

 

[Tree09]

No. Putting something that close to the hinge greatly increases the load on said hinge. The proper way is usually putting a channel iron or angle iron on the exposed cylinder, and then locking that in place, commercial ones have a chain and pin thing, zipties our just rope tying it so it can't come off is fine.

 

[flushcut]

A good way to fix the fuel consumption issue is to get a bigger gas tank. "I'll have another"

 

[MasterBlaster]

Problem solved!!!