Carpokes

dr bob wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:25 pm Apology for the lagged response --

I just tug sideways on the hose so it doesn't sit right over the bolt. My goal was to eliminate fittings and places it might leak.

And my reference to "Jeff B" is Bezos and Amazon. Sorry if that wasn't more obvious.

Well duh, it never dawned on me you were referring to Bezos. I got my no-drip quick couplings there, as well as the jumper hoses. I didn't read your post closely enough but now I see the best way is directly connecting the hose to the cylinder, that's my next job. I got the posts plumb with shims but I'm still getting uneven lifitng, I have a replacement divider I may try. Gotta get busy and swap out my GPF's now.

My lift has started groaning when it goes up. Anyone know if there is a particular reason for that and/or adjustment?

The usual reason is low fluid, I'm assuming your is topped up. Pump issues, maybe air in the system causing the low fluid symptoms.

Bill in Bama wrote: Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:49 pm The usual reason is low fluid, I'm assuming your is topped up. Pump issues, maybe air in the system causing the low fluid symptoms.

I'll check it. Thanks. Never even occurred to me to check the fluid. I guess in my head it was just a giant bottle jack.

Well I topped it off and it didn't make a difference. After googling more, I learned my cable pulleys have Zerk fittings for bearing grease. So I greased those up, used lithium grease inside the posts, and oiled the cabled with 90 weight (per the manual). The groan is 90% gone, but still groans at the very top. I'm temped to try some of the Cat 1u-9891 Hydraulic Oil Additive, which I've read is supposed to help... Anyone try it?

Sorry I've been out for a bit and meaning to reply. I have been using marine grease and those fittings (I think there are 6 or 8 on mine, and then wiping down the cables with oil every 6 months or so. I have a slight bit of a groan in one spot about 1/2 way up but nothing I'm too concerned about.

Glad u got it headed in the right direction. Since my first few weeks with the lift, it's been working great. I do think thay shooting some grease in those zeros is a good idea, I try to go through everything that needs it every six months myself (trailer zerks, gates etc)

I've used the Cat additive in my MaxJax, helps some with chattering. Since I don't have cables I have no experience with their maintenance. Sounds as if you're almost there.

Where is the groan coming from? Is it coming from the ram or the pump itself?

ryancassidy wrote: Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:26 pm Where is the groan coming from? Is it coming from the ram or the pump itself?

I wish I could tell. I "think" the noise is coming from the posts mostly, but also think the posts are amplifying some kind of harmonic coming from the pump/ram. I wrote to my BendPak installer guy and he encouraged me to use the Cat additive, so now I just need to find some. The Caterpillar online store is down, and I haven't found it anywhere else yet....

In the meantime, my lift now goes all the way up without making a peep. I 'think' that all the grease 'worked' but I had run the lift up and down so much that the fluid/pump was heating up and the pump was stressing out. I still plan to use the Cat additive, but suspect the groan is all gone when the lift is used normally (not up and down over and over).

I have a similar groan that seems to be resonating from uprights, I don't hear it from the ram/pump, but like you said it's tough to tell. I'd be interested to hear what the CAT additive does when you obtain it.

I guess I need to go and re-lube everything again. Thx for the reminder

Congrats on it being back to normal now!