it wont turn

coxy · February 06, 2014, 08:27:46 PM

ok a friend of mine was going up a hill and miss shifted went down the hill backwards with no brakes hit the left side in a tree half turned now it wont turn ether way but if you rock the skidder back and forth it will turn some what but have to rock it the rams are not bent I think its in the steering valve maybe popped a o ring or the spring any help would be great

Coon · February 06, 2014, 08:44:56 PM

What model and year of a machine is it? More info needed to make an educated guess.

coxy · February 06, 2014, 10:27:23 PM

its a pettibone

Maine logger88 · February 06, 2014, 11:50:18 PM

Do you have a gauge to check the pressure that could tell you if it is the valve?

mad murdock · February 07, 2014, 12:20:32 AM

Sounds like maybe when it hit the tree something could have gotten fouled up with the steering valve (hydraulics) maybe pressure was forced against pump flow and a check valve is jimmied or something? A puzzler for sure!

coxy · February 07, 2014, 06:35:23 AM

little more info for ya it is a 1 line pressure pump and the blade moves up-down fine it is just the steering and some times the control spool sticks like a oring or maybe the spring is binding it ??? I never had or seen this happen to any one before

logman81 · February 07, 2014, 07:34:43 AM

Ya seems to me it's something in the valve bank , if the lever centers when letting go of it it's probably not the spring.

UN Hooker · February 07, 2014, 09:34:48 PM

Sounds like it might have popped a piston off of a rod - (broke the end off the rod inside the cylinder).
UN

coxy · February 07, 2014, 09:46:47 PM

took the spool out all the orings look good took the fitting out of valve nothing was there going to try and hook the blade valve up to steering rams to see if it works if it does then the steering valve is bad wright? what do you look for then? if it don't work then will have to pull steering rams out and take a look see thank for the help

riverlogger · February 07, 2014, 10:15:59 PM

coxy is it a dual cylinder steering setup? It sounds like one of the rams has broken at the packing end thereby making it impossible for the other cylinder to overcome the weight of the machine (unless you are rocking it back and forth) and the fluid that's bypassing in the failed cylinder. I have seen this happen before in a 666d model clark.

coxy · February 07, 2014, 10:19:19 PM

Quote from: riverlogger on February 07, 2014, 10:15:59 PM
coxy is it a dual cylinder steering setup? It sounds like one of the rams has broken at the packing end thereby making it impossible for the other cylinder to overcome the weight of the machine (unless you are rocking it back and forth) and the fluid that's bypassing in the failed cylinder. I have seen this happen before in a 666d model clark.

yes it is dual pistons

barbender · February 07, 2014, 11:27:50 PM

I think his real problem is with his brakes :

coxy · February 08, 2014, 05:58:39 AM

Quote from: barbender on February 07, 2014, 11:27:50 PM
I think his real problem is with his brakes :

have you ever lost the brakes on anything its not fun

David-L · February 08, 2014, 06:12:15 AM

UnHooker has my vote. lost all movement on the close and open on my grapple once , the piston on this European model screwed on the end of the rod and had come off. Drilled,tapped a set screw in and that won't happen again maybe. It's in the steering cylinder.

David l

coxy · February 08, 2014, 06:28:05 AM

that's what I have been saying to my self but have been procrastinating taking them off there a pain in the to get to :D :D thanks for all the info

logman81 · February 08, 2014, 08:56:50 AM

If it's the machine that I sold all you will need to do is remove the floor pan and they are easy to get to. It would easy to put brakes in it.

treeslayer2003 · February 08, 2014, 10:08:34 AM

on a two cylinder steering system you can plug the lines on the bad one and get out of the woods with the one good cylinder. ;)

coxy · February 08, 2014, 02:29:30 PM

Quote from: logman81 on February 08, 2014, 08:56:50 AM
If it's the machine that I sold all you will need to do is remove the floor pan and they are easy to get to. It would easy to put brakes in it.

ya its the one the e brake did work till this happened ;D pulled the handle so hard it snapped the end off

if we had some hard ware to go with it wouldn't be hard but as soon as warmer weather comes going to bring it to my shop and make some thing work ;D the prob is that its cranked all the way to one side on a bank that's what making it a pain in butt

coxy · February 08, 2014, 02:32:04 PM

Quote from: treeslayer2003 on February 08, 2014, 10:08:34 AM
on a two cylinder steering system you can plug the lines on the bad one and get out of the woods with the one good cylinder. ;)

tried that wont work at least on this thing any way ;D

lumberjack48 · February 08, 2014, 03:32:02 PM

If it has a control lever for hwy use, check it to make sure its not released all the way from the jar.

1270d · February 08, 2014, 05:25:59 PM

Does that lever slow the steering for higher speed driving?

logman81 · February 08, 2014, 05:31:18 PM

Lumberjack this is the skidder that I used to have, it doesn't have the lever you speak of.

coxy · February 08, 2014, 07:56:47 PM

up date found the prob the piston broke off even with the nut that holds the packing there is about a1/6 of a inch of threads left so need new piston thanks guys for all the pointers and the help learnt a few new tricks on the way again thanks to all

barbender · February 08, 2014, 11:48:50 PM

Quote from: coxy on February 08, 2014, 05:58:39 AM
Quote from: barbender on February 07, 2014, 11:27:50 PM
I think his real problem is with his brakes :
have you ever lost the brakes on anything its not fun

The first skidder I ran didn't have any brakes, it was all flat ground so it didn't matter too much then, but I knew it would catch up with me eventually if I kept running it. The skidder I bought (Pettibone 501) has brakes, I have to fix the Parking brake though. I wasn't trying too be too much of a smart aleck with my comment, I just want to make a point that many of us play with fire running the old cable machines with no brakes, this could have ended worse than just a broken hydraulic cylinder.

redprospector · February 09, 2014, 12:28:11 AM

Quote from: barbender on February 08, 2014, 11:48:50 PM

The first skidder I ran didn't have any brakes, it was all flat ground so it didn't matter too much then, but I knew it would catch up with me eventually if I kept running it. The skidder I bought (Pettibone 501) has brakes, I have to fix the Parking brake though. I wasn't trying too be too much of a smart aleck with my comment, I just want to make a point that many of us play with fire running the old cable machines with no brakes, this could have ended worse than just a broken hydraulic cylinder.

This is way too true.