LT 40 questions

[starmac]

I have a low hour 88 LT40, which is fine for my needs, but two things would make it much more user friendly and seems easily remedied.
One is the asinine safety button that has to be pushed and held to use the hydraulics, which has to go away, I really don't understand why it is on there. This will go away the next time it comes home.

The other thing that is aggrevating is the safety feature, where you have to pull the head all the way back to the stops to make electrical contact to use the hydraulics. Yesterday I was checking out another old (94) LT40 and these two things have been addressed. The button was for sure factory, as there was not even a place for it.
It has a 4 or 5 ft contact strip for the power to the hydraulics, so that you can stop the head out of your way to run the hydraulics when cutting shorter wood and not requiring a lot of unneeded travel.
My question is, was this contact strip a factory option, or an improvement domeone came up with. In other words, can I buy factory parts to add this to my mill, or do I need to build something similar.

Thanks.

[Chuck White]

I would bet that the contact strip is a factory thing, safety thing for sure!

There has been quite a lot of discussion here on the Forum lately addressing "hydraulics anywhere", try a search and see what you can come up with.

What they've been doing is running a single cable from the nylon bolt on the contact strip to the power lead coming from the battery to the contact block!  But, you have to have a way to support it so it doesn't get snagged on anything!

[drobertson]

I've tossed around the idea of making hydraulics the full length of the head, but really, I'm not sure it's worth it,, at times yes, but not as a general rule, short logs are a pain, but getting the head out of the way is a good thing most of the time,

[starmac]

I can see a little benefit to haveeing them the full length, or mainly a few feet on each end, but it would be a huge improvement to just have them for 4 or 5 feet on the control end like the 94 model I looked at has. It would be easy enough to build a strip like that one, but if a factory one is available, that might actually be the best way to go.

[Delawhere Jack]

The contact strip is factory, I imagine you could order one. Not familiar with the 88' models, but you might need to get the "hot shoe" contact that contacts the strip.

The hydraulics anywhere feature can be real handy in getting you out of a jam on occasions. I haven't installed it on my mill, but I have used jumper cables for that purpose. If I ever do add the hydraulic anywhere cable, I'd like to have a SPST heavy blade type switch in the circuit to keep the circuit open until needed.

[pineywoods]

Folks, if you ever consider the hydraulic anywhere mod, be sure to run TWO cables, one hot and the other ground. Current flow is from the positive battery terminal, through the added cable to the hydraulic pump. From there, it has to get back to the negative battery post. If you don't run a ground cable, all that juice will take the path of least resistance through the head support bearings to the ground on the head. 200 amps ain't good for the bearings, they will pitt and seize...


UPDATE UPDATE...The above post is bum info, ignore...Don't know what I was thinking...Early oldtimers ?  The sliding contact under the bottom rail will take care of the ground return...One hot cable should work fine, cut the cost considerably..Welding cable ain't exactly cheap

[Ga Mtn Man]

I believe the "hydraulics anywhere" mod is typically only done on mills with the Remote Operator Console (mills with a cat track).

[pineywoods]

I believe the "hydraulics anywhere" mod is typically only done on mills with the Remote Operator Console (mills with a cat track).

Except for guys like me and maybe a few others.  ;D My LT40 hydraulics are powered by a 110 volt AC motor.  Just flip the switch, hydraulics anytime, anywhere... I like it...

[starmac]

If I am not mistaken, the 94 that I looked at yesterday had the ground contacting the bottom rail, instead of two contact strips.

[Percy]

IMO, once you have had hydraulics anywhere, you could never go back. The "safety" thing is  a bit of a canundrum to me. An accidental push of a lever is nowheres near as dangerous as standing a few feet from a blade doing close to 60 mph. Its probably economics as it cost me a bit to make my LT70 hydralics anywhere.

[Darrel]

When I first got my mill, the head was in the usual spot for transfer and I couldn't get the lifting arms down because the retention chain was improperly attached to the log turning arm.  Also, I couldn't get the head to raise either because of improper lock down and the lifting arms were in my way so getting to it to fix it was difficult.

To solve this issue I just jumped to the contact strip and ground from my pickup, it worked well. On one other occasion, I did the same thing when I wanted "hydraulics anyware"

[sparks]

We did not have a safety button that had to be help to run the hydraulics. I have attached what was used and what is used now.  Thanks

[starmac]

Sparks, that first setup (the obsolete one is what I have. The second is what the 94 model I looked at has.
Am I correct that the hydraulics will get power and work with the head 3 feet or so from the end?

The safety button mine is on the hydraulic box that houses the pump and valves,It looks original to the machine, but I guess someone could have added it for some ungodly reason.

Oh yea, and THANKS a bunch, I will check into the cost of the upgrade.