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FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

General Hood

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Fort Towson, OK
I asked this question previously, in a slightly different way. But does anyone know exactly what "Overhauled at RRAD" means vs "Recapped at RRAD". I ran across this article tonight.
http://www.kmimediagroup.com/milita...-7-issue-1-february/6421-vehicle-reset-sp-535
Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know that "recapped" was short for recapitalization. According to the article, RRAD either "recapitalizes" vehicles or "resets" them. Recapitalization sounds more extensive than resetting. Not sure where "overhauling" falls in the mix, unless Chip Foose is somehow involved. The reason I'm so interested is that I plan to sell 2 of my 3 units, and I want to be able to honestly tell a potential buyer as much about the unit as I can.
Maybe this article will shine some light
 
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MSMOG

Member
84
1
8
Location
Jackson, Mississippi
A little more progress. Now it's only a matter of installing the cross members. And the roofing panels.View attachment 653215

Did take a peek at the SEE and it sure looks like adding a D-ring (or something similar) on the left side plate up by the dipper cylinder's rod would allow lifting the spare up and down. Obviously the backhoe can't be tilted forward quite as far as when in the normal travel position (turned to the right), or the cooler would get creamed. When I get a chance I'll tape a string to that point and see if it would work in (a bit more like) real life. That would also tell how long the chain/rope needs to be to get the spare as close as possible to an ideal position.
Looking good, Flufarm. Is that all steel?
 

The FLU farm

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Looking good, Flufarm. Is that all steel?
Yes, MSMOG, it's all steel. And all of it will be steel, except for the sealing washers on the screws for the roof panels.
And since the honorable General Hood didn't try to defend himself when I suggested that his preferred building material is termite food (aka wood), I must conclude that I hit the nail on the head there. Nails, another thing I like about as much as back-up alarms.
Yes, I prefer steel, if for no other reason, because I have yet to successfully weld wood. Even if finding a good ground.
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
I'm several days behind on this thread. Sorry, I'll catch up if it ever starts snowing. Until then -- water well finished today, quonset hut foundation finished yesterday, flatbed semi camping out there tonight, we got one pallet unloaded with the HMMH before it got too dark.

I've answered my own question on the front-suspension lockout. Yeah, you need it, because otherwise there's no "rebound damping." No problem lifting a 5,000lb pallet, after several inches of spring compression (front lockout worked before, but not now) the load *will* lift. Then I back up wheels left, go forwards wheels right, to lower the pallet to the ground.

Unless I fall in an 18" diameter badger hole, with no lockout, at which point the lack of rebound damping will bounce the load right off the forks and split up the pallet... I think the arch pieces are OK. Leaking, so prolly low on hydraulic fluid. Trying again in the morning -- the indy trucker haulin' a LTL is happy to camp out in his rig at my place (who wouldn't be), if I can help him unload/reload his other deliveries, because he needs to take one on about 90 min. away tomorrow before noon.

OK, I can get him squared away. But I'm setting pallets down on my neighbor's property, it's 75 yards from the county road to my property line. Nobody's going to complain, but given the "no loitering" clause in my legacy easement agreement, it's just bad form not trundling these pallets over to the job site via HMMH. But without the suspension lockout, lifting, backing, forwarding, dropping a 3,000lb pallet is fraught with peril.

If I had 20/20 foresight, I'd have a pallet fork for the HMMH crane. Park twice, lift slew & lower two pallets from each setup, git 'er done, send the trucker on his way.

Ugh. I need sleep, instead I'm digging through FLU manuals trying to figure out what's gone cockeyed with the front-suspension lockout, fluid top-up scheduled first thing tomorrow AM.
 
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BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
I was in 1-under in low range, backing, when the badger hole upset my load enough to split a pallet. One of four stacks of quonset arches came off, apparently undamaged. I scooped it up with the forks, no harm no foul, but seriously I think the HMMH crane with a pallet fork woulda only needed one setup to get this unloading job done. *THEN* use the forklift for the 1/4 mile cross-country trek, utilizing the load tilt, taking my time, etc. with each unloaded pallet.
 

The FLU farm

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I'm several days behind on this thread. Sorry, I'll catch up if it ever starts snowing.

I've answered my own question on the front-suspension lockout. Yeah, you need it, because otherwise there's no "rebound damping." No problem lifting a 5,000lb pallet, after several inches of spring compression (front lockout worked before, but not now) the load *will* lift. Then I back up wheels left, go forwards wheels right, to lower the pallet to the ground.
No sympathy from me, Bison. I'm several years behind with most everything.

As far as the lockout goes, are you sure you engaged it every time? It disengages for several reasons, so do check for the yellow light being on, often.
I had a bit of a surprise with it today, having a rather heavy steel piece hanging precariously over two loosely fastened posts. Figured that I could shut the HMMH off for a while, but as soon as I turned the ignition switch off, the front suspension unlocked.
That resulted in the front suspension going up about an inch...not all that good with stuff suspended several feet behind the (pivot point) rear axle.
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
This is one of the fun things about being a computer geek getting his first hands-on experience with forklifts & cranes. I have two jobs for each pallet I receive -- unloading at the county road (because however nice your driveway is for semis, "company policy" is what the driver's dealing with), and transporting to jobsite. I'll have a pallet hook for the crane, before another flatbed needs unloading up at my place. Then I can take my time transporting cross-country on the forklift. Just sayin' the HMMH has its limitations for how I'm using it today and tomorrow, which a little more planning & experience woud've made me realize sooner, what an awesome piece of equipment this is for my needs.

Finishing up tomorrow morning, temps will be upper-teens until the sun peeks over the Eastern ridgeline. I'll be bringing coffee & donuts for me & the driver, we'll chat for 20 minutes while the hydronic unit does its thing and the frost melts off the equipment & loads. Then I'll start the HMMH, hopefully have the front-suspension lockout going again, and get me some operating hours on a forklift, which may not really apply to most any other forklift...!
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
It disengages for several reasons, so do check for the yellow light being on, often.
Every time I've tried it before, the light came on. Now that I need it for real work, that whole behind-the-passenger-seat console could just as well be dead. I'll be unplugging/replugging connectors tomorrow morning, something may have jarred loose getting the FLU up to the jobsite, not Ice Road Truckers this time of year, but also not paved. :)

I had a bit of a surprise with it today, having a rather heavy steel piece hanging precariously over two loosely fastened posts. Figured that I could shut the HMMH off for a while, but as soon as I turned the ignition switch off, the front suspension unlocked.
Caught me by surprise the first time, too, but this is the expected behavior. Lowering the front involves pumping the fluid *out*, as it were. The rebound damping, isn't damping but lockout, because it's working against the hydraulic pump. Unless one hasn't repaired one's leaky reservoir, perhaps? ;)
 

BigBison

Member
317
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Location
Yampa, CO
I was also surprised to run out of fuel, driving the HMMH to my jobsite. OK, the gauge stays pegged to full, but taking the cap off for visual inspection, there's several gallons of fuel in there, so the pickup must be at least a coupla inches up from the tank bottom? I killed the motor when it started to falter, so hopefully no lasting damage, but now I have a lag between hitting the pedal and the motor picking up revs, which wasn't there before. New Rule -- 1/4 tank = empty, if I ever have an accurate gauge. Running level, no problem. Steep, twisty, potholed & washboarded unpaved county road? Keep fuel tank topped up. Duh, shoulda known better.
 

The FLU farm

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Caught me by surprise the first time, too, but this is the expected behavior. Lowering the front involves pumping the fluid *out*, as it were. The rebound damping, isn't damping but lockout, because it's working against the hydraulic pump. Unless one hasn't repaired one's leaky reservoir, perhaps? ;)
Bison, I don't think that the lockout has anything to do with lowering the front, just locking the height at whatever position it's in when hitting the button.
In my case, the lift started with the hook much closer to the HMMH, and then the crane was extended a fair bit. This, of course, shifted weight to the rear.
Then, when turning the ignition off, which unlocked the front suspension, it came up.
Guessing again, the idea is probably to prevent someone from hitting the road with the suspension locked out. But that, I think, would be a much lesser potential danger than having the load on the crane move, in any direction, when cutting the power to the system. I'm putting it on the list to rewire mine. That way it'll stay put at least until the air pressure drops. Not that I know exactly how the air is involved, but I'm sure you've also heard the "air noise" when depressing the clutch.
Either way, I would want the suspension to move when driving over uneven terrain with something on the forks - especially if it's fragile.
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
Learned a lot about the HMMH forklift today, operating with a buddy w/ regular forklift experience, I let him transport a pallet.

All I forgot to do yesterday, was have the clutch in when pulling the switch (there's also a button/light, pressing it does I-don't-know-what). The intermediate-tranny lever cannot be in high range. If you shift to high range, the lockout disengages automatically.

When parked, shutting down won't disengage the lockout, I was wrong up above. What matters is the key -- leave it on, you'll hear the pump cycle. Turn the key off, the Mog will rise to regular height. Mine slowly lowers all the way, then the only "squat" you get lifting a 5,000lb pallet is from the tires. Might want to air up for future forklift work.

The HMMH died once yesterday, and three times today. Dumping that jerry can of mystery fuel into it yesterday, prolly sucked some crud into the fuel filters. You can operate for a while, then they must drain down. Walk away for 1/2 hour, come back, runs fine for another hour before crapping out again, so they must fill back up? When she runs, she runs awesome. It's going into the quonset hut for the winter, for a whole slew of maintenance items. My 30-minute job actually wound up taking 24 hours. The big rig was gone by noon, Mog quit twice while I was re-arranging his load to make his life easier down the road. Two other quonset huts were moved, to make room for a loader he was going to pick up in Grand Junction, on his way to a Ute Casino with the whole kit & kaboodle...
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
Not that I know exactly how the air is involved, but I'm sure you've also heard the "air noise" when depressing the clutch.
I only hear the air when I use the hand splitter. In low range, 1-under & 1-direct came in right handy working the passenger side of the flatbed, with my butt up against a bank. Which the Mog will back right up, good thing those forks are hinged, more on that later... Also in low range, 3-under & 3-direct are excellent cross-country, up & down hills gears.

Either way, I would want the suspension to move when driving over uneven terrain with something on the forks - especially if it's fragile.
Disagree! You're basically driving a marshmallow. I didn't damage the 5,000lb load (or pallet) I bounced right off the forks coming downhill, and watched roll a few times down the roughed-in ag-duty driveway. Landed pallet-up, picked 'er back up and put 'er down with the rest of 'em, full stack of arch sections. I "almost" caught it. My goof was cresting the ridge without stopping to go from 3-under to 2-direct for the descent, and letting out the clutch only to be freewheeling. I knew the dip was there on one side. Clutch pedal in & out again, decelerated coming out of the dip and watched that pallet just levitate right off the forks right in front of my eyes...

Ratchet straps next time! But still, I'd have done that with each pallet if the suspension wasn't locked out. Coming down that bumpy hill in 2 direct, turning maybe 1200rpm. Lifting above 4' would block my view with the load. Side bank, sagebrush... coming through that one-sided dip required some deft work with the load-rotate button/lever, other places too. Full left-tilt while the right-front wheel's in the hole, these pallets are 8-12 feet long.

Even at full rear-tilt on the mast, that grade has the forks pointing down, so it doesn't take much of a bounce. I don't want that wheel springing into that hole, and bouncing the load coming back out, while rocking the load. I was working without it yesterday, and even just unloading the truck and setting a pallet down a dozen yards away, without the lockout a badger hole bounced the load enough to split a pallet. Slowing down for the hard right, going to 3-under for the climb -- these speed & direction changes are totally off-road, so the less marshmallow the better!

My buddy and I agreed that the HMMH lets you do lots of stupid stuff with that forklift, like carry a lighter pallet above the windshield and carry it cross-country. It's an offroad forklift, in a class by itself -- go down a grade like that in some other forklift with the load 4' up (dense, tall sagebrush both sides) and it'd just topple forwards! With those hinged forks, you need to get centered & snugged otherwise the forks want to bounce with the truck and you split a pallet in a badger hole, because you didn't have room to maneuver, and they're narrow pallets three-wide on a flatbed, so you can't get under it with the HMMH forks, because you can't drag the pallet out far enough or it'll fall off the truck. Why next time, one crane setup & a pallet hook, rearranging that guy's load took forever because I was driving all the way around the semi with a couple pallets. 30-minute crane job, wear a hardhat.
 

BigBison

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317
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Location
Yampa, CO
Guessing again, the idea is probably to prevent someone from hitting the road with the suspension locked out. But that, I think, would be a much lesser potential danger than having the load on the crane move, in any direction, when cutting the power to the system. I'm putting it on the list to rewire mine. That way it'll stay put at least until the air pressure drops.
Well, the crane's not meant to be shut down with a load on it... but if you did, I don't see where air's involved. What I hear whirring from time to time to keep the front suspension locked out with the motor off & key on, is electric over hydraulic, coming from behind that reservoir on the battery box. I can see the batteries deep-cycling to keep the crane set up between loads, like stopping for the night. I can also see not caring, and turning the key off to keep the batteries charged.
 

BigBison

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Location
Yampa, CO
I was referring to getting it down and up (more to get a spare back up assuming you were going to try and salvage it). I used the jack to lift the truck but it is a pain in the ass to try and get the lugs lined up while lifting the tire (alone). I need to pick up an impact wrench..maybe Santa will bring me one.
I don't own an impact wrench either, hydraulic's obviously more psi than air. I'm asking Santa for one of these:

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2764-22

I'll keep it in my service body, with the batteries plugged into a 2000TQ-12:

http://dcpoweronboard.com/torque-series-inverter-charger/
http://dcpoweronboard.com/battery-integrators/

I like the inverter/charger idea, three batteries on that truck. The block heater gets plugged in most nights in winter, I'd rather hardwire it and put it on a thermostat, and always leave the truck plugged in when parked at home. Like the motorhome -- its only current draw atm, is the battery charger. Leave the battery-bridge dashboard switch "on" and it also charges the motor battery, not just the house battery. The BI-200 has an optional battery-bridge switch, and is rated to handle the continuous and surge currents of my ambulance alternator, inverter/charger, air compressor & crane.
 

911joeblow

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Location
Utah
I don't own an impact wrench either, hydraulic's obviously more psi than air. I'm asking Santa for one of these:

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2764-22

I'll keep it in my service body, with the batteries plugged into a 2000TQ-12:

http://dcpoweronboard.com/torque-series-inverter-charger/
http://dcpoweronboard.com/battery-integrators/

I like the inverter/charger idea, three batteries on that truck. The block heater gets plugged in most nights in winter, I'd rather hardwire it and put it on a thermostat, and always leave the truck plugged in when parked at home. Like the motorhome -- its only current draw atm, is the battery charger. Leave the battery-bridge dashboard switch "on" and it also charges the motor battery, not just the house battery. The BI-200 has an optional battery-bridge switch, and is rated to handle the continuous and surge currents of my ambulance alternator, inverter/charger, air compressor & crane.
I am installing a tranny heater, pan heater and coolant recirculating heater on a 110V circuit with additionally a dual fuel heating system. One heater for the tank and one for the filters that runs on 24V with a dash switch.
 

The FLU farm

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If you shift to high range, the lockout disengages automatically.

When parked, shutting down won't disengage the lockout, I was wrong up above. What matters is the key -- leave it on, you'll hear the pump cycle. Turn the key off, the Mog will rise to regular height. Mine slowly lowers all the way, then the only "squat" you get lifting a 5,000lb pallet is from the tires. Might want to air up for future forklift work.
Sounds like my suspension lockout doesn't work like it's supposed to, then. It simply locks the suspension.
Also, I only have the one switch (that I know of) which when pulled out, and with everything else in order, locks the suspension and displays a yellow light.

It kinda makes sense that using high range would disengage the lockout, and based on what you describe about gear and range choices you're driving a LOT faster than I would ever try with something on the forks. And that's on a fairly smooth driveway - 2nd or 3rd in low range is fast enough for me, even though I'm a devoted speed demon (just not with machinery of any kind).

To keep the forks from bouncing, just pin them in the down position. I've never done it, but then I obviously don't drive anywhere near fast enough in the HMMH to need them locked down.

Fuel filters filling back up on their own? That sounds highly unlikely to me, as I thought the engine had to be running to pump fuel. Does the tank vent properly? Of course, putting "mystery fuel" in the tank may not help matters. If by "mystery fuel" you mean what the FLU came with, I've drained all mine into 5-gallons buckets and use it (not without hesitation) to clean parts in.
 

The FLU farm

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I am installing a tranny heater, pan heater and coolant recirculating heater on a 110V circuit with additionally a dual fuel heating system. One heater for the tank and one for the filters that runs on 24V with a dash switch.
Alright, now you got me concerned. How cold does it get there in Utah?
I thought I was pretty darn anal about cold starts and keeping lubricated parts happy, but all I've done is use anti gel additive in the fuel. It generally doesn't go much below -20 degrees here, and the snowblower SEE will continue to live outside.
Well, whatever heaters you'd recommend - and I know they sure wouldn't hurt - won't get installed until before next winter. I'll be lucky to get the snowblower functional before it all freezes up.
 

The FLU farm

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Well, the crane's not meant to be shut down with a load on it... but if you did, I don't see where air's involved. What I hear whirring from time to time to keep the front suspension locked out with the motor off & key on, is electric over hydraulic, coming from behind that reservoir on the battery box. I can see the batteries deep-cycling to keep the crane set up between loads, like stopping for the night. I can also see not caring, and turning the key off to keep the batteries charged.
Oops, missed this one. Maybe the crane isn't supposed to have a load and the engine turned off, but I wasn't about to have any more noise than necessary so I turned it off.
The air noise I'm referring to is when depressing the clutch, something the SEE doesn't do so I figured that it's HMMH specific.
Since my lockout system apparently doesn't work 100% and only locks the suspension, there's no battery drain to worry about. I'm fine with that.
Of course, with my luck it'll start working one day, and I'll have to find out how to make it stop again.
 
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