FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

[Another Ahab]

It's been awesome. I use it to dig beautiful opals out of the Nevada desert. Tried posting a pic with it but not too iPad friendly!

How do you know where to look; or do you just guess blind?

 

[jstark45xd]

Lots of research and exploration holes. Got lucky knowing someone that has been digging for years.

 

[Mark1954]

It's been awesome. I use it to dig beautiful opals out of the Nevada desert. Tried posting a pic with it but not too iPad friendly!

That ought to get you nearly anywhere to start digging.
BTW, who is the creepy guy hiding behind the 419 about to scare those kids?

 

[The FLU farm]

It's not much as far as progress goes, but at least today wasn't a step backwards.This is a strong hint of what got accomplished.And this is how it looks.

 

[General Hood]

Lots of research and exploration holes. Got lucky knowing someone that has been digging for years.

Very cool. Do you use the SEEs hydraulic hammers when you go on these digs?

 

[General Hood]

It's not much as far as progress goes, but at least today wasn't a step backwards.View attachment 653953This is a strong hint of what got accomplished.View attachment 653954And this is how it looks.

Nice, it's like putting GI Joe's head on a Ken doll

 

[The FLU farm]

Nice, it's like putting GI Joe's head on a Ken doll

It's probably a good thing that the smallest tractor doesn't have a quick attach loader. We call that one Barbie.

 

[jstark45xd]

That ought to get you nearly anywhere to start digging.
BTW, who is the creepy guy hiding behind the 419 about to scare those kids?

Lol. That's me checking brake and air lines.

 

[BigBison]

OK, I've removed the box from around the suspension-lockout reservoir. The crack where the fluid leaks, stops above the "min" line. Would be easier to check that without disassembly, but it looks like my reservoir's already been repaired once. What I can't figure out, is how to fill it? There's no fill point, only a banjo fitting that's the fluid return on top of the reservoir. Does that need to be disassembled? Or is a valve shut off somewhere, is this system connected to the front-hydraulic reservoir? I'm up to 45 minutes of labor just to check the fluid on mine, if there's a captive nut inside the reservoir, then I may need to disassemble the whole thing just to fill it? That can't be right.

Meanwhile, the HMMH died, electrically. It's possible the problems I was having with the lockout, were electrical. One of the batteries tests OK. The other came off the HMMH, now I'm back at the house with it sitting in my pickup with a trickle-charger on it. Measured 5.5V, the other battery was 12.5, so 18V total may have been causing that pump to act funny. So yeah, I disassembled part of the truck to troubleshoot one problem, now I've disassembled the truck even further to address the next problem that cropped up, which I didn't have when I started fixing the first problem.

Ugh. My pallet's still ass-up because making a 3-ft lift with the crane will now stretch into a third day!

I'm beat. Any insight into the hydraulic setup for that lockout, appreciated!!!

 

[BigBison]

Backing out from under a load after you've set it down, is another good reason for the front-suspension lockout. Those first two pallets I unloaded without the lockout... before they lifted up off the truck, after I had the fork positioned, lowers the operator before the load lifts. Hard to tell the difference, from the cab, between lowering it enough, and digging the mast into the ground, when unloading. So unlocked suspension, you back out from under a pallet, the truck wants to spring up. So the forks want to spring up, even if they're pinned, they're still gonna flex and they're kinda long, right? The whole lockout's an obvious after-thought kludge meant to avoid the various problems I ran into that first evening, operating without the lockout. But it's obvious to me, now, why that system was retrofitted. Yeah, you need it, IMO.

 

[peakbagger]

The trencher must be interesting to work on as in all my research I have never seen any manual or reference to a manual for the trencher variant. I do like that the trencher come with bull dozer blade.

Trenchers are pretty well useless up in NH. With the local glacial till, the soils is usually more rocks, boulders or ledge than soil with hardpan clay about 2 to 3 foot down if it is soil. On rare occasions folks will run into glacial gravel deposits but its pretty rare. Out of the area contractors will bid work with a trencher and end up having to switch to a backhoe.

 

[BigBison]

I'm sure I could talk to a local excavator and figure if a trencher or a backhoe would get the job done. Regardless, I want the FLU trencher. Maybe I need the SEE backhoe for a dozen yards or two due to the rocks, but the rest of the trench? Honestly, more about having one of each FLU than having a trencher, and trying to do at least *something* with it to justify its keep... What can I say, I'm a FLU enthusiast!

 

[The FLU farm]

Lol. That's me checking brake and air lines.

This morning I thought of one thing you should check out; a ripper. I don't recall seeing one in the photos of you digging through rock, and I'd think it would help quite a bit.
It pins into the holes on the back of the bucket, and is somewhat free-floating so you can still dig in regular fashion.

 

[The FLU farm]

What I can't figure out, is how to fill it? There's no fill point, only a banjo fitting that's the fluid return on top of the reservoir.

One of the batteries tests OK. The other came off the HMMH, now I'm back at the house with it sitting in my pickup with a trickle-charger on it. Measured 5.5V, the other battery was 12.5, so 18V total may have been causing that pump to act funny.

I was wondering about that one, too, but after fixing the reservoir I filled it through that banjo fitting's hole. Didn't look like there was any other way.
Apparently the idea is to check the fluid level by looking at the end of the reservoir through the slot in the cover, but since it seems like that slot allowed UV to damage the reservoir, I covered the slot.

With the engine running, you would have whatever voltage in the system that the gauge shows, but it sounds like you have two very different (as far as condition goes) batteries hooked together.
In an ideal world, two batteries wired together (in parallel or series) should be identical twins, having left the assembly one after the other.
Obviously that's hard to achieve in real life, but running one good and one bad together is a recipe for killing batteries. Unfortunately, a bad battery will always bring the better one down to its level when they're wired together. You can minimize the effect on a FLU by always turning off the master switch as soon as you stop the engine, but that's only a crutch. Two good batteries is what you need. Make that two new good batteries.

 

[The FLU farm]

Backing out from under a load after you've set it down, is another good reason for the front-suspension lockout. Those first two pallets I unloaded without the lockout... before they lifted up off the truck, after I had the fork positioned, lowers the operator before the load lifts. Hard to tell the difference, from the cab, between lowering it enough, and digging the mast into the ground, when unloading. So unlocked suspension, you back out from under a pallet, the truck wants to spring up. So the forks want to spring up, even if they're pinned, they're still gonna flex and they're kinda long, right? The whole lockout's an obvious after-thought kludge meant to avoid the various problems I ran into that first evening, operating without the lockout. But it's obvious to me, now, why that system was retrofitted. Yeah, you need it, IMO.

I respectfully disagree, Bison. I rarely use the lockout function, partially because I forget that it exists except when playing around, rather than moving loads.
Yes, it can be tricky to get the forks just right when setting a pallet down, but in my case it's usually the fore and aft angle that's wrong, not the height. I think it's easy enough to notice when the pallet stops going down but the forklift is still moving. If need be, I lift it back up a little. If the pallet wants to follow me, I either have the angle wrong (usually), or I lifted the forks up a bit too much. Not sure that an eternally locked front suspension and solid tires would help me in that case.

When lifting a load, I expect the tires and suspension to allow the front to drop accordingly, but when the load starts coming up, I know that the load is off whatever it sat on and is now supported by the forks instead.
Maybe it's because I'm not used to operating a regular forklift and that makes it easier for me to adapt to what I'm working with, but the only thing I find tricky is to see the tips of the forks without moving around on the seat a bit. But I have the same problem when using the forks on the tractor, so that I am used to.

Lastly, I didn't know that the system was retrofitted. Everything I've seen and read points to that it was a regular part of production on the HMMH. Yes, they apparently experimented with various front and rear lockouts on several Unimog models, but the HMMH I thought came that way.

 

[BigBison]

I'm sure the HMMH came with the suspension lockout, I'm just wondering how long after production they went back and did it. I have no insider knowledge, it just *seems* like an afterthought retrofit to the truck as a whole. Right down to the double fuse-holder with one fuse in it and no wiring on the 2nd, or maybe that isn't original to my HMMH, hard to say...

 

[The FLU farm]

I'm sure the HMMH came with the suspension lockout, I'm just wondering how long after production they went back and did it. I have no insider knowledge, it just *seems* like an afterthought retrofit to the truck as a whole. Right down to the double fuse-holder with one fuse in it and no wiring on the 2nd, or maybe that isn't original to my HMMH, hard to say...

You're losing me here, Bison. You say that the HMMH came with the lockout, yet that it was retrofitted. That could be said for the forklift and crane, too.
Be that as it may, I did think of a situation when having the lockout could be very helpful: If lifting a heavy load to, or nearly to, maximum height of the lift's travel, and on reasonably smooth ground, I would prefer to have the suspension locked.
Other than that, I'd generally rather have a functional suspension.
I think that regular forklifts lack suspension and use solid tires since they're mostly used on flat and smooth surfaces, making them more stable, and I also think that the HMMH is intended to have a functional suspension when driving it. Especially over less than smooth things. It's just so much kinder to both the machine and the cargo to let the suspension do its thing.

 

[jstark45xd]

This morning I thought of one thing you should check out; a ripper. I don't recall seeing one in the photos of you digging through rock, and I'd think it would help quite a bit.
It pins into the holes on the back of the bucket, and is somewhat free-floating so you can still dig in regular fashion.

I agree and have been trying to find one. Haven't been able to.

 

[peakbagger]

I have the reportedly rare optional Wain Roy Ripper bucket on mine. Its a lot gnarlier than the standard ripper hook that came with the SEEs. It works well on fractured ledge and useless on solid granite. A Steel Soldiers member posted a article about this bucket in the Misc Technical manuals section of the website. Their observations on Page 9 are definitely applicable. The hydraulics will gladly pull the SEE into the hole even with the loader bucket fully deployed. I find that I just get the bucket in place with the bucket teeth above the ledge and then rake the ledge seems to work

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?116544-Digging-with-your-S-E-E

I also use the bucket for stump removal. I rake the roots on either side of the stump with the hooks and at usually loosens up the stump pretty well.

The trade off with this bucket is it sure doesn't dig a neat hole. I will probably pick up a standard bucket next spring and keep the ripper bucket in reserve.

 

[The FLU farm]

I agree and have been trying to find one. Haven't been able to.

I can give you the measurements if you want. It wouldn't take much to make your own and put a ripper tooth on the end of it.