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hydraulics in cold weather

SUMRX4
Explorer
Explorer
Does cooler weather typically effect hydraulics operation. Winterized my unit last week and when I tried to close the main slides (hydraulic operated) they would move about 6" and stop and the touch screen would say "Fault occurred" I could release the control and touch it again and it would move about 6" and do the same thing. I'm thinking it was just because the fluid was cold and a little thicker. Does this seem typical and if so, is there an additive to help with this issue?
23 REPLIES 23

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
You are such a BAD AZZ
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

JRscooby wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FACT is if someone wanted to start :Bmaking roads out of asphalt and also adding chip seal to it and this technology was new there is NO WAY the greenies would let this ever happen.


And if we had started recycling tires before steel belts we would never had steel wire in tires.

You EV people are living in Fantasy Island if you think your vehicles are "clean and green".


What is your solution? Burn it all down?


Burn it all down.. ?? Sounds like the Tesla crowd is doing that all by themselves…. Seams like we are hearing more and more stories about Tesla’s burning to the ground…

I like rolling coal ! ! ! !
Me-Her-the kids
2020 Ford F350 SD 6.7
2020 Redwood 3991RD Garnet

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
JRscooby wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FACT is if someone wanted to start making roads out of asphalt and also adding chip seal to it and this technology was new there is NO WAY the greenies would let this ever happen.


And if we had started recycling tires before steel belts we would never had steel wire in tires.

You EV people are living in Fantasy Island if you think your vehicles are "clean and green".


What is your solution? Burn it all down?


Solution is there is nothing wrong with burning fossil fuels as they are so clean and sure don't do the environmental damage like mining all the resources needed for all these batteries.

Bottom line quit acting like EV's are so **** clean.
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

laknox
Nomad
Nomad
People totally freak out about oil spills. Yes, some are bad, especially when there are other chemicals added to oil to change its properties, but the Valdez spill proved that letting nature take its course is often the best option. In the areas where people went to extremes in cleaning up the oil, like steam cleaning the shoreline, it literally =sterilized= the entire area, having killed pretty much all life, from micro to macro. In the areas where little to no remediation was done, they bounced back within just a couple of years and it was virtually impossible to tell where they were within something like 4-5 years. The other areas are =still= recovering some 32 years later. People forget that there are NATURAL oil seeps along the SoCal coast that, while messy, literally do little to nothing to the environment. La Brea Tar Pits, anyone? There are a lot of natural oil seeps around the world that Nature adapts to and "takes care of" without a "disaster". People get all up in arms about the SHORT-TERM effects that a spill causes HUMANS, like contaminated fishing areas, but LONG-TERM, Nature =always= wins.

(/rant)

Lyle
2022 GMC Sierra 3500 HD Denali Crew Cab 4x4 Duramax
B&W OEM Companion & Gooseneck Kit
2017 KZ Durango 1500 D277RLT
1936 John Deere Model A
International Flying Farmers 64 Year Member

JRscooby
Explorer II
Explorer II
Cummins12V98 wrote:
FACT is if someone wanted to start making roads out of asphalt and also adding chip seal to it and this technology was new there is NO WAY the greenies would let this ever happen.


And if we had started recycling tires before steel belts we would never had steel wire in tires.

You EV people are living in Fantasy Island if you think your vehicles are "clean and green".


What is your solution? Burn it all down?

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
FACT is if someone wanted to start making roads out of asphalt and also adding chip seal to it and this technology was new there is NO WAY the greenies would let this ever happen.

You EV people are living in Fantasy Island if you think your vehicles are "clean and green".
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

valhalla360
Nomad
Nomad
Cummins12V98 wrote:
sayoung wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?

You can't make this **** up ! My friend owns a sawmill/treating plant and during one state environmental inspection the lady inspector fined him because she found a millwright replacing a bad hydraulic hose that had ruptured and fluid was on the ground where he was working. She then tells him he could better control the dust on his plants dirt drives by spraying oil. The environment folks can be abserd


I know it's insane! Look what's poured on the roads to make a chip seal surface. Too many out their having to justify their jobs.


Other than both being petroleum based products, they are nothing alike.

Asphalt is the thick solid or semisolid remains of a barrel of oil after the higher value items are distilled off (asphalt is still valuable)

Motor or hydraulic oil will stay liquid at any reasonably expected outdoor temperatures. Asphalt will solidify at normal temps.

In the old days, they would mix in a little naphtha which would liquify it to allow them to work with it. If they wanted slower solidification, they would sometimes use diesel/kerosene. But that is considered bad form because the naphtha would evaporate into the air. For chip seal (and most asphalt applications), it's pretty much all heated to achieve a liquid state and as soon as it cools, it solidifies. Cold patch uses an emulsion technique to keep it workable.

That said, I do recall as a kid, we spread used motor oil on the dirt road out front to help keep dust down.

Back to the original question: In addition to viscosity changes making the pump work harder, might also be a weak battery. The cold will reduce the amps that the battery puts out, so that can also slow down the system and potentially trip the breaker.
Tammy & Mike
Ford F250 V10
2021 Gray Wolf
Gemini Catamaran 34'
Full Time spliting time between boat and RV

JRscooby
Explorer II
Explorer II
jsr21 wrote:
SUMRX4 wrote:
Does cooler weather typically effect hydraulics operation. Winterized my unit last week and when I tried to close the main slides (hydraulic operated) they would move about 6" and stop and the touch screen would say "Fault occurred" I could release the control and touch it again and it would move about 6" and do the same thing. I'm thinking it was just because the fluid was cold and a little thicker. Does this seem typical and if so, is there an additive to help with this issue?


You have an auto reset breaker that is getting warm and tripping. They reset themselves in 4-5 seconds. Your pump has to work harder in cold weather to move the fluid and is warming up your breaker sooner than normal. It's normal and won't cause any damage so don't worry. If you want to improve it you could swap out the breaker with a higher amperage one...easy to do.


This may not be the best advice; Breakers are normally not installed just to give people problems. Mostly they are to protect equipment. A higher capacity breaker might just damage the pump. OTOH, it might let wires get hot enough to start a fire.

JRscooby
Explorer II
Explorer II
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?


As to the car, back when I was running 2-stroke diesels, I got pretty good at preventing leaks. And I keep my cars on pavement, but understand oil dripped will likely end up in streams. I once bought a pressure washer to clean my truck. Used a few times, noticed rainbows in the gravel, sold it and went back to using a commercial site, paid them to take cleanup costs. (This is 1 of the less discussed benefits of electric vehicles)
I do not have the solution for oil sprayed on a site, but do know I would not be happy if I pulled in and oil was all over.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
sayoung wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?

You can't make this **** up ! My friend owns a sawmill/treating plant and during one state environmental inspection the lady inspector fined him because she found a millwright replacing a bad hydraulic hose that had ruptured and fluid was on the ground where he was working. She then tells him he could better control the dust on his plants dirt drives by spraying oil. The environment folks can be abserd


I know it's insane! Look what's poured on the roads to make a chip seal surface. Too many out their having to justify their jobs.


All oil is not the same. What was sprayed on quarry roads, and what used for sealing is pretty solid at normal outside temps.

jsr21
Explorer
Explorer
SUMRX4 wrote:
Does cooler weather typically effect hydraulics operation. Winterized my unit last week and when I tried to close the main slides (hydraulic operated) they would move about 6" and stop and the touch screen would say "Fault occurred" I could release the control and touch it again and it would move about 6" and do the same thing. I'm thinking it was just because the fluid was cold and a little thicker. Does this seem typical and if so, is there an additive to help with this issue?


You have an auto reset breaker that is getting warm and tripping. They reset themselves in 4-5 seconds. Your pump has to work harder in cold weather to move the fluid and is warming up your breaker sooner than normal. It's normal and won't cause any damage so don't worry. If you want to improve it you could swap out the breaker with a higher amperage one...easy to do.

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
sayoung wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?

You can't make this **** up ! My friend owns a sawmill/treating plant and during one state environmental inspection the lady inspector fined him because she found a millwright replacing a bad hydraulic hose that had ruptured and fluid was on the ground where he was working. She then tells him he could better control the dust on his plants dirt drives by spraying oil. The environment folks can be abserd


I know it's insane! Look what's poured on the roads to make a chip seal surface. Too many out their having to justify their jobs.
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

sayoung
Explorer
Explorer
Cummins12V98 wrote:
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?

You can't make this **** up ! My friend owns a sawmill/treating plant and during one state environmental inspection the lady inspector fined him because she found a millwright replacing a bad hydraulic hose that had ruptured and fluid was on the ground where he was working. She then tells him he could better control the dust on his plants dirt drives by spraying oil. The environment folks can be abserd

Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Explorer III
"What would you do in a state park?"

Clean what I could and throw it in a dumpster then kick gravel over it. What do you do every place your auto drips fluids on the ground?
2015 RAM LongHorn 3500 Dually CrewCab 4X4 CUMMINS/AISIN RearAir 385HP/865TQ 4:10's
37,800# GCVWR "Towing Beast"

"HeavyWeight" B&W RVK3600

2016 MobileSuites 39TKSB3 highly "Elited" In the stable

2007.5 Mobile Suites 36 SB3 29,000# Combined SOLD

JRscooby
Explorer II
Explorer II
Cummins12V98 wrote:
SUMRX4 wrote:
enblethen wrote:
Cold will make hydraulics work slow. Some hydraulic systems use various types of fluid which effects system operation.
What system do you have and what fluid is in it?
Some hydraulic systems, not nessesarily rvs, have screens on the intake to the pump that can become restricted.


My unit is a new KZ Durango Gold with an LCI system. Have no idea what type of fluid is in it. Haven’t looked into that yet. Was just here searching for clues.


You should know where your tank is located and what the correct fluid is along with the correct fluid level and how to check it.


If you have any single acting cylinders in the system, you don't want to add fluid unless need it when fully retracted.

Strange fact about oil; Over the last few decades at least some of the guys that drill water wells have switched to vegetable oil like used for cooking in their hydraulic systems. Under high pressure, a leak can contaminate a large area, and sometimes underground. Clean-up cost from a broken line could bankrupt them.

What would you do in a state park?