sticky solenoid

nektreeworks · October 26, 2015, 08:43:20 AM

hello all. When I got to my forestry class this morning the teacher was out and had left a paper full of instructions for a job he wanted me to do. the job at hand was to figure out a problem that we have with our LT-40 woodmizer. It has a sticky solenoid that only seems to work when we give the hydraulic control box a firm kick :D. I was wondering if any of you could give me some help considering I can't seem to find much online.

Magicman · October 26, 2015, 08:51:44 AM

Sticky to me means that it stays operated, but your kick indicates that it does not operate without a kick. If it is the actual solenoid, replace it, but chances are that it is the microswitch which may need adjusting. Of course that will also fail and need replacing.

You need to do some simple troubleshooting with a voltmeter to determine which it is.

Jim_Rogers · October 26, 2015, 09:41:52 AM

sound like a bad ground to me. the kick is needed to make the ground contact.

Jim Rogers

Magicman · October 26, 2015, 11:26:54 AM

Well that is a good possibility. The ground is just as important as the hot.

Larry · October 26, 2015, 02:27:36 PM

I gave my buddy with a WM a dead blow hammer. Told him it works much better than his foot. :D :D

Sorry...couldn't help myself. ;D

UpInATree · October 26, 2015, 08:14:29 PM

Does the problem with your hydraulics happen on every control or only on one or two of them? If so, you can slightly move one lever and get the "sticky" one to operate. If this works, you need to adjust (or replace if bad) the microswitches as was mentioned above. Simple to do with an allen key. If you open the hydraulics box, you can see how the levers move the microswitches. Usually just a very small adjustment.

JB Griffin · October 26, 2015, 08:41:04 PM

I'm leanin towards bad motor brushes, mine got to where it wouldn't work unless you beat on the motor. my motor was to far gone for brushes had to buy a new one $350. :'(

drobertson · October 26, 2015, 10:14:12 PM

I'm going to say it sounds like a witch hunt,, which would be better found calling the techs, I like trouble shooting as much as the next guy, this sounds all too familiar to someone that wants answers without any effort on his part, I suppose I have an attitude on this one. If its a real issue, than why wait for a pile of possibles than get it fixed? Trees are trees and mechanical/electrical is just that.

Magicman · October 26, 2015, 10:59:21 PM

Which is why I said;

QuoteYou need to do some simple troubleshooting with a voltmeter to determine which it is.

nektreeworks · October 27, 2015, 08:17:48 AM

Quote from: drobertson on October 26, 2015, 10:14:12 PM
I'm going to say it sounds like a witch hunt,, which would be better found calling the techs, I like trouble shooting as much as the next guy, this sounds all too familiar to someone that wants answers without any effort on his part, I suppose I have an attitude on this one. If its a real issue, than why wait for a pile of possibles than get it fixed? Trees are trees and mechanical/electrical is just that.

The issue with going to look at it and see what is up is that we did not have our teacher in the classroom. We instead had a sub and we are not allowed ( for liability reasons) to run equipment or leave the classroom if the teacher is not there. Being that the sawmill is about 3/4 of a mile away it was out of the question to go look at it. Today the teacher is back in and I'll let you know what the outcome is!