Vulcan 8 x 8

[CarterKraft]

I have a 2 axis joystick for this thing
I'll get pic tomorrow.

 

[WaterH]

You driving this thing around yet?

Havent touched it in a month. Still haven’t got my golf cart working. Bunch of other stuff going on. It’s been so freaking hot out, hard to work outside. Just starting to cool off now. (In the last week)

I have a 2 axis joystick for this thing
I'll get pic tomorrow.

I ordered (and got) one for the wheel lifts. I haven’t put on yet. Have no idea what size I need for this. Probably not important for the wheel lifts, but when I want to control the wheel motors, I’m sure it has to be right.

 

[CarterKraft]

This is "new" nothing wrong with it. I imagine it is complicated to implement to a controller but it might be able to be hacked to just use the axis sensors as inputs to a motor controller of sorts.

 

[WaterH]

I thought you ment a mechanical valve. That thing is way over my head.

 

[WaterH]

This is "new" nothing wrong with it. I imagine it is complicated to implement to a controller but it might be able to be hacked to just use the axis sensors as inputs to a motor controller of sorts.

This is what I was picturing. (And got for the wheel lifts)

 

[WaterH]

So I finally got my gulf cart fixed. ($700) I got stalled on my other project, so let’s test the Vulcan. Hooked 30 volts to the starter and gave it a square of gas. it’s been a few months, but it started right up. Can you say smoke?

The purpose of starting it was to check if I had “pilot pressure”. It had none. I checked the resivour and it was low. I had a slow leak at one of my front ports. I fixed it long ago Before I moved it back 20’. It must have leaked allot more than I thought. (No wonder the grass is not doing good there. I’m going to have to get another 5 gallon bucket of hydro.

 

[total newb]

Fuck yeah.

 

[WaterH]

To day I got some more hydraulic fluid and dumped a couple gallons in. I got to looking at my plumbing and I saw I had things hooked up wrong. Kind of piss off I was waiting all this time to do this test and it was wrong. So I hunted down some other fittings so I could hook it up right.

Started it again. This time it started real easy and ran pretty good. Still some smoke, but not as much as yesterday. Closed the bypass real slow to watch the pressure build. The gauge needle didn’t move. I reved it up and the needle barely moved. I got looking real close and the needle would not get to the second mark off the pin. I was thinking that was about 45 psi which is not going to do nothing in the hydraulic world. There seemed to be some oil coming out of the transmission breather. Not sure what that was about. The transmission just splits the engine to three pumps. (All gear drive)

Anyways, I was kind of pissed off the pilot pump probubly needed to be rebuilt. I started putting away the tools in a huff when I got to looking at the gauge. For some reason I was thinking I had a 0-2000 psi gauge. It was a 0-10,000 gauge. It also had a “Bar” scale that confused me. The second line off the pin is 500 psi! Holy shit! I was raving the engine trying to get it up. Lol. Now I figure I had about 450 psi which is around where it should be for pilot pressure.

I feel much better now. My next step is to hook up my levers to control the wheel lifts. I just plan to use pilot pressure for that. If that works, I will commit to spending a few grand. We’ll see.

 

[CarterKraft]

To day I got some more hydraulic fluid and dumped a couple gallons in. I got to looking at my plumbing and I saw I had things hooked up wrong. Kind of piss off I was waiting all this time to do this test and it was wrong. So I hunted down some other fittings so I could hook it up right.

Started it again. This time it started real easy and ran pretty good. Still some smoke, but not as much as yesterday. Closed the bypass real slow to watch the pressure build. The gauge needle didn’t move. I reved it up and the needle barely moved. I got looking real close and the needle would not get to the second mark off the pin. I was thinking that was about 45 psi which is not going to do nothing in the hydraulic world. There seemed to be some oil coming out of the transmission breather. Not sure what that was about. The transmission just splits the engine to three pumps. (All gear drive)

Anyways, I was kind of pissed off the pilot pump probubly needed to be rebuilt. I started putting away the tools in a huff when I got to looking at the gauge. For some reason I was thinking I had a 0-2000 psi gauge. It was a 0-10,000 gauge. It also had a “Bar” scale that confused me. The second line off the pin is 500 psi! Holy shit! I was raving the engine trying to get it up. Lol. Now I figure I had about 450 psi which is around where it should be for pilot pressure.

I feel much better now. My next step is to hook up my levers to control the wheel lifts. I just plan to use pilot pressure for that. If that works, I will commit to spending a few grand. We’ll see.

Good deal!

Watch that pump drive though, if it's full and those pump gears are running submerged it can/will kill those gears/bearings.
Obviously these short duration tests probably won't matter but don't forget about them.

 

[WaterH]

Good deal!

Watch that pump drive though, if it's full and those pump gears are running submerged it can/will kill those gears/bearings.
Obviously these short duration tests probably won't matter but don't forget about them.

Im not sure I understand. When you say pump drive gears, you mean what I’m calling a transmission? If so, running over full will kill them how? Heat? That’s the only thing I’ve ever heard of to full oil causing. I checked the level a long time ago. So the only way it could be full is if the hydro fluid is leaking in there. (That is a possibility)

The hydro fluid was not going down while I was running it, but it could be a slow leak from one of the pumps when it sits.

Question, would you expect the three pumps to have seats that go into the tranny, or would there be three shafts coming out of the tranny and into the pumps? If it were the latter, I wouldn’t think hydro oil could leak into the tranny.

In any case, I’ll check the level. It doesn’t have a dip stick, just a plug on the top I can look in. I know the level was 5-6” down from the top before and I could see some of the gears. The oil that came out of the breather was kind of brown like water was in it. But I don’t see how that could be. Come to think about it, I don’t remember there being any kind of cooler on the tranny. I wonder if there could be some kind of water jacket in there.

 

[CarterKraft]

Im not sure I understand. When you say pump drive gears, you mean what I’m calling a transmission? If so, running over full will kill them how? Heat? That’s the only thing I’ve ever heard of to full oil causing. I checked the level a long time ago. So the only way it could be full is if the hydro fluid is leaking in there. (That is a possibility)

The hydro fluid was not going down while I was running it, but it could be a slow leak from one of the pumps when it sits.

Question, would you expect the three pumps to have seats that go into the tranny, or would there be three shafts coming out of the tranny and into the pumps? If it were the latter, I wouldn’t think hydro oil could leak into the tranny.

In any case, I’ll check the level. It doesn’t have a dip stick, just a plug on the top I can look in. I know the level was 5-6” down from the top before and I could see some of the gears. The oil that came out of the breather was kind of brown like water was in it. But I don’t see how that could be. Come to think about it, I don’t remember there being any kind of cooler on the tranny. I wonder if there could be some kind of water jacket in there.

Off memory of your setup the entire thing is hydraulic driven so the "transmission" is really just a pump drive. A set of gears to split rpm to reach pump shaft. Usually the gears are on roller bearings in the front/back of the pump drive, taking all the load off the pump shafts and only spinning the pumps.

When the oil is too high it will submerge the gears and severely overheat the oil then the gears, once the gears soften up from heat they're toast.

I can't find a picture anymore cause fuckin chatgpt shit has totally fucked the Google search.

None of our stuff has cooled pump drives, there must not be much heat generated in them.

 

[WaterH]

So I built amount for the hydro levers. This is just temporary to see if this will work.

Mounted the levers and plumbed it up.

To refresh your memory, these are to jack the wheels up and down. This will be the first real test of the hydro pumps. I hooked up the gulf cart and hit the starter. It started up quick with a couple squirts of gas from a hand sprayer. I let it run for a minute or two while I got things set up.

Right when I’m getting ready to pull the first lever, it quits. WTF! I crank it and crank it and crank it. No joy. I drained some fuel out of the filter and it doesn’t smell very much like diesel. I put it in a little metal cup and hit it with a torch. I can boil the contents and no flame. Not sure if that’s a good test, so I put some fresh diesel in the cup and boil that. It flares up right away and continues to burn without the torch. Hmmmm

I open the fuel tank.

If you look close, you can see water on the bottom. I just cleaned this whole tank and put 15 gallons of fresh diesel in it about 6 months ago. SOB. There must be a couple gallons in there. F me. Can’t work on it now, so it will have to wait. What a let down. The only thing I can figure is the fill tube is leaking when it rains. (It’s really cracked up)

 

[Bacho]

Following,

I replaced all the glow stuff on my 6.2. It starts before a complete revolution. Might be worthwhile for the hassle.

 

[Sceep]

Late to the party on this one but hell yeah! This thing is nuts!

 

[WaterH]

So would I assume that the water has filled up the filter and stopped the fuel from getting to the injection pump? What I’m asking is, will water go through the filter?

Im thinking how I can get the water out. If I can just tilt the tank towards the drain and install a bleed valve, I could just bleed till I start getting good fuel. There would be some water left, but I hope the filter would catch it. Then I could open the blended on the filter and run the lift pump till I get good fuel there. After that, it should start, right? Or would I need to crack all the injectors?

 

[CarterKraft]

If it's a water separating filter it won't go through easily.
The easy way would be to siphon it off the bottom of the tank and drain the filters.

 

[aczlan]

If it's a water separating filter it won't go through easily.
The easy way would be to siphon it off the bottom of the tank and drain the filters.

And replace the cracked fill hose that you think let the water in...

Aaron Z

 

[WaterH]

And replace the cracked fill hose that you think let the water in...

Aaron Z

All ready pulled it off a capped it for now. Raining like hell today.

 

[MattS]

As long as you think the pickup in the tank is at the lowest point I would rather unhook the fuel line at the pump and pressurize the tank to get the water out. Or you will still have lines filled with water even if you get the tank clean.

 

[arse_sidewards]

As long as you think the pickup in the tank is at the lowest point I would rather unhook the fuel line at the pump and pressurize the tank to get the water out. Or you will still have lines filled with water even if you get the tank clean.

How big is the tank? Can you drain it into a 55gal drum and then blow everything clean and dry with air before replacing the fuel?

 

[WaterH]

Got some more work done today. I saw a utube on “Mr. Funnel” and decided to give it a shot. For those that havnt heard of it, it has a hydrophobic screen in it. I pulled the plug on the tank and drained maybe 2 gallons and it stopped. I poured it through the funnel and most of it went right through the screen without issue. There was some water in the funnel.

I pulled The top cover and there was still lots of diesel and water in the tank. I put a level on the tank and it was tilted away from the drain. So I let the two wheels on the right rear side down with my controller. Pulled the plug again and now lots of stuff came out. I say stuff because it had lots of cloudy shit in the fuel. When I dumped it in the funnel, it would drain for a bit and then just stop even though the funnel was half full.

I dumped the funnel in a scrap bucket and then continue dumping fuel in the funnel. Eventually, I had 6 gallons of diesel and 2 gallons of water. It wouldn’t drain anymore out of the plug even though there was still some water/fuel in there. The drain is welded on the side of the tank, but not quite on the bottom. (You can see it on the right here.)

I sponged up the rest through the top cover. I rang out the rag over the funnel and found that most of the remaining liquid was water. Once I got it cleaned out, I installed the plug good and dumped the fuel back in the tank. I dumped it in through the funnel for a second run to get the last of the water out.

The whole 6 gallons went through the funnel with only a small amount of water captured in the funnel. That water might have been in the jug before I put anything in it. Then I dumped 10 more gallons of fresh diesel in through the funnel. I spread a small amount of silicone on the cover and bolted it up.

Hooked the golf cart back up and cranked the motor with the bleeder open on the filter/separator. After running a quart through, I closed the bleeder and cracked the injectors. Cranked the motor again till the injectors appeared to be spitting fuel. Tightened them up and a little more cranking and she started up. Smoked like a steamshovel for bit and then started running better then ever.

Reved it up till I saw 500 lbs. on the pressure guage. Pushed the lever for the right side wheels and she came up ever so slow. I tried the left side and I thought it was not working. It appears that when I move the levers, the first wheel to move is the one with the flat tire. When it runs out of travel, then the rest move real slow. I guess 500 lbs. is not really enough. I sucks because I have a flat tire on each side. I’m going to get them fixed half assed so it works better.

I was pretty happy with that, so I went on to the next idea. I fit my tow bar on the back of the Vulcan.

Im thinking if I get the flats fixed, I can jack the four inside wheels up and tow this pretty easy with my tractor. It has been a major bitch towing this so far. I’m looking to put it in my shop so I can do some more work on it. It was like 60 degrees today, so won’t be able to work outside much longer.

 

[aczlan]

It was like 60 degrees today, so won’t be able to work outside much longe

Laughs in rustbelt


Aaron Z

 

[arse_sidewards]

Laughs in rustbelt


Aaron Z

45-60deg is prime outside work weather because you can exert yourself without breaking a sweat right off the bat and long pants and PPE aren't uncomfortable.

 

[aczlan]

45-60deg is prime outside work weather because you can exert yourself without breaking a sweat right off the bat and long pants and PPE aren't uncomfortable.

Exactly.

Aaron Z

 

[WaterH]

I’m very impressed with the “Mr. Funnel“. Now I’m wondering about the 30 gallons of diesel/water that I drained out of this months ago. It’s just been sitting in a drum in my shop. If I run it through the funnel, I might have 20 gallons of old diesel. Does old diesel become completely worthless? Maybe I could run it in my truck a little at a time mixed with fresh. I would like to get rid of that drum.

 

[WaterH]

Today I went out and started it first hit. I shut off all the wheel jacks except the flat tires. Then I just lifted them with my levers.

It is pretty cool if I had a flat and could change a tire without a jack.

I got a question for you hydro guys. Should I be somehow bleeding the air out of this system? Will it just bleed out by itself?

 

[aczlan]

Today I went out and started it first hit. I shut off all the wheel jacks except the flat tires. Then I just lifted them with my levers.

It is pretty cool if I had a flat and could change a tire without a jack.

Nice

I got a question for you hydro guys. Should I be somehow bleeding the air out of this system? Will it just bleed out by itself?

If the cylinders are two-way (where you can lift and lower them, I think I remember them being that way) they will self bleed running them up and down a few times.


Aaron Z

 

[WaterH]

Nice

If the cylinders are two-way (where you can lift and lower them, I think I remember them being that way) they will self bleed running them up and down a few times.


Aaron Z

Yes they are.

 

[WaterH]

Now that I got the flat tires off the ground, I guess I should fix em. I took the first one and pumped it back up. I squirted bubble stuff on and it was leaking all around the bead and at the valve stem. I figured the bead was rusty and need to sand it smooth. I’ve never takin apart Humbee rims, but it couldn’t be too hard. Remove the 8 bolts and pound them apart.

These split rims are slightly different than my HEMTT rims. They have a much bigger O-ring and this one was fairly flat from being assembled for so long. The guys on Steel Solders said they are reusable, so cleaned everything up real good. A high speed wire wheel smoothed the bead surface.

The sealing washer in the valve stem was really cracked up. Here you can see my rubber/plastic caps and plug version of a bolt bucket. In the front of the box you can see the valve stem and two rubber bushings. Both are to a shock mount. The one on the left has been cut thinner to go on the stem.

I put the whole thing back together and aired it up. All the previous leaks were fixed, but now the O-ring seal was leaking. I took it down again and greased it up. No joy, so I went to eBay to get new O-rings for both flats. I found a seller that said that red O-rings were for the 24 bolt wheels and black ones were for the 12 bolt wheels. I knew I didn’t have 24 bolts and my rings were black. So I ordered 2.

Then I went down to the garage and see mine are 8 bolt wheels. (Not the mount lugs) I call up the place and he tells me I have some real rare Humvee rims and O-rings I ordered are not going to fit. What’s more he doesn’t sell the right ones. Grrrrrrr. It took 4 phone calls and a couple days to cancel the order.

I finally found the right ones and got them coming.

So in the mean time I changed gears and worked on the exhaust. I had rigged a couple pipes on it along time ago in case I got it started. My main concern then was not burning the hydro lines. They both point down at extreme angle that sucks. When I’m running it, the smoke is coming out everywhere and burning my eyes. Also, some of the smoke is the grass burning under the truck. I didn’t want to spend any real money on it yet so I rigged some stainless pipe I had laying around.

First the rear pipe. It runs down the frame. It ends just out of the pic. I would be nice if it ran out the back, but I didn’t have enough pipe.

The front pipe was much more of a pain, but a piece of flex pipe and the rest of the stainless pipe did OK.

They both exit right behind the fuel tank.

I still have to get some muffler clamps before I start it, but I think it will be much better for testing. Long term I will need revisit this.

 

[Bacho]

I’m very impressed with the “Mr. Funnel“. Now I’m wondering about the 30 gallons of diesel/water that I drained out of this months ago. It’s just been sitting in a drum in my shop. If I run it through the funnel, I might have 20 gallons of old diesel. Does old diesel become completely worthless? Maybe I could run it in my truck a little at a time mixed with fresh. I would like to get rid of that drum.

IMO, diesel doesn't go bad. Just make sure it’s clean and run it.