by cbender on 03 Feb 2011, 13:43
Hey Tom, hope you are having as good a winter as we are, though the recent cold temps had our mechanics scrambling. Regarding when a leak is cause for shut down...stating the obvious, if there is enough blue or red on the ground and an alarm is going off, you have passed that time. On our crew (running PB300 and 400s) our decision will primarily be based on rate of leakage. If you started out the shift with a full site glass and a small/medium leak develops that causes this to drop to the bottom of the site glass, then you better already be heading for the shop if close or in our case we have a couple of on-hill stashes of oil. I've been taught that a tiller or drive hose failure can empty the reservoir in about 16 seconds. Each operator needs to be constantly vigilant regarding leaks from both his/her cat and the cat ahead of theirs. Shut down may also be determined by what hydraulic system is leaking. If you blow a blade wing hose, it might not be as big an issue as say the parking brake line or any leak directly under the pumps and motors.
By the way, this year alone, we have had two or three failures of the hydraulic implement valve blocks which develop a crack. I suspect this is from operators trying to shake off the snow from their implements instead of shoveling, and this creates a momentary spike pressure in the block. This is just another training issue.
Curt Bender
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of acreage is forgotten"