Had a boom hoist brake lock up on me in Houston last Tuesday

Was doing a pick-and-carry with a 50-ton Grove and the brake seized halfway through a swing. Took me 30 minutes to bleed the air out of the system before I could set the load down safe. Any other guys here run into sticky brake issues on older hydraulic rigs?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret_gonzalez252d ago

Kind of feels like people are overthinking a brake lock on a 20 year old rig lol. If it's still making money and a quick bleed fixed it, maybe it really was just air or a little trash in the system. Not every hiccup needs a full electrical tear down.

grace5083d ago

You're blaming air in the lines but that brake lockup was probably just old brake pads glazed from heat. Air wouldn't cause a sudden lock mid-swing, it usually makes brakes spongy or slow to release. I've run older Grove rigs where the parking brake relay sticks when the solenoid gets hot, which matches your timing better. Sounds like you need to check the electrics and adjust the brake linkage before bleeding anything. Bleeding air is a bandaid fix when the real problem is worn out components from age.

butler.finley2d ago

You say air wouldn't cause a sudden lock mid-swing, but trapped air can expand fast with heat and lock a caliper solid if the fluid gets hot enough. I've seen it happen on a 50-ton where the return port got clogged with debris, not old pads, and a quick bleed fixed the whole thing. Sometimes the simplest fix is the right one, especially when you're trying to avoid tearing into a wiring harness on a machine that's still making money.