Update: My crane's swing brake blew a seal yesterday

I was lifting a 4-ton HVAC unit onto a roof in downtown Austin when the swing brake just gave out on my Grove RT540E. Started drifting about 2 feet before I caught it and set the load down slow. Had to finish the pick without swinging, used the travel pedals to reposition instead. Anybody else had a brake seal go suddenly without warning signs beforehand?

2 comments

2 Comments

henderson.wesley2d ago

Heard about this happening a lot on the older RT540Es from a guy I talked to at a safety meeting last month. He had his swing brake lock up entirely on a pick over a school, no warning at all, just jammed. Ngl, drifting 2 feet with a 4 ton load is scary but you handled it right setting it down slow. Some guys swear by bleeding the brake lines every 500 hours to keep the seals from blowing, especially in the Texas heat. Might be worth checking the hydraulic fluid for metal flakes too, that's usually the first sign the seals are going bad.

adamgreen2d ago

Respectfully, I gotta push back on bleeding the brakes every 500 hours being the fix here lol. Those swing brake seals are a known weak point on the RT540Es, sure, but bleeding lines that often can actually introduce air back into the system if you're not real careful. I've seen guys do more harm than good chasing that, especially if the seals are already on the way out. Checking for metal flakes in the fluid is solid advice though, that's usually the real sign you need a teardown not just a bleed. Plenty of times a drift like that is just the valve getting sticky from crap in the oil, not the brake itself locking up.