[IHI]

Posted to different forums, different members have given links, so Mickey told me to try here in the Western section, this has been copied and pasted here and the things I tried earlier today with the results following as well:

Bought a used 7.5' western that is operated by the old cable system 3 years ago, dont know the pump model or anything as it's that old and any ID is long gone. This plow has always been dirt slow, after the first winter I had new cables installed to eleminate that question, but when I moved the arms behind the access covers on the pump by hand, the plow moved up and down extremely fast, guys at the shop disregarded my testing fun and said the way it is now is the way it's gonna be. Up and down is alright, but the side to side is a joke. I can literally back up in a 120' parking lot I do and it's just hitting the opposite lock position. Hooked it up the other day to avoid problems when it gets too cold and snow flies and the pump was froze up, gott'er back today, sealed the motor case/pump and it works the same if not worse than last season. After reading on plowsite.com , I'm almost positive it's an air bleed problem. So can somebody paste a link, or give me a quick rundown on how to bleed this fossil
I deal more with building/remodeling and this plowing is to get away from it all and make some play money, hence me not buying a new plow to play with. Look forward to any help from you fellas, thanks.

I just was referred to this site from a memeber "Mickey" of the other plowing board, and since this morning I have worked on the plow and I'll paste that response as well, still looking for any advice though.:

Well, went to bro-in-laws since he had a identical plow years ago, only his was new. We ended up draining all the fluid since this was pretty milky, the he bled it like he does his tractor cylinders by loosening the fitting where it goes into the angle cylinder. We did notice once all was said and done that the side to side seemed to work faster when the plow was just barely raised, when fully raised the action slowed down again, he thought it was turning okay, but I've seen another plow like this work as fast a new one and even he said his would slam when going lock to lock. So now I have new fluid, but still not the performance I guess I think it should have. Thanks for any help you can throw at me.

 

[Crash935]

The easiest way to bleed the system is to angle the blade to one side and then continue holding the controller to angle the blade for a few more seconds (do to both sides), this causes the pump to run over relief and return fluid to the tank. You should always angle the blade side to sides before raising after changing or adding fluid, this will prevent the pump from cavitiating and adding air into the system.

As for your friends plow, sounds like he still needs to add fluid if it angles fine on the ground but is slow or jerky while raised. Western straight blades hold and average of 1.75 quarts of fluid.

The easiest way to add fluid and make sure its full is to remove the 1/4 inch allen wrench plug that is on the drivers side of the pump towards the upper front corner. Add fluid (in opening behind motor to the left side) until it starts to run out of this opening. install plug losely, angle left and right, readd fluid until it runs out of opening again, reinstall both plugs, tighten, Raise blade and check angle.

 

[IHI]

This question was all me, 1 in the same plow. Next chance I get I'll hook it back up and try the angle plow thing and plug filling instructions as you mentioned. Thanks for replying!

 

[Mick]

Glad to see you made it, Josh. I've had time to read through your post again. Sounds like you may just need to drain, flush, refill and make sure it's full. If the old fluid was milky, I'd guess it just got old and some moisture got in. You may have taken care of leaks with the new cables, but the moisture was still there.

Chuck Smith, who owns this site, also has another very good site for snowplowing information. I've included a link to an article about changing hydraulic fluid:

http://www.snowplowing-contractors.com/snowplows.html

The following link is to another page that includes the first link:

http://www.snowplowing-contractors.com/

 

[IHI]

Well the storms going everywhere but here, so I printed all stuff from your links and may spend some time in the shop tomorrow tearin everything apart and seeing what's inside the pump, flushing the cylinders and trying to adjust cables. I appreciate all your help and hope to post back with some positive info and maybe some insight when somebody else buys an old road whore plow like this one

 

[BORDAINE]

The older cable style system had a problem with cable radius. your problem probably too tight of a radius in the angle cable. the min radius is 12" if you run cable tighter than that it slows down the cable throw making it angle slow so
Straight out your cable routing and it should fix your problem
Steve
p.s. I work for Western dealer, I have been installing & fixing western for 20 plus years. I still like the cable system best
you can listen to the and know whats wrong

 

[IHI]

When you get a chance do you want to come down here and fine tune this beast for me:greenange
Took and changed all the fluid as it was definately contaminated with moisture. It seems about the same speed as it has always been. The western destructions I downloaded noted it should take about 4 sec to go from center to full angle which is what this plow takes and then a good 8 secs from full left to full right. Which by todays plow standards is like a tortise. I heard they were supposed to angle as fast as the newer plows, but this is the only dinosaur I've personally seen in action so I have nothing personally to compare it to. Let me know what ya think. The tightest cable radius is where they come outta the grill, over the headlight mount and down into the pump which is roughly 9.5" and the manual says 8" is okay, but obviously the less the radius the better. May have to address that if you think the timing is too slow for the angle action of this unit. Too bad no dealer in my area has a clue or else I'd take it somewhere, but the shop I got this from siad what I got is basically what I got and it's the best that plow was and is ever gonna get. They carry Western, Heniker, and Fisher. Then the other strictly Western dealer on the other side of town told me they dont mess with plows that old anymore...but if I wnat a real plow they can give me a hellava deal...:nope

 

[BORDAINE]

I was just in Iowa yesterday, looked all over for you , couldnt find you, had to come home
Do you have controller in a floor mount? if so tight bend could be under mount. Western said 9"bend was OK. real world 12" is better. where the cable come thru the grill is more than likly the problem area. when you moved the levers by hand and the plow moved fast it proved there was no problem with power unit. it also sound like it is adjusted correctly. try taking cables out of the grill and running them over top of rad support and try the plow see if it runs faster. Note dont slam hood
What kind of truck is this on? Have the cables been changed?
So many questions - So little time
Please let me know what you find. plow should angle in less than 4 seconds, lift in less than 2.
P.S. I still play with cars
69 AMX 390 4sp :burnout

 

[IHI]

The plows on a 95 F-150. The control unit is screwed to the bottom of the dash just to the right of the steering column so the cables are basically a straight shot from the back of the joystick through the firewall. I had them install new cables last season because I thought the old ones may have stretched, but new cables=no improvement. When I get a chance I'll try rerouting the cables since that will be easy enough, now just need the time.
Sorry you missed me yesterday, I had to run outta town a few times yesterday to close some deals for future jobs and probably blew my chances at you fixin this thing. Tell ya what, I'll buy ya a 12 box if ya come back down Sat. mornin:grinz