mrallinone
New member
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- 1
Hey everyone,
New member here. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge here.
Recently, my boss decided that we needed to buy a bucket truck, the theory being that we will use it to help us with our rental properties and our low voltage installation business. The truck we picked up is a 2003 International 4400 with an Altec body and (I think) Allison automatic. I'm not sure the exact model of body, as I have not been able to find any data plates with a model number on them. The truck was previously owned by Kea Energy and came to us with a Oklahoma title.
We bought it knowing the boom didn't work. The auction in Louisiana didn't give any specifics (of course), and the price was right, so we brought it home.
The truck is fantastic! Drove 4 hours home to Mississippi without a single issue. However, this boom issue is driving me insane. I don't know anything at all about bucket trucks, and my knowledge of the underlying IC chassis is limited to my experience installing low-voltage gear on IC school buses.
Here's what I know works. When you put the PTO on (brake in > trans to drive > turn PTO switch on > trans to neutral), the PTO engages and (to my knowledge) is working correctly. You can raise and lower the outriggers just fine and the engine idles up and down in response to the outrigger controls.
When you flip the diverter valve at the rear of the truck to the boom controls, this is where things start acting up. The boom fails to respond to input from the controls at the base of the boom or the bucket. Let's start at the base of the boom. I can hear what sounds like either air or hydraulic fluid in the valve body while playing with the control levers and when I flip the lever from lower controls/purge/upper controls to purge, I can hear noise like it is purging something. I can see that the boom is attemping to rotate when commanded, but not with enough power to do anything. Engine RPM does NOT raise in response to the controls at the base of the boom.
Moving to the bucket itself, I can get some slight response out of the jig and winch controls, but both are slow responses. I've also confirmed the safety switch is working as it will disable all controls when pressed. The joystick seems dead, and pressing the trigger does not adjust engine RPM. The boom will slowly attempt to rotate when commanded from the joystick, but like at the lower controls, it is very very slow.
Here's what I've done. I did replace the hydraulic filter today and I topped off the hydraulic tank to the full line on the dipstick with everything stowed and the truck off. This did seem to improve my outrigger responsiveness and speed, as well as improve the speed of the jig moving. I did observe what looks like a small air line snapped off of some type of sensor or trigger at the base of the boom, but I believe this is the switch for what I think is a electric backup pump at the base of the boom. When the truck is running, there's no air coming from either the line or the solenoid. There's also an unknown red 12-24ga wire detached here with a spade connector on it.
And thats about it really! It's a really clean truck and I can't see much evidence of leaks anywhere or anything major that would be the source of my woes. I've been playing with it for 3 days now and really haven't made any progress.
I'll attach some photos for reference.
Thanks in advance!
Brandon
New member here. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge here.
Recently, my boss decided that we needed to buy a bucket truck, the theory being that we will use it to help us with our rental properties and our low voltage installation business. The truck we picked up is a 2003 International 4400 with an Altec body and (I think) Allison automatic. I'm not sure the exact model of body, as I have not been able to find any data plates with a model number on them. The truck was previously owned by Kea Energy and came to us with a Oklahoma title.
We bought it knowing the boom didn't work. The auction in Louisiana didn't give any specifics (of course), and the price was right, so we brought it home.
The truck is fantastic! Drove 4 hours home to Mississippi without a single issue. However, this boom issue is driving me insane. I don't know anything at all about bucket trucks, and my knowledge of the underlying IC chassis is limited to my experience installing low-voltage gear on IC school buses.
Here's what I know works. When you put the PTO on (brake in > trans to drive > turn PTO switch on > trans to neutral), the PTO engages and (to my knowledge) is working correctly. You can raise and lower the outriggers just fine and the engine idles up and down in response to the outrigger controls.
When you flip the diverter valve at the rear of the truck to the boom controls, this is where things start acting up. The boom fails to respond to input from the controls at the base of the boom or the bucket. Let's start at the base of the boom. I can hear what sounds like either air or hydraulic fluid in the valve body while playing with the control levers and when I flip the lever from lower controls/purge/upper controls to purge, I can hear noise like it is purging something. I can see that the boom is attemping to rotate when commanded, but not with enough power to do anything. Engine RPM does NOT raise in response to the controls at the base of the boom.
Moving to the bucket itself, I can get some slight response out of the jig and winch controls, but both are slow responses. I've also confirmed the safety switch is working as it will disable all controls when pressed. The joystick seems dead, and pressing the trigger does not adjust engine RPM. The boom will slowly attempt to rotate when commanded from the joystick, but like at the lower controls, it is very very slow.
Here's what I've done. I did replace the hydraulic filter today and I topped off the hydraulic tank to the full line on the dipstick with everything stowed and the truck off. This did seem to improve my outrigger responsiveness and speed, as well as improve the speed of the jig moving. I did observe what looks like a small air line snapped off of some type of sensor or trigger at the base of the boom, but I believe this is the switch for what I think is a electric backup pump at the base of the boom. When the truck is running, there's no air coming from either the line or the solenoid. There's also an unknown red 12-24ga wire detached here with a spade connector on it.
And thats about it really! It's a really clean truck and I can't see much evidence of leaks anywhere or anything major that would be the source of my woes. I've been playing with it for 3 days now and really haven't made any progress.
I'll attach some photos for reference.
Thanks in advance!
Brandon
