excavator maintenance?

[thebigo]

Ok, gig is out, this new guy here has some equipment. Thought I should start out a little inexpensive, and I know because of that, probably got some cheapness within. I didn't want to build cause I don't have the time. Would like to post some pictures, but not yet computer savvy enough to do so. Anyway I am really happy with my purchase, as soon as I find out how to post pictures I will do so. Got a RC4WD excavator and there 8x8 armageddon dump truck., have about 6 hrs each on them after tweaking.
Since this equipment came with very little directions for use and maintenance, was wondering If any body could help with some questions on the excavator?;
1. what type and weight of hydraulic oil can I use, (outside of RC4WD oil) and how often should I change It?
2. Saw a couple posts that Joe (LILGIANTS) replied to, about a filter and pressure gauge.
a. Hydraulic filter? not sure if I have one already installed or not? If not should I install one?
b. pressure gauge, where can I get one? Is this just a local hardware store
item?
3. should I grease any of the fittings or bushings, after each use, or several uses?

any help would be much appreciated, Thanks David

[motocrawler]

You can get gauges and filters from beswick.com

[thebigo]

Thanks motocrawler

[Lil Giants]

I changed the oil in the Leimbach powered excavators bi-monthly b/c I used them nearly every day, in the basement they kind sit inside a mini dust cloud as they work and being the cylinders are made of aluminum, the aluminum material wears a bit under higher pressures. I think the 4200XL hoe's cyls are probably aluminum too.

I would lift the boom to the top. Shut off pump. Operate the valves through the radio & by hand articulate the bucket & stick cyls 1st to squeeze the oil, then lower the boom last.

I use a veterinary plastic medical syringe with a 12 or 14 guage needle to suck the oil out the tank (they cost about 10 cents each). Be sure to suck as much oil out as you can before you start emptying cyls or you'll have a mess overflowing the tank.

Then use a clean syringe to refill. The tank on the model is not big enough to refill all cyls at once, you'll have to keep adding. Using a lower voltage battery while refilling oil system, like 6 or 7.2v, the pump will turn slower, creating less foam.

The 4200XL does not come with a filter. My Vario hoe I think is using fuel filters, the Vario company's mainline models are helicopters afterall. The Vario uses two, one for each return line, and the 4200XL has two return lines as well.

How often you change the oil depends on how much you use it. You can check quality & color periodically with sucking some out with a syringe & decide for yourself if it should be changed or not.

I use a 10W Hydraulic oil. I use my models in a room temperature 15 - 18C or so.

If you're using your model in direct sunlight at temps of 25+, then you would better with a 30W Hydraulic oil.

I've heard ppl say that they use ATF or engine oils, but you're taking a risk of a lower purity oil of buggering shyt up with leaks & loss of pressure. Hyd oil costs a little more & might be a special trip to a petroleum dealer to get it, but you're not using that much anyway & a gallon jug will last you a several yrs anyway.

The 4200XL doesn't have any bushings anywhere (not that I've noticed in the latest models, the early one didn't), it'll be steel pins in the aluminum plates, not much surface area to wear against... you could install your own selfmade bushings now or do it when the joints get wobbly -> your choice.

My Vario uses a steel pin with a hard plastic bushing & very little play in any of the joints 3yrs later with over 10cu yd of virgin digging moist brown clay.

[thebigo]

Thanks a bunch for the detailed info!!! Joe where did you get your pressure guage, and can I just get 10w Hydr oil at the parts store? I have latey been running at about 50 degrees? We are kinda ignorant down here, for the last 50 years we still havent brought ourselves to go to the Metric system. Motocrawler gave me Beswik for a filter and guage supplier, but they have several diffrent kinds of fittings with different pressures not sure what mine is and dident find a guage yet? Probably need to look harder on that WEB site?

[thebigo]

Very Sorry for posting in the wrong place, and to whomever moved my Post I appreciate It

[thebigo]

Joe, I also found some post's from you , replying to other members, about mixing on the Radio to stop the pump when it is not being used? Should I be concerned about this with the 4200xl excavator? It seems smooth on all the hydraulic functions. When extending the bucket out it seems to Labor a little, but doesn't seem to be a concern.

[Lil Giants]

A pressure gauge comes with the model kits I get, as well as all the necessary fittings. Your China hoe will be metric fittings as well, so you'll need to measure the tubing to get the correct fittings. You can mount the gauge between the valve and the prv with this simple device and extra hose.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...woe9AyGwnEXgDy

You'll need a guage that goes up to at least 300 psi or 25 bar. Your model is rated to run @20bar pressure, probably not wise to exceed that. 1Bar = 14psi (approx.)

Radio mixing hyds? that's moreso for dozers & loaders where hyd use is more intermittent. The excavator on the other hand, you're moving three valves simultaneously all the time anyway, so you'll have no oil deadheading through the prv.

Besides that, the 4200XL has a 4th valve that redirects oil directly back to the tank when no stick movement is present, that's so the pump isn't under pressure & will turn easier lowering amp draw.

That ridiculously large outrunner brushless motor that the China Company uses is dialed back in rpm so far, that channel mixing to start stop it continually will melt your esc that powers it. It takes considerable amps to initially start the motor & to do so repeatable in short intervals of time will create excessive heat build... most esc's have a thermal protection built into them, but the low grade China stuff.... who knows?

I buy the same name brand hyd oil that I use in my farm equip, it's a proven oil to me. You David in a different country, do have Mobil oil products there?

I can relate to some fahrenheit temps... 0C is about 32, 20C is about 70C, 30C is just below 90F.... metric rule for small distances in mm is such easier math for our hobby than messing with fractional numbers or decimal points.

[Supermario]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

....... metric rule for small distances in mm is such easier math for our hobby than messing with fractional numbers or decimal points.

AMEN brother! That is so true !

I think I was in grade 5 when the teacher said. Today kids, were going to learn the Metric system

Mario

[thebigo]

And a double amen to that, I find metric much easier Don't know why we continue to use the same ,(Standard), crapy system here. We for the most part have course threads on our Bolt's as well.
Speaking of ESC's, literally the first two minutes of run time on my 8x8 the drive ESC started on fire had to go buy another ESC from my local Hobby shop. Secondly, my dump ESC only ran in forward not reverse so I couldn't bring my box back down, so i had to get another ESC for that as well. RC4WD was very good about sending a replacement for the drive, still waiting on one for the dump. The excavator has been very impressive though, have had a lot of fun with it , guess we will see how reliable it is? Who knows may be I will start excavating my basement as Joe has. I have close to the same situation with my crawl space, as Joe, and have often thought about digging it out even before I heard Joes amazing story. Now that I know I can do it as part of my hobby, makes it much more desirable. The Big O's construction company must first be implemented.
Thank's again Joe for your great knowledge in this hobby.

David

[Lil Giants]

You're welcome David.

China is notorious for using recycled metals from around the world & I wonder how much QC they put into purification? My IPhone5 was likely made in China & didn't last a month, like WT?

Lets see some pics of your crawl space!

I kinda wish that was what I started out with, just a crawl space, then I'd have lots yet to do. I spend about a third the time today down there messing around than what I did 3yrs ago just to make it last as long as possible.... moderation.

[thebigo]

What I have heard is that the metals they mine in China are much more inferior to ours or weak. I think it has to do with carbon content but just guessing?
I will go into the darkness below with my I-PAD and see If I can get some pictures for you. It's probably easy to import them into our forum, I just need to figure out how to do that?

[TRUCKMAKER]

Hi thebigo, read the thread below and in the first post on that thread you'll find another link to the "posting how to".
http://rctruckandconstruction.com/showthread.php?t=7813
Hope this helps, if your doing it from a smartphone it is also quite easy.

Kent

[doodlebug]

Originally Posted by Supermario

AMEN brother! That is so true !

I think I was in grade 5 when the teacher said. Today kids, were going to learn the Metric system

Mario

Yah it bites me in the a everytime I cross the border, Ehh!
Cheer's, Neil.

[thebigo]

Thanks, Kent for the info, Kinda new to the forum thing, really enjoy it though, good people, good conversations, great Knowledge gained.

[TRUCKMAKER]

Your welcome!