Volvo FL7 help

Just for BigCam...

If you want a fright, here are some piccies I took of the "additions".
s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/Track.../Volvo%20FL7%201990/

Hey, now that you've got all the trappings of a dedicated forum member, the pictures are roooly easy to put on your post. When you are on the photobucket, hover the mouse over the little picture, a drop down menu will appear, click on the bottom one, the IMG code, a little "copied" will come up, then go back to your post, right click and then paste. The picture will then appear when you post your reply.

Just like this-





I'll leave the rest for you to have a practice on.

Jeeze, just spotted, that crane isn't sitting on a sub-frame, danger Will Robinson. Good it's gone.
At least old Bill wouldn't have had to do too much cutting to get it off for you.

Ahh, you spotted that small issue! It seems they dumped the crane on the chassis rails and shoved some big bolts through with nuts already attached, then welded them to those plates. Problem is there was no room to get a spanner or socket on th enuts to tighten them, let alone that they then welded the plates to whatever was nearby. They even welded the washers to the crane, and cut off the bracket that holds the exhaust stack to the chassis and welded it to the crane.
Ripped off comes to mind, but at auction, sight unseen I guess you get what you get.
Anyhow, bits are here. Weekend to get the cab tilting and get some of the fiddly bits fixed. Wish me luck!

Now I am frustrated!!!
The cab won't tilt still. I pu ton the replacement cylinder and pumped, and the front seal promptly popped out. Dismantled and re-assembled it properly and tried again. No lift, symptoms the sames as original. The locks move but the cab doesn't move up. The oil is bypassing at the cylinder again. It is almost as if the cylinder is too long. The part where the piston seal is sitting is tapered and it obviously cannot build up pressure when it is in this part of the bore. So... either the ram is wrong, the cab/truck mounts are somehow shifted, or ... is the cab suppose to "pop up" once the locks release so it is then in the working part of the cylinder?? Somebody earlier mentioned that some designs have a feature where the ram is like this. I assume so that bouncing around it doesn't induce pressure in the lines. If so, how does it get to the part where the pressure can build? Just to prove it, I added a shackle to effectively move the home position of the ram out by a few inches and Voila! she lifts as she should. I didn't take her all the way in this state just in case it had "unintended consequences".

So You Volvo chappies .... am I missing something?

Hi trackie - I drove a new 8-wheeler Volvo FL7 service truck for Eltin Mining in WA back in the early 1990s, and recall that there was a safety device that you had to switch on/in to allow the cab to tilt via the tilt ram. This may have been in the form of a bypass valve so the ram couldn't raise by itself. Keep looking around that area and you'll find it, unless of course it has been removed.

(Later edit) You mentioned the cab lifting up to the working part of the ram ... is there a mechanical lock-down device (ie: over-centre lever) that locks down against spring tension when the cab is lowered? When this lever is released it may very well lift the cab enough to move the ram to the 'lift' area.

Thanks Bugly. Traced all the hoses and the only one this currently has is the bypass on the front grille. That one is fine. Maybe it used to have one, but like a lot of this truck, it ain't there any more... .

No mechanical lockdown. It has spring loaded hydraulic "hooks" which retract when the hand pump puts pressure on either up or down side of the cylinder. You have to pump both up and down as there is a vlave in the tilt cylinder which prevents it coming down without pressure on the down side (small piston with a pin which lifts a ball bearing off its seat).
Keep em coming though some little thought may trigger the clue I need to figure this out.

Has the geometry of the ram or the anchor points been altered in the previous accident damage or subsequent repair?

F10 rams are longer so maybe there has been a swap.

You mention buyer beware at auctions - a mate of mine went to pick his truck up(a V as it happens), started all good, nosed around parking area, all good, went up a slight rise and onto main road going down hill - and then it happened. His son, who was following, later asked him what all the weaving over the full width of the road was about. It turned out that all the s cams had been wound fully off so he had no service brakes, no maxis, no nothing. By weaving he managed to scrub a bit of speed off until lights changed and could get round a side street and come to a stop.