Charles Machinery/Ditch Witch V30 trencher operation

I have a V30 that I bought from an insurance company. It had been flooded in 10" of water for a short period. There wasn't water in the gas or oil. It runs , moves, hydraulics work. Four of five hydraulic controls at center operate --steer, blade up, blade angle, boom up. Far right is crowd. It doesn't do anything. It has another control valve on the right is slow /fast . It doesn't do anything either. On the left is control valve for the front boom It doesn't do anything either Anyone know if I missing something or are they bad valves

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Originally Posted by lens12

I have a V30 that I bought from an insurance company. It had been flooded in 10" of water for a short period. There wasn't water in the gas or oil. It runs , moves, hydraulics work. Four of five hydraulic controls at center operate --steer, blade up, blade angle, boom up. Far right is crowd. It doesn't do anything. It has another control valve on the right is slow /fast . It doesn't do anything either. On the left is control valve for the front boom It doesn't do anything either Anyone know if I missing something or are they bad valves

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lens12,

The control valve on the right (slow/fast) controls the speed of the drive wheels while trenching. It only works when the digging chain is moving. You should have another lever on the floor (right side in front of your seat). This lever sides forward to drive the wheels normally for transport. Slide the lever to the rear to drive the wheels slowly during trenching. It actually disengages the mechanical drive train and engages a hydraulic pump that propels the vehicle. The digger engagement handle behind your seat must also be moved to the left to engage the digging chain. The transmission must be in gear and the clutch released (2nd gear is normally used during trenching) before the digging chain and the hydraulic propulsion will operate. Once the chain is rotating, the fast/slow control on the right will control the direction and speed of the wheels. On some units, the 5th center hydraulic handle controls direction of wheel rotation (forward/reverse) and the fast/slow lever controls the speed.

Harvey Sitzlar
harvey@odometer-repair.com
www.fordodometerrepair.com
Ford Intermittent Odometer Repair
Heater Core Replacement Procedures

Thanks for the response. After I posted. I went out & fidddled with it. It works as you said. To get the front boom valve to work the crowd valve has to be engaged. It has a 3' digging stick. Can it be lengthened or a longer one installed?

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Originally Posted by lens12

It has a 3' digging stick. Can it be lengthened or a longer one installed?

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Of course you realize that lengthening the stick changes the geometry, and thus decreases the digging force with the amount of hydraulic power available.

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Originally Posted by lens12

Thanks for the response. After I posted. I went out & fidddled with it. It works as you said. To get the front boom valve to work the crowd valve has to be engaged. It has a 3' digging stick. Can it be lengthened or a longer one installed?

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Mine has a 5 or 6 ft digging boom. It has more than ample power to dig to the full depth. You just need to slow the vehicle motion to allow more time to dig and extract the extra dirt. I have on occasion stopped the chain by accidentally wedging big rocks in the sprockets. Don't know if the booms are actually still available for purchase, but they were still listed in the 2010 Ditch Witch catalog. You can download a copy of the catalog here: http://www.ballantineinc.com/sites/d...alog-10-08.pdf See pages 23 and 24 in the catalog.

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Originally Posted by Bob Rooks

Of course you realize that lengthening the stick changes the geometry, and thus decreases the digging force with the amount of hydraulic power available.

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My apologies. When you said "digging stick", my head went to thinking backhoe.