# Teupen man bucket level Problems



## sgschwend (Jun 22, 2010)

My brother's tree service and uses a model 23 GT. He has found that he can receive repair parts from Teupen USA but having a "repair" person come out on an open line of credit is not acceptable. If the local hydraulic shop can't fix the machine then I come down about 1000 mile trip and find the problem and fix it.

I am posting this to see if anyone has a clue to the solution to this problem. The man bucket will not automatically level when the boom is going up, but will as the boom is going down. Often the going up issue occurs at pretty much the same place.

I suspect there is electrical wire damage inside of the boom. 

Any thoughts or related ideas would be a big help.

Thanks 

Steve


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## wjjmlg (Jun 27, 2010)

hello steve, i have a 15 gt and i had the same exact problem!! it is the wiring harness that has a broken wire in the boom. on the 15 gt there are 2 levels sensors that control basket level. one is a 2.5 degree out of level to adjust the basket. if that one does not work the safety, there is a 10 degree out of level safety stop. on my machine my number 18 wire that would control the basket 2.5 degree level broke when my top boom would extend out at 44 inches. i fixed it by killing the 120 volt circuit and using 1 wire to rewire it into the correct location. it worked great for about a year till another wire broke. luckily i still had 2 more wires that i could still use. well another year went by and i had used the other 2 wires to fix my machine for other problems. number 17 wire broke and then number 24 wire broke. well guess what? another wire broke and now i was out of wires!!!! just had to take my whole machine apart to rewire the main harness top to bottom!! not very fun!! got it working again but i figured out how it broke in the first place. wood and chips and little sticks get in in between the booms!!!! design flaw i think!! now i have to figure out how to block the opening between the booms so nothing can get inside the boom. i can tell you this, i did not get any help from spider lift at all. ryan still has not called me back to tell me what the part number is or what it cost!!!!!!!!!!! i had to find it in town. took me 3 or 4 days to find something that would work. i bought my machine from a bank repo, and they dont seam to want to help me too much. ryan may be very busy, but it would be nice to have somebody in parts that could help me when i need them. i can figure out what is wrong with my machine but i can't every get him to call me back with help!!!!! now i have a new problem with it, the timer button on top that gives you 10 to 15 seconds to operate it is not working right. i have to turn my machine off, then restart it for it to work again. guess i will have to change a timer and the circuit board out to fix it. has anybody had a time out problem besides me? hope this helped you out some. call if you need more info, will


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## sgschwend (Jun 27, 2010)

You could always contact the west coast folks. They told my brother that there is a recall on some of the machines, and they offered to check his serial number. The recall covers the boom pinching and cutting wires inside the boom.

Not sure why they didn't contact the owners directly. I can see them missing a second generation owner but my brother is the original owner.

I will follow-up and post what he finds outs, but I can see you know what is going on.


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## wjjmlg (Jun 27, 2010)

thanks, do you know who the west coast guys are? i don t have a number or name, thanks again, will


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## sgschwend (Jun 27, 2010)

Sent you a PM.


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## lxt (Jun 28, 2010)

Wow, sorry to hear of the problems guys! this is where tuepen should think about full proportional hydraulics!! I know on my lift the achilles heal is the electrical system!

I like the MLE machines & nifty lift machines just for such reason!




LXT...................good luck!


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## sgschwend (Jul 2, 2010)

Well the machine keep working manually. My guess is I will end up fixing it. I will not be surprised to find a design flaw. It sounds like other have had the same problem.

Sure would be nice if this recall thing is real that the factory covers this repair.

Certainly the machine is excellent, might be a good idea to spruce it up and sell it. Not sure what new ones are going for now, this one is about four years old.


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## sgschwend (Oct 5, 2010)

*Fixed it, thanks for the help*

I am currently at my brother's house and yesterday spent the morning fixing the bucket level problem.

Now it works great. I guess the operators were getting frustrated with the having to manually adjust it, for the past several months.

I also repaired the aluminum threaded insert on the engine cover. That repair removed a nasty rattle, don't see how they could stand that. I would recommend that the builder not use such lightweight fasteners on covers. Certainly the machine could afford the use of steel covers in those areas.


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