Boydstun screw actuator problem

Another forum member has a 2007 Sterling Screw truck. @frankdtank He may give you his input. Three of my friends ran them at Cooper for 3 or 4 years each. All three left Cooper for a company with better equipment. They all said they liked how easy they loaded, but they couldn’t keep them out of the shop. The ones converted to hydraulic may be great. These trucks are 12 years old and they are practically giving them away. If I were buying a used truck I would be more likely to find an older Cottrell that had ether been refurbished or that you could refurb and it could still have a lot of life. I had a 2000 Volvo Cottrell complete refurb at Cooper that operated like a new rig.

 

Thank you i appreciate your info ! Hope Frankdtank gives me some advice too MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

Well, I've been running mine for a couple of months with no issues. Keeping the screws greased and got my posts marked to avoid maxing out the decks. Very easy to load and not having to hang off the sides to strap cars is a lot safer as well. One thing I noticed is that it does not like the cold, the solenoids don't want to close all the way, if I were up north this could be a big problem. Remember my trailer has been converted to cylinders, but the fluid is still controlled by the electric crap. I talked to a guy with one of those trucks you are looking at (daycab Freightliner with all screw setup) , he said so far so good, he had one deck that was needing a little extra motivation from time to time but other then that it was fine.
If you are serious about buying one of these my best advice would be to test everything on the truck before you buy and I would PUT a CAR on the deck being tested. They might work fine empty, but not so much loaded... Don't let any "defects" slide like it's no big deal cause I talked to a local show that used to be a Boydstun dealer and knows the setup inside and out. Repairs are expensive and a pain in the ### if you don't know what you are doing. They had to fabricate some custom tools just to be able to do certain repairs. Just to swap an actuator you have to undo the top of the screw and lift it up.
Is there anybody in your are that has experience working on these? If not them maybe it's not worth the risk... The way I look at it is I got a solid, fleet maintained 07 "ground strap" truck with only 560K miles for under $30K. Good luck

 

Thanks so much Great insight on pros and cons Merry Christmas !

 

You welcome, Merry Christmas !