Why the hydraulics?

I heard the same today

 

I believe it's in the name of "safety". Somebody MIGHT climb under the truck while the pump is running and get caught up in the PTO shaft.

 

I know Gibsons has required it for new rig ups, or the alternative is if your going direct drive, is to hook up a pressure shutdown system, in the event the riser valve is closed, or closes and your pump pressure hits a certain PSI, it is tied to your trucks ECM and shuts the truck down.
There are pressure monitors you can view your pressures. I have heard this system costs around 5-6K to install, and does work, they have 3 different sensors to put in, heavy oil, condy, and light oil sensors.

I know when I heard Gibsons was mandating it a few years back, it would only be a matter of time til others followed suit, seems like thats how things go in the patch, 5 years ago, we were told 4 Head h2s monitors are now required, and now almost every company requires it on their leases.

I know of at least one person a year being sucked into their PTO shafts, usually killed, or maimed, and in all the years I ran direct drive PTO shafts, I wouldn't even crawl under the truck with it running, let alone engaged. Just the air dryer discharging could blind you I am sure, but some people get rushed, 15loads a day, gotta go, gotta go and make bad decisions, or maybe, just no common sense.... that seems rampant at times... LOL

 

Yes I made the jump this spring/summer when I upgraded my units to all rear deck mount hyrdraulics, I heard rumours of -40 issues in the winter, but I switched the oil to a winter hydrex blend, and haven't had any issues yet, even in the -35 over the holidays. Happy so far, expensive to rig up, but on the next truck, just cut the U bolts and move the unit over, new hoses and good to I think.

 

I think the new issue is spill stops and deadheads blowing up the pumps. All our ropers are mandated to have pressure bypasses on the direct pumps now. And they are pushing for hydraulics even on our tandem quads.

 

I will admit, being the first winter since going to hyrdaulics, engaging the pump while standing right there is quite nice, especially when trying to load frozen trailers first thing, you can engage and watch the pressure gauge climb, your load hose start to stretch out, then dis-engage and try it again, until its broke free. Same goes with pushing into a set up riser, engage, pressure up slightly, disengage, then keep trying until its free.
My hydraulics are set to kick out at 80psi, my slinky hoses are tested at 375, and rated for 250 I think, so 80 is way under their limit, and I hate pumping against pressure, we used to unload at a skid by swan hills, 125lbs at idle, we were replacing PTO's every 6-8 months, carried 10lbs of shearbolts and there were enough hoses blown there, it was paved almost.. LOL hated that.