Preventive Maintenance for Sweepers

Preventing Hydraulic Pump Corrosion on Your Power Sweeper

You may share a problem which I know has stumped several sweeper owners. The culprit was a corrosion buildup which occurred between their 12 volt DC hydraulic pump and the bracket it was bolted onto, and also between the bracket and the truck frame. Although the pump is theoretically grounded via the bracket which holds it to the frame, the painted surfaces had not allowed the necessary grounding to take place.

The solution to this situation, which can occur on any vehicle with an add-on 12 volt power unit, is to connect a ground cable from the truck frame to the grounding post on the casing of the hydraulic pump. Sandwich the end of the cable which is bolted onto the truck frame between a standard washer and a star washer. Tighten the bolt enough to ensure that the star washer, which you should locate next to the frame, will "dig" through the paint.

This is a very slow-moving problem; sometimes the corrosion discharge doesn't show up for 3 or 4 years. You may want to check to make sure your sweeper has a grounding cable from the hydraulic pump to the truck frame, as shown.

This article is reprinted from American Sweeper magazine, v2 n1.

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