How do you baby your CDS/PTO units?

[Mikey P]

Vawter, Art, Boyle, Ken and whoever else here who is a die hard CDS user I'd like to know all the steps you take to keep the mothership (van) happy and content.

I didn't have much luck with my 2011GMC/Buter set up. Lots of fuel tank and pump issues.


I'm heavily considering a Chevy/pro1200 set up for the near future and would love to think I could get 10 years of use out of it..

Am I dreaming?

 

[hogjowl]

Probably.

You are not on the truck anymore.

 

[dealtimeman]

We just cool ours down always and never have a problem

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Mike, our GMC Butlers serve us well. Maintenance is low and repairs are few.

Two times yearly all 5 Butler belts and all fluids are changed. Every 3-4 years they get a new pulsation dampener and unloader. Blowers are washed and lubed monthly. Oil changes are about every 6-7 weeks for the van engine.

That's about it.

We have had occasional issues with fuel pumps on the vans.

 

[hogjowl]

I think Mikey probably got a lemon. It happens. My impression of Butler is they are the Airstream trailors of the carpet cleaning industry. Ugly, but fully functional and dependable.

And both haven't changed in 40 years.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

We only have one, a WM Pro 2000. The boys have been running it hard, long stretches without stopping. I opened the hood to help it cool, but they say that looks "ghetto".

 

[Chris A]

I dont baby mine, I run the fock out of it and outside of replacing brass and wear items have had no issues with tm or van in almost 5 years/3300 hours.

 

[Art Kelley]

We only have one, a WM Pro 2000. The boys have been running it hard, long stretches without stopping. I opened the hood to help it cool, but they say that looks "ghetto".

I had quite a lot of underhood "issues" (expensive repairs) for a few years right after the three year warranty expired on my 03 Express and I think that was because I never thought to open the hood to release the heat in the driveway. For these last four-five years I've been keeping the hood open when I work in warm to hot weather and have much fewer problems. Maybe it looks ghetto, to me it's just normal procedure. Doing that and filling the fuel tank every day so I don't run less than 1/2 tank (keeping the fuel pump cooler) really reduced the number of problems compared the '87 Pro1200 which I had to have at least five fuel pump replacements on. And of course, number three, do the monthly engine oil changes. I don't change machine oils for 2-3 years now.

 

[Aero Tech XT]

Mike do you have to tilt your cab forward on your vortex (PTO Unit) with its Diesel engine to keep it cool?

 

[Jim Martin]

We only have one, a WM Pro 2000. The boys have been running it hard, long stretches without stopping. I opened the hood to help it cool, but they say that looks "ghetto".

get a electric fan and mount it in front of the radiator........hook it to a switch on the dash..off an ignition feed so that if you forget it is on when you shut the key off it will kill it........... ( lighted switches are better..).....when it is hot outside just turn on the extra fan.....in the winter just leave it off.....

I did this to my CDS and in the summer heat at 110 to 115 degrees...it never gave me any problems......

something else to think about...that fan shroud is not there just for looks and to protect you from the fan.....it also directs the air back with the hood open it is not pushing back like it should........

 

[bob vawter]

pay attention to the truck....
greasing all the zerks on the front end is # 1....
religiously changing oil and filter is #2
a good direct drive has only TWO zerks ta grease.....on the blower...
never ran a dual splash so i don know what ya gotta keep up on them.

 

[gimmeagig]

I had quite a lot of underhood "issues" (expensive repairs) for a few years right after the three year warranty expired on my 03 Express and I think that was because I never thought to open the hood to release the heat in the driveway. For these last four-five years I've been keeping the hood open when I work in warm to hot weather and have much fewer problems. Maybe it looks ghetto, to me it's just normal procedure. Doing that and filling the fuel tank every day so I don't run less than 1/2 tank (keeping the fuel pump cooler) really reduced the number of problems compared the '87 Pro1200 which I had to have at least five fuel pump replacements on. And of course, number three, do the monthly engine oil changes. I don't change machine oils for 2-3 years now.

I do the same with my 1999 CDS. I changed out to termostat on the truck from a 195 to a 215 to get an extra few degrees of heat on the wand. Works great but on hot days my machine used to shut down but now that I leave the hood open, no problems.

 

[gimmeagig]

I have a related question. In my waste tank is a tray that holds the filter for the blower intake. It seems to be tight but still there seems to be stuff that gets past it because I find unknown particles on the tray behind the filter. My machine is from 1999 and its the 4.8 model.
Is there a better filter I could get for this machine or is there a modification to make sure the blower doesn't brake because the filter failed?
Also, someone wrote earlier they lube and wash the blower regularly.
How do you wash a blower?

 

[FB7777]

Had problems with my 2000 and 2001 fuel pumps going out early , other than that its been smooth sailing .

Still running a 2000 and 2005 Butlers with minimal issues , normal wear and tear components.

I'd strongly recommend going with PTO / CDS especially where employees are involved

 

[gimmeagig]

Don't mean to be a butting in on someone else's thread with my own questions but it relates....
How do you maintain( baby) the aluminum waste tank. Mine is pretty pitted after all those years and I had one leak already. I was able to fix it but it was a pain.

 

[FB7777]

Butler uses Stainless as did White Magic . Are the new Sapphire WM units still stainless?

The aluminum tanks was one of the major reasons I didn't chose a HydraMaster

I tend to keep my units for 10 + years tho

 

[Jay_wat]

I have an '87 JEM unit,,change the oil often, hit the zerks, replace the belts every other year,,on the really warm days, I also pop the hood,, has been a steady unit, no complaints!

 

[Mark Saiger]

Mike, our GMC Butlers serve us well. Maintenance is low and repairs are few.

Two times yearly all 5 Butler belts and all fluids are changed. Every 3-4 years they get a new pulsation dampener and unloader. Blowers are washed and lubed monthly. Oil changes are about every 6-7 weeks for the van engine.

That's about it.

We have had occasional issues with fuel pumps on the vans.

About the same, except we change the van motor oil every 1000 miles (hour meter is even low hours of run time), at 50,000 miles we switch the van motor oil to Rotella T 15-40. We have found this oil a real good product and have had friends test this oil with motors on dyno's.

We tend to have the transmission oil changed and filters replaced in the transmission once a year.

I just tend to dump oils early to keep things fresh and clean.

Vac, wash and armorall everything A LOT to keep them looking good. We rinse off the vans everyday in the winter before parking to make sure all road grime and salt are off the vehicles. And for us, they are always in a heated shop and out of the elements.

We do get over 10 years on some Butlers. We have a 1993 Butler and GMC that a family friend still uses to clean with part time that has 250,000 miles on the original drive train and motor, as well as over 11,500 hours of run time on the Butler and original van motor (which is another 379,500 miles on that motor!). That puts this motor at 629,500 miles of possible road miles! The motor just got a small oil leak last year I am told. I think it is a pan gasket. I am a firm believer of keeping the oil fresh and not letting the interior of the motor get dirt and grime in them that eats things up faster. Same with the blowers and cat pumps. Change the oil early! Oil is cheap and use good oil and filters!

We have changed out one drive shaft for the butler unit I believe on that system, and about 3 cat water pumps, but the blower is the original as well as the 210 waste tank and 110 fresh water tank.

The van is getting a bit rusty, but he keeps patching it up so it still looks good sitting in the driveway cleaning. But that little van has made a lot of people money!


Here's a pic of the old girl when I purchased it from the family to just start cleaning part time again while I was still teaching. She has been such good unit for our family. Gonna be hard to see the day she is permanently retired



Mark Saiger

 

[Jimmy L]

I pop the hood too when it's hot.

Even when I pull into the garage I pop the hood to further cool it off.

 

[The Great Oz]

I didn't have much luck with my 2011GMC/Buter set up. Lots of fuel tank and pump issues.

We replaced fuel pumps every 40k in the 2001-02 GMCs until GM came out with a new pump. No problems since. 2006-07 6-liter engines have an issue with breaking valve springs.

Start by ordering the truck with the large engine to be assured of getting the heavy duty transmission, then order the trailer towing package to get all the coolers and an upgraded electrical system. Change your engine oil filter every month and use a Baldwin, Wix or other top-quality filter. Change all oils (all synthetic) every year. After the warranty is up, purge the cooling system and replace the red stuff with Prestone. Transmission service every 25k.

Get a General pump. Clean the tank after each shift and it won't rot. As Bob said, grease the shaft fittings. (We made an extension to get to difficult to reach front fitting, but there has to be some kind of extension you can buy.) Use synthetic oils (no blends).