I am curious if anyone else was taught that you should not take any of your z putz boom sections over center to the point that they are pulling on a hydro cylinder instead of pushing. I was trained NEVER do this yet I see pics with this taking place all of the time. Was I taught wrong?

Call the Engineering Dept at Putzmeister and ask them,,,,   262-886-3200,,   Bet they could tell ya...

sounds logical! But in saying that you would never be abel to get your boom back to the truck !!

There are a few booms that will go over backwards... I was running a 36z putz that did it a few times. But only when i was folding it up. i had the #3 over back tring to ge the hose in land in the hooks, it will just start to go over . All i could do was tip in as fast as i could and bring in my 2 section.

Do any of you guys remeber the whiteman booms? if you took the second section past vertical after the main was past 15 degrees and not fully extended and it would pull out the hyd. cyclinders . Always refer to the boom charts.

Yeah, read the boom charts.
I was also trained to not go over centre, but I've since learned it depends on the machine.

saw 2 whitemans do that saw one collapse the hydra cylinder barrels and one broke bolts in the turntable not a very good practice going over center I try to never do it.

And what about the over cab r/f schwing

overhead roll and folds are a different animal the way they have the main cylinder located but the manufacturer does have perameters set for safe boom operation.every piece of equipment is different make sure to read the operation manual before operating , any operator should know what the manufacturer safe operation guidelines are for the type of rig he or she is operating ,if not you have no business operating it in the first place , manufacturers rules override all others they designed the machine they know its abilities and its limitations.

The manufacturer shows a Zone of no operation. 

Other than that, you can Z the boom any way you want.  The hydraulic cylinders push and pull on both sides of the rod every time you move the joystick on every boom.

read your manuals all booms arent the same they all go in and out seems kinda vague , read your op manuals on every boom before you operate.