Cat 299D Missing Hose Clamps... And better hydraulic line wear covers

[Makers Acres]

I posted another video of my CAT 299D rebuild, and this time I am working on the hose clamps at the rear of the machine. I ended up replacing them all, and here is a video I made about them as well as some low-cost hydraulic hose covers that I added:

Now, my question is... This was a relatively young machine (3500 Hours). I purchased the machine in early 2018 and it is a 2014 unit. What would have caused all of these clamps to fall off / break? Just seems strange that so many of them could have had the bolts snap. Does anyone else have issues on their CAT clamps breaking off?

Thanks for any info you might have!

 

[Chrisso]

IMHO 3500 hrs isn't young for an MTL/skid steer... I'd think closer to mid life, I see plenty of em trashed at 2000hrs... yours just looks like a good one!

Those stauff clamps just aren't strong enough for the job they have to do... I'd call it an engineering fail if anything.

If that conduit you used doesn't last, try some heavy duty spiral wrap

 

[Makers Acres]

Ya, I am new to the heavy equipment scene, and I guess I should have phrased that differently. I meant young as it was only 4 year old, so not really a lot of time for sun / weather to weaken the parts. I went through my machine from top to bottom and did fix / restore a lot of stuff. I figure I'll probably only put a couple hundreds hours a year on this machine, so hopefully it will probably last a long time.

 

[Chrisso]

All good Bobby, sounds like it'll serve you perfectly. There's plenty of posts of these machines covering a bunch of issues, many seemingly related to bad/contaminated fuel, speed sensor issues, etc. Overall though they're a pretty good machine.

 

[Makers Acres]

I think both of those posts might be related to ones I have posted. Hehe.
I’m still trying to work the contamination out of my fuel tank, and I have a replacement speed sensor when my other one finally dies!

 

[Nige]

If that conduit you used doesn't last, try some heavy duty spiral wrap

This (or something like it) is the type of protection IMHO you should be looking at. https://www.hilltop-products.co.uk/cable-management/cable-tidies-rapstrap-velcro-and-more/hdpe-spiral-guard-spiral-hose-protection.html?ppc_keyword=+spiral +hose +guard&atrkid=V3ADW1A4763C1_81470075706_kwd-337636924970__393955390785_g_c___&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoJjSg43r8gIVl63tCh1zgQLXEAAYASAAEgJSqvD_BwE

EDIT: My experience has been that the more you try to hold flexible hydraulic hoses in position, the more they will break whatever clamps you try to hold them with. Better to let them move a bit and protect them from rubbing using plastic or metal spiral wrap hose protection.

 

[mowzall]

The hose's have been replaced with "near enough" from a hose shop and didn't have the canvas sleeves installed at the same time.
The hose clamps probably got broken / lost at the time of replacement.
Out of date fire hose makes an excellent substitute for hose wrap.

 

[Nige]

From your video I could also suggest an improvement to the method of securing the pairs of hoses together. You've pulled each pair tight using ty-wraps that prevent any relative movement. On a lot of machines nowadays pairs of hoses are secured using a double saddle (aka swivel mount) and two ty-wraps. Each hose is secured to the swivel which keeps them slightly apart so they cannot rub, but they can move slightly with respect to one another so hose movement due to pressure in the line or movement of (for example) lift arms or steering will not permit the two hoses to touch each other. Because they swivel the saddles also permit two hoses that do not run parallel to be secured to one another.

If you start to experience problems of breaking ty-wraps these saddles might be a solution.

 

[Makers Acres]

From your video I could also suggest an improvement to the method of securing the pairs of hoses together. You've pulled each pair tight using ty-wraps that prevent any relative movement. On a lot of machines nowadays pairs of hoses are secured using a double saddle (aka swivel mount) and two ty-wraps. Each hose is secured to the swivel which keeps them slightly apart so they cannot rub, but they can move slightly with respect to one another so hose movement due to pressure in the line or movement of (for example) lift arms or steering will not permit the two hoses to touch each other. Because they swivel the saddles also permit two hoses that do not run parallel to be secured to one another.

If you start to experience problems of breaking ty-wraps these saddles might be a solution.

View attachment 244897

Oh, those are cool! Where can one find those?

Also, thanks for watching my video!

 

[heymccall]

Double saddle and wide tie wraps are on my 930K.
200-6345 saddle
204-2281 wide tie (2 needed)

 

[Nige]

HMC has it. You can get them from Cat & maybe other suppliers as well. The wide ty-wraps are essential when using the saddles.

Also note the comment above regarding the non-genuine hoses. You have no way of knowing if the replacements are the correct length, too long, or too short.

 

[Makers Acres]

Oh nice, thank you both!

 

[heymccall]

If the hose are running parallel, these work great too.

 

[Makers Acres]

ooohhh, nice! Thank you!