Leaking Fluid

[Gixxer600]

I was using my new (to me) machine for the first time this morning (08 T300) and after about an hour I sprung a leak somewhere. Fluid is leaking from under the machine onto the ground. So much that everything stopped working.

I called a bobcat place here in the ATL that I had previously talked with and he told me to raise the cab and see if I can tell what is going on. I had to WALK back out to my truck (I have 73 acres, MAN what a long walk! lol) and am home now to get some tools.

Any tips before I head back out there? I guess I am not even going to bother trying to get hydrolic fluid until I figure out the problem. No point making two trips to the store.

On one hand I am aggrivated but on the other I find it slightly cool. I think I will appreciate the machine more once I have had to repair something. Probably a good time to go ahead and start greasing things and changing the oil, etc while I am at it I suppose. At least I got a little done!

 

[KSSS]

I was using my new (to me) machine for the first time this morning (08 T300) and after about an hour I sprung a leak somewhere. Fluid is leaking from under the machine onto the ground. So much that everything stopped working.

I called a bobcat place here in the ATL that I had previously talked with and he told me to raise the cab and see if I can tell what is going on. I had to WALK back out to my truck (I have 73 acres, MAN what a long walk! lol) and am home now to get some tools.

Any tips before I head back out there? I guess I am not even going to bother trying to get hydrolic fluid until I figure out the problem. No point making two trips to the store.

On one hand I am aggrivated but on the other I find it slightly cool. I think I will appreciate the machine more once I have had to repair something. Probably a good time to go ahead and start greasing things and changing the oil, etc while I am at it I suppose. At least I got a little done!

Wow, you have a great attitude. I would be pissed. It is most likely hyd. fluid leaking. As a general rule you don't want to run the machine out of hyd. fluid. The hyd. pumps that make your machine function run on very tight tolerances, running out of fluid can cause catastrophic damage. If the machine stopped moving, you may be in trouble, typically at least on my machines if you break a line somewhere and are losing fluid, I will first notice it on my loader functions. Typically I can smell the fluid when I have blown a line. You will likely want to replace some of the fluid and locate the leak. These machines are very difficult to work on. Perhaps though the leak will be easy to find and repair. Hopefully you got it shut down before things wielded themselves together.

Given your unfamiliarity with this machine, it might be money well spent to take it the BC dealer and let him go over the entire machine. You mentioned you got a great deal on it, there seldom is a free lunch. You might want to have the machine gone over by a tech and head off any potential problems.

 

[Gixxer600]

hehe well like I said, I found it slightly cool that I would get to "fix" something.

Here is what happened ...

I had just dropped a grapple full of small trees onto my pile. One of the trees didnt fall out all the way so I crawled out to push it off. When I did I looked down and saw a stream of hyd fluid streaming out of the machine at the front left. I jumped down and looked but couldn't find any broken hoses. It seemed as it if was coming from within the machine (Keep in mind I had no idea how this thing was even put together, it's my first). I jumped back in to see if the machine was responsive and to back it off the pile. When I tried to move the machine the controls were unresponsive and I knew it was completely out of hyd fluid.

So I shut it down and called the service mgr at a Bobcat place in town that I had talked to before. He told me how to raise the cab so I could see inside. I had to walk back to my truck ... and that was a HIKE ... I have 73 acres and I was at one end and my truck was out of the property and down the road a little. I went to my house (I dont live on the land yet, just got it) and got my ratchet (and 4 wheeler!) and went back to raise the cab. I looked ALL in there and could not find a leak anywhere but saw plenty of fluid in the pan.

I called the service guy back but he wasn't available so I stood there scratching my head for a few minutes. And then ....

BAM ... it hit me! I was in the machine and stepped out to move that limb and saw the fluid and got distracted by it. When I sat back down I didn't push the stupid little button to turn the hydrolics back on!! DOH!! The fluid that was leaking out had been in the pan for who knows how long (since before I bought it). So it was a "perfect storm" as someone recently put it when I told them the story.

I felt silly for a moment but then was relieved because there was nothin to repair! woo hoo!


So one more thing to laugh at me about ....


I picked the machine up last night and the seller didnt really have time to show me how to work the machine. He unlocked the computer and let me enter my own master code, showed me the hydrolic button, and off I went. So the next morning (this morning) was the first time I used the machine.

I unchained it and let the ramps down and started it up and drove it off the trailer. As I was heading towards the entrance to my property I thought "man this this is slow". I fiddled with the "fast" switch but it seems that it may be broken because it doesn't "click" and didn't do anything. Once I got where I was going it moved fast enough I guess but still a little slower than I would have liked.

After about 30 minutes of plucking up some small trees I happened to look down to my right for some reason ....

OMG ... a freaking throttle!! on the TURTLE .. LOL LOL .... I stopped what I was doing and just cracked up laughing. SUCH a big fat dummie! I was so eager to get started that I didn't even take the time to get familiar with the machine. That is so like me. The seller didnt have any manuals or anything or I would have read through them last night ... oh well!


One more ....

The front door/glass is missing (I am trying to find a cheap replacement now). I knew it was a little dangerous without it but tried to be careful and avoid any issues. Well about 2 hours into working with the machine a 2" limb (with a nice pointy end) came sailing into the cab missing my face by about 6". That freaked me out a little and I thought "I am going to get that door SOONER than later". Then about 5 minutes later this little bitty "switch" (like granny used to whip me with) came around from the side and WHAP .. right across the FACE!! It burned for 5 minutes. I was like WTF!!

LOL ... So those were my adventures of the day!

 

[willie59]

How about fabricating a door from rock screen mesh. A good size limb can still knock out a door glass.

When you go to disconnect an attachment, like a grapple, set your throttle at idle. There's a button at the left controls that you push and hold down, it shut's down the engine and relieves pressure on the aux lines to grapple. Makes it easier to disconnect.

 

[Gixxer600]

If I don't find a cheap door I will explore that as an option. Where might I find the mesh?

Will keep the idle in mind when disconnecting.

 

[willie59]

A machine shop or steel supply in your area may have some heavy mesh.

When you need to disconnect attachment, I mean you need to push that button at the left control panel, just above the button you push to make the machine operate. Do this with the engine at idle. When you push and hold down the button, it kills the engine and releases hyd pressure on the aux circuit.