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Bobcat T190 arm repair

willie59

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So many of y'all make posts about your equipment and your work. Alas, I'm just a lowly mechanic nowdays. :tong But it takes mechanics/fitters to keep things digging, pushing, rolling, lifting...you name it.
Last week I had a one of my customers bring me his Bobcat T190 and he was in a bit of a pinch, seems he'd ripped out the rear loader arm pivot on the left side. Bobcat had told him a new loader arm would be around 5 G's. :eek: He's a small, self employed business and that's a chunk for him. He wanted to know if I could fix it. I said I think we can do it for a bit less than that.


Hmmm, I think we have a problem
T190 arm repair 003.jpg

also, he tweaked the loader arms a bit. Look at how much higher the arm on the right is.
T190 arm repair 002.jpg

burn the paint off with a rosebud and get out the gouger.
T190 arm repair 004.jpg
 

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willie59

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there, that's better, knocked those damaged plates out of the way. I put the hammer I used in pic for OCR and AtlasRob. :lmao
T190 arm repair 006.jpg

now to do something with that tweaked frame...off to the frame shop! :D
T190 arm repair 007.jpg

oh yeah, that's better.
 

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Iron Horse

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Just remember to use a rod that is compatible with the hardened steel that Bobcat uses .
 

willie59

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now let's fit some fine new plates on here.
T190 arm repair 009.jpg

there we go, all welded up.
T190 arm repair 010.jpg
 

td25c

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Well done ATCOEQUIP,thats how I would do it.The customer saved some money and I bet the repair job is stronger than the factory loader.May as well do both sides while its handy.Good pictures.
 

willie59

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spray some primer and some Bobcat white. Oh yeah, that looks better. Ready to re-install loader arms.
T190 arm repair 012.jpg
T190 arm repair 013.jpg

got everything fitted in it proper place and she's ready to hit the dirt again. ;)
T190 arm repair 014.jpg
 

willie59

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Iron Horse, I had my welding supplier come in when we set up the new 600 amp Miller MIG welder to make sure he understood the type of wire we need for the welding process's that we do. And I'm confident, after seeing the way Bobcat fabricated and welded the arm pivot pin boss, that I've got more structural weld in that area than Bobcat originally did. I'm pretty picky about welds. ;)
25c, it wasn't a bad job at all and the total bill came to around 2K. Customer is happy as a hardwood tree. :D
 

eRay

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That is one good looking repair job. If I ever bend my backhoe I'm looking you up. I really like your " frame Machine".
 

willie59

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That is one good looking repair job. If I ever bend my backhoe I'm looking you up. I really like your " frame Machine".

I have to admit that "frame shop" was a lot of fun! Having a 200 series and 300 series excavator squash a T190 loader arm frame was a real hoot! :D
 

willie59

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Well, got a phone call Thursday. You guessed it...it was Matt. "Hey, you remember my T190?"..."Yeah, what about it?"..."Oh, the side you repaired is fine...it broke the opposite side!" Grrrrrrrrr :Banghead :Banghead :Banghead

Now I have to do this again! And yes, it tweaked the loader arms...again...the opposite way! Still have the Cat 320 to bend frame again, but EX300 is gone. But...we do have a Kobelco SK480 to work with. Oh yeah...more power! :tong

I have no idea what these fellows are doing with this machine to do this. They are tree guys, maybe they are popping stumps out of the ground with it, I just don't know. When I did the left side a year ago, I did look this side over real good, didn't see any signs of stress or weld cracks. When he brought it in this time, I took a close look at the broken welds. It was obvious because of rusting that the top weld that attached arm to pin boss has failed for some time. So all the load was on the bottom weld and the side plates, and those plates just aren't thick enough to handle the tension load. The top and bottom welds have to carry the load. And when you look at these broken welds, it appear Bobcat only applies a single pass of mig weld.

Now, this is the only T190 that I've personally seen do this. There are tons of those units out there, and I haven't seen evidence that this failure is necessarily common to these machines, it's probably more likely some operation method the operators are doing that is stressing the machine and breaking this pin boss attachment. With that said, I think it would be prudent for guys that own Bobcats in general and T190 in particular to pay close attention to this joint and frequently inspect it. When it breaks, it's a mess ;)



T190 arm 001.jpg

T190 arm 002.jpg

T190 arm 004.jpg
 

Speedpup

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Nice work ATCO :notworthy:drinkup I think this guy is taking a knive to a gun fight as they say. That is a lot of damage sadly. I have no clue how people wreck machines like this. :eek:
 

stock

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We have moved on and now were lost....
Well done there Atco didn't know you had attended the stock school of engineering;);)
 
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CM1995

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Nice work ATCO. From 20 years of running and owning Bobcat equipment I have found that you really have to check the welds on Bobcats. A few weak spots I have dealt with - the pin boss on the boom for the stick on the mini-ex's, Bobtach mounting plate where the pin boss connects to the mounting plate on the older skids and the pin boss on the boom for the tilt cylinder on the older single cylinder machines. Might need to drag the 334D up to Tenn. and have you fix my pin boss.:D
 

willie59

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Thanks guys! :)

Speedpup, it wasn't a really hard job, but on the other hand, wasn't really expecting to do it all over again in just about a year. :tong

stock, lol, I attended the G. G. Willis school of engineering. Worked with some form of iron near all my life, spent several years fabricating and erecting structural iron, you learn a lot doing that.

CM, um, did I say I hate working on Bobcats? Bah ha ha ha ha :cool:
 

td25c

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G.G. Willis School Of Engineering

A great school,and ATCO graduated sum-ma cum lau-de.Top of the class:D The bobcat repair looks great:thumbsup
 

willie59

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A great school,and ATCO graduated sum-ma cum lau-de.Top of the class:D The bobcat repair looks great:thumbsup


LoL, 25c...dad was the Dean of his little school, he made sure I got it right or I got backside chewed promplty. :D
 

stock

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We have moved on and now were lost....
Pw0002.jpg

I bloody knew you were there....:D:D

Eng0002.jpg

and here's the one for your final year.....:tong:tong
 
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mitch504

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Before noticing the 2nd page(yeah, I know I've done that before:Banghead:beatsme) I googled G.G. Willis. The best result was "G.G. Willis Insurance Co. and Funeral Home", New Orleans La. So did that experience come from fixing wrecks to save on claims or the mortuary dept.? :D

seriously nice work
 
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