BOBCAT E35 Replacement Rotary Joint

[diga]

Hi there guys, I have put a previous post up here before regarding the "failure" of my rotary joint on my 2014 E35 twice in 880hrs, my dealer has repaired it again (new seals) I believe under warranty once again, I wont get into the details of what led to Bobcats change of heart to do the repair once again.

There seems to be suggestions that dirt or dust is getting past the lower seal and causing internal damage and premature seal failure, they wont tell me much more than that, I am guessing it's of sub-standard quality or I am just extremely unlucky?

I am hoping some one on this forum may have had some dealings with companies in the US that build aftermarket rotary joints, or even better still know of a company that does a replacement rotary joint, I am just nervous about the lifespan of this component now after my experience thus far, I don't really want to get rid of the machine as it's by far the best digging excavator I have ever owned in this weight bracket.

I was considering seeing if the dealer would supply me one of the failed ones and take it to notable hydraulic/engineering company and see if they could see why it's failing and may have some suggestions.

 

[lantraxco]

Question, does this joint have hard lines connecting to one end or the other? Sometimes thrusting and twisting can account for this kind of issue.

These are generally rebuildable, the tube is honed oversize, the shaft ground/chromed/reground to fit, the chrome tends to make them last longer the second time around. There may also be a better choice of seal available, something to research based on measurements.

There are many manufacturers of generic swivel joints, the lead time may be a bit longer than you would like for a custom one but you could probably get an off the shelf design that would work with a bit of re plumbing for less than the OEM joint costs as a guess. I have an old quote for an 8 port high pressure swivel to fit in a much larger machine from a couple years ago, was factory stock and around three grand at the time. http://www.flowprod.com/

 

[diga]

Hi lantraxco, from memory the top rotating section of the joint is all flex style rubber connections, the base section which has legs/base formed on to the sides where it bolts down has all flex hoses for except one I think.
As I said in my previous post, I am not entirely sure of what my dealer did the first time they repaired it, the reason I say this is they generously gave me a loan E35 so I know the exact date of when the repair took place as I was working a long way out of my normal work area so I looked up the job and date.
When this last failure occurred the dealer has on their records that it was in their workshop on TWO separate occasions prior, first time to "re-seal" the joint and then a month later to "replace" the joint as it started leaking again, this is totally incorrect. I was told by one of the workshop mechanics upon picking the machine up the first and only time that the joint was pitted internally, and they had to replace it with a new one, I am still guessing this was caused by dirt and moisture entering by external seal failure first and then failure of the internal seals.

I contacted BOBCAT in the US about this issue, they did request the serial number of the machine which I emailed to them, I never heard back from them but my dealer had an email from BOBCAT USA within hours of me contacting them, not sure what it would have said !
Unfortunately none the manufacturers like to admit when there is a fault or poorly designed parts and I will put money on it that the rotary joints they are using (or were) using were of inferior quality, may be not intentionally but not up to the task.

 

[lantraxco]

Hi lantraxco, from memory the top rotating section of the joint is all flex style rubber connections, the base section which has legs/base formed on to the sides where it bolts down has all flex hoses for except one I think.
As I said in my previous post, I am not entirely sure of what my dealer did the first time they repaired it, the reason I say this is they generously gave me a loan E35 so I know the exact date of when the repair took place as I was working a long way out of my normal work area so I looked up the job and date.
When this last failure occurred the dealer has on their records that it was in their workshop on TWO separate occasions prior, first time to "re-seal" the joint and then a month later to "replace" the joint as it started leaking again, this is totally incorrect. I was told by one of the workshop mechanics upon picking the machine up the first and only time that the joint was pitted internally, and they had to replace it with a new one, I am still guessing this was caused by dirt and moisture entering by external seal failure first and then failure of the internal seals.

I contacted BOBCAT in the US about this issue, they did request the serial number of the machine which I emailed to them, I never heard back from them but my dealer had an email from BOBCAT USA within hours of me contacting them, not sure what it would have said !
Unfortunately none the manufacturers like to admit when there is a fault or poorly designed parts and I will put money on it that the rotary joints they are using (or were) using were of inferior quality, may be not intentionally but not up to the task.

Sounds like the dealer resealed it, it still leaked, and they ordered in a new one to replace it... the paperwork showing two separate dates is their way of recapturing the labor for resealing and the seal kit and also the replacement joint and labor to install, as the factory would only pay for one repair per warranty claim, yeah?

Makes me wonder how many other machines of this model have had the exact same failure......