Repairing creeping Bobcat

[willie59]

Yep, I'm still here WRB1717, welcome to HEF, and it's good to hear the info helped sort out your problem, that's the very reason I took the time to document stuff like that.

 

[xgiovannix12]

hi wille you have an excellent diy thread for a creeping bobcat. Unfortunately cant get mine to keep creeping 1 side goes forward and the other goes backwards. previous owner tried fixing this prior selling it to me and replaced all the bushings and cam lobes. bars have very minor wear as they were turned . I cant seem to figure it out. Only issue I see is the levers dont match possibly something bent? pump is not in the right location?

 

[xgiovannix12]

got it all fixed THANK YOU

 

[willie59]

Persistence has its rewards. Good to hear you got it sorted out.

 

[Mears1]

Now a little info about the older machines with aluminum pintle arms. Got in the cab of the 753 customer had dropped off and it was all over the place. I knew immediately that the clamping bolt for the right drive pintle arm had come loose. Well, here's the belly of the beast. Pretty much the same thing as on the T190, cage the centering spring with cable ties, remove centering spring, then lift neutral centering plate off. On this model, more difficult to get to the centering spring, had hoses and stuff in the way. Grrrrrr.

View attachment 67854

Centering plate removed, the pintle arm on the left is the one the clamping bolt that holds arm tight on pump shaft came loose allowing pintle arm to wallow all over and couldn't control pump shaft movement. These machines drive nutty when they come loose. Notice the difference in the spools on the aluminum arm models as opposed to the spools that wear on the T190 mentioned earlier. These spools actually look like a chromed steel.

View attachment 67855

Minimal wear on spools as well as centering bars.

View attachment 67856

View attachment 67857

Two new pintle arms. One from being worn by loose clamping bolt, other had excessive wear where rubber torsion bushing goes. Install new torsion bushings, installed old but still good spools on new arms, rotated them around to fresh steel, and rotated centering bars on centering plate.

View attachment 67858

I should offer an installation note whenever perfoming repairs to Bobcat drive linkages. Whenever you remove the bolt that attaches drive link to pintle arm via the rubber torsion bushing, when you go to re-install the torsion bushing bolt you must have the pintle arm near the neutral position. Once the bolt is tight, moving the machine drive lever fwd and rev actually twists the rubber of the torsion bushing. Point is, if you had the machine drive lever and pintle arm all the way forward and installed the torsion bushing bolt and locked it down, then when you pulled back the drive lever, it would simply try to go back foward like a spring was pulling it. That's from twisting the rubber of torsion bushing. Always have pintle arms in line with each other when installing torsion bushing bolts.

continued...

Willie59;

Just wanted to throw out some help for that centering spring on this model, I usually just take it completely off of the machine. With the spring having zero tension, it is much easier to get both of your zip ties in. Once they are in, put the spring in a vise and tighten both zip ties at the same time as you tighten the vise. This takes out the pain in the butt getting your zip ties in with all the hoses etc in the way.

 

[willie59]

Right you are Mears1, that's the method I've settled on as well, works really well.

 

[HoneycuttMachine]

Someone should buy this man a very very nice bottle of whatever his favorite spirit is...Hey OM, if you send me your business mailing address I have a client who I will hold to the fire for whatever it is you want short of Louis XIII Congac...That I'm keeping for myself....

An excerpt from a tech manual is one thing, a blow by blow narrative with pictures even from someone who is not a technical writer behind a desk but a guy on the floor with a flashlight in his mouth, dirt in his eyes and a wrench in his hand is priceless . I am SURE this has made so many lives easier and wallets thicker for your effort.

Drum Roll...I rapidly stand and execute snappy hand salute to the East good Sir...Bravo, Bravo...Everyone sings "For He's a Jolly good fellow! For He's a Jolly good fellow!", you know the rest....

Seriously, send address: Its the LEAST I can make the owner do...Last guy told him "You need a new Turbo Dude...Wont run without it..itll fix all your steering problems..." Yeah...Right...Sure it will....Now pass me that can of Ether will you?

Many Many thanks...

 

[willie59]

Suggested replacing the turbo to fix the steering problems? Damn...I've heard it all now!

 

[Mauna]

Now, let the cab down, plant yourself in the seat, and start the machine. It may try and move one of the drives because final ajustment is yet to be done. You may have to hold one or both of the levers pushed or pulled slightly to neutral the pumps until you get the engine running and brake lock released. This is why you have to have machine on stands or blocks. Once you get it running and brake lock released, raise the cab back up. You'll more than likely have at least one side, or both sides, creeping a bit. To adjust and get drive neutral, slightly loosen bolt in pump shaft.

View attachment 67648

Loosen bolt in pump control arm in slotted hole.

View attachment 67649

Turn the adjusting screw CCW (screwing out) until that side creeps in reverse. Slightly tension the two bolts.

View attachment 67650

Crank the adjusting screw CW (screwing in) with allen wrench until that drive finds neutral. Lock down bolts. Some movement may occur during lock down, you may have to tweak a bit more.

View attachment 67651

If you adjust too far and get forward creep, you have to regroup and do it over again. Once you get neutral on both drives your good to go. On older machines that have aluminum pintle arms, the adjusting procedure is a bit different. I should be repairing the drive centering on the 753 with aluminum arms this coming week, hopefully will be able to follow up on those repairs at this thread.

 

[Mauna]

I'm new here. Been wanting / needing a skid steer for years but always beyond my budget... until now. I got a cheap S130 from a rental shop with bad steering problems, actually dangerous jerking bad enough to bring the wheels off the ground. The rental shop said it probably needed a new hydrostatic motor.
I realize your post was ten years ago, but what a life saver. As a container ship captain I've read many technical manuals, but nothing as clear and understandable as this. My 4200 hr. Bobcat now operates like brand new and I'm a happy guy. Thanks a million. Sir, you are the best!

 

[youngone1234]

Hello Been lurking on here for a while now and was wondering how the cam followers have worked out? I have a used 2009 T190 with 3200 hrs and the cams have been turned 3 times by previous owner. It creeps and I am going to repair in the spring. just wondering if the cam followers is working better.

Thanks for all the good ideas and advice I see on this site.
Pat.

 

[monito1330]

Well, time for another Bobcat thread.

Ok, I'm seeing way too much of this on Bobcat machines lately, Bobcat has changed a component on the drive neutral centering device, they must be using some cheap steel or something. You don't typically see this on the older BC machines, I've got a 753 in the shop right now that looks like the original components and they don't have the wear the newer machine components have. What am I talking about? Let me get the centering plate off and you'll see it.

View attachment 67633

Caution; before you make any repairs or adjustments to the drive centering device on a Bobcat, the first thing you must do is get the machine off the ground on 4 stands. Don't trust just tilting the bucket forward and lifting front wheels, it could drift down. It must be on stands or sturdy blocks.

First, you have to remove the centering spring. Now, there's a little trick to this. You can remove it quite easily. But then putting it back on is a bit of a problem because you have to compress the spring to start the nut on the long center bolt, you only have two hands and no room for a helper in there.

Here's a solution that works well for me. Thread a good quality zip tie under spring, at least two (three is even more durable) zips.

View attachment 67634

Move one of the drive levers just slightly off center to compress spring just a little, then zip the ties.

View attachment 67635

Now you can remove the center bolt/nut, and you have a handy caged spring that's ready for re-install.

View attachment 67636

View attachment 67637

continued...

Excelente..! quedo excelente mi S130 desde Chile ... muchas Gracias... Excelente y detallada informacion....

 

[monito1330]

Time for an update to this thread. One common problem with Bobcat drive pumps is leaking seals on the pump control shafts. It's an easy fix, doesn't require drive pump removal or major disassembly. If you happen to be in there doing repairs to the pintle arms or drive centering and you see leakage of the pump shaft seals, you should consider replacing the seals while you have things apart. This one is on a T200 track machine.

Once you have the drive centering plate and pintle arm removed, simply remove the 4 bolts that mount the centering plate guide bracket.


View attachment 76323


Remove the guide bracket, you'll then be looking at the seal plate.


View attachment 76321


Lift the seal plate off of the pump.


View attachment 76324


There's the lip seal you need to replace.


View attachment 76320


There's also a ring seal that seals the shaft seal plate and pump housing. Some models use an o-ring seal, others use a square cut lathe ring seal, you're Bobcat dealer may ask which one your machine uses, so you might want to get a peek and see which one you have before you order/pickup your parts.


View attachment 76322


One thing to keep in mind, there's going to be some oil leaking out when you remove the seal plate. On this one I wasn't terribly concerned because it has already made an oily mess in the area. But for one that's just seeping oil, and you don't want to make a big mess, keep the hose from your suck bucket evacuating the oil from the area while you have the plate off and are replacing the seal in the seal plate.

Also, be sure and polish the pump control shaft with fine emory cloth to remove rust or roughness of shaft before re-installing the seal plate. Use your suck bucket to remove the rusty oil caused by cleaning the shaft.

EXCELENTE PARA MI BOBCAT S130

 

[demetrios007]

Is there a trick for seating the bushings in the steering bars. I got the old ones out but was only able to get one fully seated using a c clamp. I have a 751F and don't have shocks behind the seat panel. I'm going to try washers on bolts and use an impact but wondering what you use Old Machinist. Thanks for all your great posts including this one. Saved me a lot of headaches when I did my spool seals in that write up too

 

[Bradley Glasscock]

This is a great place for info, thank you for all The knowledge I have learned here. I have an 863 bobcat that the left controller that makes it go forward and backwards is not in neutral position and machine tries to go forward and to the right if it starts once I wiggle the controller to try to find neutral. This was supposed to be repaired at the shop by professionals before I got it. They charged enough that It should be all new and it didn’t have this prob after they worked on it but every now and then it would hang up. It keeps getting worse and more frequent and now it’s basically just stuck this way. What is it that they forgot to do that is causing this issue ?

 

[Rajun Cajun]

Well, time for another Bobcat thread.

Ok, I'm seeing way too much of this on Bobcat machines lately, Bobcat has changed a component on the drive neutral centering device, they must be using some cheap steel or something. You don't typically see this on the older BC machines, I've got a 753 in the shop right now that looks like the original components and they don't have the wear the newer machine components have. What am I talking about? Let me get the centering plate off and you'll see it.

View attachment 67633

Caution; before you make any repairs or adjustments to the drive centering device on a Bobcat, the first thing you must do is get the machine off the ground on 4 stands. Don't trust just tilting the bucket forward and lifting front wheels, it could drift down. It must be on stands or sturdy blocks.

First, you have to remove the centering spring. Now, there's a little trick to this. You can remove it quite easily. But then putting it back on is a bit of a problem because you have to compress the spring to start the nut on the long center bolt, you only have two hands and no room for a helper in there.

Here's a solution that works well for me. Thread a good quality zip tie under spring, at least two (three is even more durable) zips.

View attachment 67634

Move one of the drive levers just slightly off center to compress spring just a little, then zip the ties.

View attachment 67635

Now you can remove the center bolt/nut, and you have a handy caged spring that's ready for re-install.

View attachment 67636

View attachment 67637

continued...

 

[Rajun Cajun]

Is a 753 and 863-G alike the way the steering levers are set up as far as how to adjust them ?

 

[mobilegear]

Nov- 2020 will be trying this on my 2002 s185. Thanks for the write-up !

 

[Cookcountycummins]

3 post then i can post a pic

 

[Cookcountycummins]

Pic