Bobcat T-300 Idlers

Wow good info there...

Rather than spend the big bucks on the bobcat idlers, we made a cheap fix for it and its been holding up fine for about 300 hours in nasty pacific northwest mud all winter. We took the oddball sized bobcat bearings out, got (4) $30 generic sealed bearings (2 per side) machined the axle slightly to fit, pressed them in and voila $200 idler repair.

Ive blown 2 drive motors in it too, both on the same side, the second one was a dealer screwup on the install, and they replaced the non blow side under warranty to the upgraded version, its been good since. My drive motor went hauling rocks....we move rocks that are a weeeee bit big for a bobcat i guess....lol

Now the stupid thing creeps and is extremely jerky at slow speeds...

Wow!!! I am thinking of selling my BobcatS205 and moving up to a T300. You guys have me leary of a CTL. Sounds like I need to be prepared to spend major bucks on upkeep. I can only afford an older machine in the 28000-34000 range. Should I just go with the S300? I am working in mostly dirt but having to go to my Chiropractor at least twice a month on the wheel machine.I was under the impression the CTL would have a smoother ride. I have been wanting to jump up in size just to be able to get jobs done and on to the next one. Any thoughts? I have to admit the T300 is a bada** looking machine.
T300 or S300??

I dont know what u guys are doing with your machines, I have a T300 and the back idlers lasted 2400hrs, never replaced a roller or front idler. I use it with a grapple, harleyrake, buckets and forks. Run in mostly topsoil, chirp, and rocky red clay. Tracks last somewhere around 1500hrs. But I paid almost $850 per idler, thought that was kinda high! Sprockets are at 2600hrs and still good. I have had this machine every direction you can think of on 1to1 slopes and never have any trouble with tracks coming off!

I am a owner/operator and the only person that will operate the machine. I am working in red clay, topsoil, sand and do some gravel/screening driveways. I spend very little time on concrete/asphalt. I think running the thing myself and taking care of it I could probably match the wear times you've gotten.

Bobcatmechanic I had a drive motor go out on my 300 at about 2500hrs from outer bearing going bad. Had a local hydro-stat specialist rebuild them for about $1500 per side, all new bearing but reused old seals, they said they looked like new. I found the least little bit of Tiny metal shavings in the hyd tank. I busted the tank trying to flush it so now I have a new tank, so any ideas at how bad my system could be contaminated? And now that I have it all back together when it gets good and warmed up it shows a warning (hyd charge pressure too low) at Idle. I have the gold package and at full speed the hyd pressure gauge shows about three bars above low, any ideas?

Bobcat's hydraulic systems are shallow and pedantic, Cat has massive tanks and far more superior hydraulic power, if you got metal shavings into a Cat tank, you'd be surprised how easy it is to get them out again.

I don't know why all the company don't run seperate oil reservor for there hydraulic oil and hydro tranmisson oil and that way you wouldn't get the other comtaminated everytime.

I know it is cheaper to build,just one oil for both ,but they aren't doing the customers any favor.

They do it a lot on alot of machine now days.In the old days you had two different oil reservor.Better ideal i think.:usa

i have heard storys of the cats getting the metal shavings all through the system when there motors fail to i guess its all in how quick you notice a probllem and how quick you get it fixed but once there in the hyd system there there for the life of the machine thats a fact unless you replace all the hoses and components is about the only way you would get them all out

on the low charge pressure issue i would go with the reused seals those guys are idiots granted they saved 'yeah right saved you money" no they cost you more because the reused seals some of those you can get away with reusing and not but the seals are more than likely bad in your brake section and the charge pressure witch is about 420 psi usually is probably all going to the motor to keep the brake out and its just leaking by into the case drain side and thats where your charge pressure warning is coming from i have messed with 5 drive motors in the month of march to april and 4 of them have been bad brake seals or the brake disks breaking the other was a plug came out under the brake section and let oil just pass straight through with out doing any driving on the motor that was an interestion one didn't see anything wrong and then out of shear luck when i flipped the section back over i heard something rattle adn sure enough under a nother plug there was a cavity for oil to pass through to drive well in that cavity they put another plug and that secong plug came out put it back in resealed the drive motor and back in buisiness the seal kits for those motors are about 900 - 1000 dollars but to get it reasealed the first time and not have any leaks thats the way to go a way to check that is get a t fitting a pressure guage and a porta power disconnect the line from the brake valve and hook the porta power to that line by its self with the t and guage in line then pump up the brake to 450 psi if it holds and does not bleed off check the other side then if they both test good take the case drain lines off at the silver cannister in the center of the machine in front of the hydrostat it will have 5 lines running to it the back to that come into each other on the same fitting go to the drive motors extend those out with a hose with a number 6 jic fitting check the flow by looking at the oil coming out when the machine is running run the oil into a bucket to catch it it should be a trickle if its a steady flow coming out liek high pressure your motor is probably bad that is a way to check it for your self if you have the tools and the know how to do it all the brake valve is right under the steering plate right in front of the control valve since i didn't say where it was at follow the hoses back if your unsure about witch valve you are looking at one comes in from the bpttom and goes to the right motor the other also hooks to that same fitting crosses the center and runs to the left but as for the low charge pressure warning i would say your looking at bad seals in the motor as i have said already you may also try changing the hyd filter and seeing what that does also that silver case drain filter in the center of the machine take it apart and see if there are metal shavings in it they can only come from the drive motors in that one there is another one but its for the aux hyd its located behind the left side motor pain to change but there are a few things to check

also go into your deluxe panel and find the vitals screen you can watch the charge pressure there see what its running with the oil at about 120 degrees ferenheit then puch the press to operate button and see if ti drops off if it does i would lean towards drive motors but it could also be a bad brake valve if your case drain filters plugged and blown out then you have metal shavings all through the system not any real way to get them out its really with the machine for the rest of its life sorry. thats always fun for problems down the road and the service tech just keeps finding metal shavings in the port reliefs and control valve spools and every where else you dont want to see metal shavings at.

bobcat ron said:

Bobcat's hydraulic systems are shallow and pedantic, Cat has massive tanks and far more superior hydraulic power, if you got metal shavings into a Cat tank, you'd be surprised how easy it is to get them out again.

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That is absolutely hilarious And I really like your website.

In defense of the Bobcat's, to whom my allegiance is no longer beholden, I must say that smaller reservoirs are more economical, less environmentally threatening, and idicative of more efficient cooling system engineering. IMO caterpillar tried very hard to copy the Bobcat cooling system, but just couldn't quite get it right and made up for it with a larger reservoir.

IMO there are really far greater issues of concern with Bobcat loaders than their excellently-designed cooling systems. I fear it will be one of their last great innovations.

shane said:

That is absolutely hilarious And I really like your website.

In defense of the Bobcat's, to whom my allegiance is no longer beholden, I must say that smaller reservoirs are more economical, less environmentally threatening, and idicative of more efficient cooling system engineering. IMO caterpillar tried very hard to copy the Bobcat cooling system, but just couldn't quite get it right and made up for it with a larger reservoir.

IMO there are really far greater issues of concern with Bobcat loaders than their excellently-designed cooling systems. I fear it will be one of their last great innovations.

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The reason Cat (and others) have such a massive reservoir is because Cat is a true open loop system, meaning all oil returns to the tank where it is circulated continuously, it's also filtered and sent through the cooler by a separate pump. The bigger the oil supply, the better the cooling. My Bobcat would run a brush cutter for 10 minutes and the lines were already too hot to touch with bare hands, my Cat takes 3 hours to get the lines that hot, now which one is more efficient at cooling?

I've had to shut down my T190 while doing moderate grass cutting with the flail mower due to the excessive heat problems, my Cat just keeps going. Every excavator (maybe not Bobcat) uses and open center (or loop) system, and it's a proven and time tested set up, Bobcat's inferior tank size is it's down fall, if I had one little oil leak, I had to get it fixed ASAP as it wold use up the entire tank, my Cat can go for days before the oil level drops to an unacceptable limit.

Caterpillar did not try to "copy" Bobcat, they took all the patents from other companies (Case, Thomas, Bobcat) and improved on their designs, hence Cat cabs looking like a Case and the visibility is close to Bobcat. Bobcat could never get the open center system right as it's doesn't work well with gear pumps and the extra room for the reservoir wasn't possible in their frames, so Bobcat abandoned it, Cat waited until the Patents expired and bought them and improved on their designs.

You've picked the wrong person to say the Bobcat's system is best, I can argue that until my death, Cat (and others) are much, much better.

Whoa Ron-

I certainly didn't mean to get your hackles up by slamming your beloved Cat's.

The bigger the oil supply, the better the cooling.

Conversely, the more efficient the cooling system, the less voluminous the reservoir needs to be. That's a fact.

My observations and opinions on Cat's attempt at copying Bobcat's cooling system were based on the inspections of the many Cat Loaders taken in trade at the local Bobcat Dealership I used to work for. They may not be accurate, but everyone has an opinion and there were a lot of machines for me to look at.

I could argue each and every one of your points, but this thread has been hijacked several times over already, and I don't want to alienate any more than I already may have.

At this point in my life, I really don't care which brand is superior. I want to fix them all.

I still like your website

3000 hrs thats awesome are u mostly in the dirt and those are original tracks

Ive seen sprocket lifes on here vary in hours, What seems to be the average your seeing on last? We've already put a set on ours and have 1600 hrs on it currently and the sprockets are starting to wear again.

We have a T-250 and two T-200's that go through OEM tracks in about 1,500 hours. The first T-200 we bought had all the idlers replaced free in the first 500 hours because of a factory issue, now 2,500 hours later it's still going strong. We beat the crap out of these things, they have been spun in pit run to many times to mention. I get a kick out the ASV guys.

440chevy said:

We have a T-250 and two T-200's that go through OEM tracks in about 1,500 hours. The first T-200 we bought had all the idlers replaced free in the first 500 hours because of a factory issue, now 2,500 hours later it's still going strong. We beat the crap out of these things, they have been spun in pit run to many times to mention. I get a kick out the ASV guys.

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I sold over 200 Bobcat "CTLs" over 8 years here in Wisconsin and I'd say that your an exception to the rule with over 2,500 hours. it doesn't matter who makes the machine the one constant from the factory is "we had a factory issue and now these new (fill in the blank) are much better". I hope you get another 2,500 hours out of them.

Digdeep said:

I sold over 200 Bobcat "CTLs" over 8 years here in Wisconsin and I'd say that your an exception to the rule with over 2,500 hours. it doesn't matter who makes the machine the one constant from the factory is "we had a factory issue and now these new (fill in the blank) are much better". I hope you get another 2,500 hours out of them.

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Well the first Idler went (front left) at 300 hours, and then at 500 hours the other front one went so they just upgraded them all. It now has 2,800 hours on it so 2,500 on that front left idler. The machine looks like death and is overdue to be replaced, but one of our guys just loves the thing and won't give it up. Bobcat's usually only last us 2,000hrs but we are just going to run this one into the ground. Our other T-200 I believe had the original idlers done at 700 hours and it's almost at 2,000 now as well and hasn't been down a single day since then. T-250 is at 900hrs on the original idlers. Oh and both T-200's have had the sprockets replaced, the newest one just got done last week.

hey guys, could anyone tell me the easiest way to remove a track for a T300? i know there isnt an easy way but there has got to be an easier way than the way i am doing it. thanks so much.

sorry, i dont want to hijack this thread , but i cannot post a new thread yet. jeff.

REDMON said:

hey guys, could anyone tell me the easiest way to remove a track for a T300? i know there isnt an easy way but there has got to be an easier way than the way i am doing it. thanks so much.

sorry, i dont want to hijack this thread , but i cannot post a new thread yet. jeff.

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so whats the way you are doing it?

i assume you are releasing the grease first using the correct tool on the correct fitting - heed carefully the previous advice about the grease being under extreme pressure.