Bobcat fuel pick up tube repairs

[OH_Varmntr]

I'm just happy I found some information that led to it being fixed. He lets me use it whenever I need to clear my driveway and to use around my yard and all he asks is that it's returned full of fuel. I definitely reached into my cache of swear words with this one! Sometimes I wish I wasn't skinny haha!

 

[willie59]

Good to hear the info helped OH. BTW, if he ever asks you to change the engine oil, make sure the oil is hot. Otherwise you'll be waiting forever for the oil to drain out that hose that Bobcat put on the crankcase drain.

 

[CRAFT]

Welcome to HEF OH_Varmntr. :drinkup


You forgot one thing CRAFT: "It's mandatory to use your favorite swear words when repairing pickup tube"

Shhhh !!! ….. I didn't want to give away all of the Secrets Willie !!! …….. LOL ….

Good to hear the info helped OH. BTW, if he ever asks you to change the engine oil, make sure the oil is hot. Otherwise you'll be waiting forever for the oil to drain out that hose that Bobcat put on the crankcase drain.

And what I do is raise the front end up, like drive onto a 4x4 block …. That really helps to get that residual oil out of the bottom of the Pan ….. Cheers Guys !

 

[DrJim]

Bobcat 773G fuel pickup: DrJim is back on HEF!

Willie, you knew it was bound to happen. My computer guru was whining about a concrete slab he couldn't move with his JD 1025 subcompact tractor/loader. He did the smart thing--he asked his dentist--on Sunday. Dug the Contrail out of the barn, loaded up the skid-steer and went to show off. It turned out the slab had a 5 ft long piece of 8" casing attached, stuck straight down, apparently as a base for some kind of tower or pole. The B'cat lifted it up and over. Piece of cake. Dug up some stumps, too.

But traversing the back lot, off camber maybe 30 degrees to the operator's left. . . the Kubota motor sputtered twice and died. Hmmm. Drained the fuel filter--no water. Set out to bleed the filter/fuel line, and it sounded like the primer bulb was sucking air. No sign of any fuel. Of course, the fuel gauge showed 7/8 full. What the . . .? I was baffled. . . until I remembered HEF and my friend Willie. My memory was jogged--I remembered seeing something about darn Bobcat fuel pickups.

My friend had a 5 gal can of diesel for the JD 1025, so we dumped it in. Didn't take but maybe 2 1/2 gallons to fill up into the filler neck. Voila! The primer bulb was now pumping liquid. Bled the air. . . and it fired right up.

So, what happens on the 773? Does the entire pickup just fall off of the elbow fitting? Now that we've packed it with fuel, will the fuel come burping out of the grommet fitting when I pull the fitting out? (If I can get to it.)

Other than that. . . still waiting for the motor mount bolt to fix itself, and tomorrow weather will be perfect to go way up on Windrock and change a track on a Morooka. Have a good week, Willie!

 

[willie59]

Yep, the pick up tube typically snaps off where it meets the elbow. You shouldn't have any problem with fuel puking out of the hole when you pull the elbow and grommet. And heck no, I ain't interested in going to Windrock tomorrow, supposed to be raining and cold which = yuk! Now maybe Thursday or Friday.

 

[MNBobcat]

A very common repair task with Bobcat skid machines is problems with fuel pick up tube inside fuel tank.

I logged in just to thank you for your post. Had to do this on my 763 and I think it took me about a half hour and was a breeze thanks to your tips.

 

[dtsinc]

hey guys, new here, hoping to tap into your vast knowledge. i have read this entire form and are having much similar symptoms but i havent been able to completely resolve things. here's my situation.....

i have a 2005 T250. number of weeks ago was running it and about after a couple hours of use it started losing power, it would not lift a load or carry one without rpms dropping. it was a humid day but gauges did not indicate any over heating. i shut it down and let her rest for a couple days. next time i tried it, same thing, after an hour or so, no power. so at that point i did some regular maintenance on it as it was coming due. replaced the fuel filter and dumped a can of seaform in the tank and some other things none fuel system related. this initially seemed to correct the problem but after a couple days it got worse, power loss to the point it would stall. when this happened i noticed that the fuel primer ball was flat, unscrewed the fuel filler cap, no change. the ball would fill after sitting for a bit but very slow. i read about the pick up line and figured that was my probelm. managed to get to it and get it out to find my machine has the rigid pick up tube. it looked to be in good condition, blew it out with my compressor and all seemed good. i pulled out the fuel line from the pick up to the ball and there was some noticible wear, enough where i suspected it was the problem. replaced the fuel line and she fired up, running good at idle and half throttle with no hesitation, altho i have not put it under any load. BUT the ball is still sucking itself flat while running. when machines off it fills quickly. with the ball disconnected from the fuel pump it pumps good fuel when squeezed.

im going to try and hook up to a fuel can today and see what that does.

where to go from here?

thanks for the help in advance. great forum guys.

 

[crewchief888]

hey guys, new here, hoping to tap into your vast knowledge. i have read this entire form and are having much similar symptoms but i havent been able to completely resolve things. here's my situation.....

i have a 2005 T250. number of weeks ago was running it and about after a couple hours of use it started losing power, it would not lift a load or carry one without rpms dropping. it was a humid day but gauges did not indicate any over heating. i shut it down and let her rest for a couple days. next time i tried it, same thing, after an hour or so, no power. so at that point i did some regular maintenance on it as it was coming due. replaced the fuel filter and dumped a can of seaform in the tank and some other things none fuel system related. this initially seemed to correct the problem but after a couple days it got worse, power loss to the point it would stall. when this happened i noticed that the fuel primer ball was flat, unscrewed the fuel filler cap, no change. the ball would fill after sitting for a bit but very slow. i read about the pick up line and figured that was my probelm. managed to get to it and get it out to find my machine has the rigid pick up tube. it looked to be in good condition, blew it out with my compressor and all seemed good. i pulled out the fuel line from the pick up to the ball and there was some noticible wear, enough where i suspected it was the problem. replaced the fuel line and she fired up, running good at idle and half throttle with no hesitation, altho i have not put it under any load. BUT the ball is still sucking itself flat while running. when machines off it fills quickly. with the ball disconnected from the fuel pump it pumps good fuel when squeezed.

im going to try and hook up to a fuel can today and see what that does.

where to go from here?

thanks for the help in advance. great forum guys.

sounds like you have some crap in the tank.

:drinkup

 

[dtsinc]

hey guys, new here, hoping to tap into your vast knowledge. i have read this entire form and are having much similar symptoms but i havent been able to completely resolve things. here's my situation.....

i have a 2005 T250. number of weeks ago was running it and about after a couple hours of use it started losing power, it would not lift a load or carry one without rpms dropping. it was a humid day but gauges did not indicate any over heating. i shut it down and let her rest for a couple days. next time i tried it, same thing, after an hour or so, no power. so at that point i did some regular maintenance on it as it was coming due. replaced the fuel filter and dumped a can of seaform in the tank and some other things none fuel system related. this initially seemed to correct the problem but after a couple days it got worse, power loss to the point it would stall. when this happened i noticed that the fuel primer ball was flat, unscrewed the fuel filler cap, no change. the ball would fill after sitting for a bit but very slow. i read about the pick up line and figured that was my probelm. managed to get to it and get it out to find my machine has the rigid pick up tube. it looked to be in good condition, blew it out with my compressor and all seemed good. i pulled out the fuel line from the pick up to the ball and there was some noticible wear, enough where i suspected it was the problem. replaced the fuel line and she fired up, running good at idle and half throttle with no hesitation, altho i have not put it under any load. BUT the ball is still sucking itself flat while running. when machines off it fills quickly. with the ball disconnected from the fuel pump it pumps good fuel when squeezed.

im going to try and hook up to a fuel can today and see what that does.

where to go from here?

thanks for the help in advance. great forum guys.

Well she ran fine off a jerry can, so my suspicions of the primer bulb was ruled out. i blew air into the tank and plumbed it back together and ran like it should. spent a couple hours on it and all good.

so as crewchiel888 says, must be **** in the tank.

does anyone know of an additive that can be dumped into the tank to help with this? pulling the engine doesnt look like that much fun.

 

[crewchief888]

Well she ran fine off a jerry can, so my suspicions of the primer bulb was ruled out. i blew air into the tank and plumbed it back together and ran like it should. spent a couple hours on it and all good.

so as crewchiel888 says, must be **** in the tank.

does anyone know of an additive that can be dumped into the tank to help with this? pulling the engine doesnt look like that much fun.

theres a drain plug in the bottom of the tank.

located under the inspection cover on the bottom of the belly pan.
consists of a rubber grommet and a steel plug


:drinkup

 

[dtsinc]

theres a drain plug in the bottom of the tank.

located under the inspection cover on the bottom of the belly pan.
consists of a rubber grommet and a steel plug


:drinkup

good to know! thanks for the info.

 

[willie59]

Welcome to HEF dtsinc. :drinkup

I agree with crewchief, if you have the hard poly tube pickup tube in the tank, and the primer bulb is sucking flat, there's something floating around in the tank that's blocking the pickup tube. Hopefully it will come out of the drain hole in the tank when you pull the plug. However, I don't recommend pulling that plug with a full tank of fuel.

 

[crane operator]

Just thought I'd say thanks willie59. One of the guys came into work, said his 873 just died out in the back yard, no fuel at the primer bulb, full tank of fuel. I remembered reading this a while back, and printed off the first couple pages with pictures.

He showed up this morning with a big grin on his face, 873 is fixed and running. Thanks again for taking the time to post.

 

[willie59]

Good to hear the info helped someone. :drinkup

 

[real550A]

Another satisfied HEF reader! Thanks Willie59, your thread and pics helped me immensely. 773G died while grappling logs, primer bulb sucking air. Pulled the elbow and grommet to find pickup tube had removed itself completely. Off to TriState to get new parts, as I type this. Thanks again to all!

 

[willie59]

Awesome!

 

[kochevnik]

So wanted to add this here - I have a 2004 T300 and was having all kinds of problems getting it to run more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time before losing fuel and shutting down.

Replaces filters hoses pumps - nothing worked then gave in and googled and this thread popped up. I saw the tractorbynet thread referencing the 'alternate' solution : http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/bobcat-construction-equipment/174783-863-fuel-pickup.html

So I ended up doing a version of the same thing - cut the hose and installed the fix - seems to work fine. Didn't build it myself had a local shop do it - $70.

 

[freshayr]

I have the same flat bulb problem. runs for a while and then sucks the bulb flat. I have blown out the line and it seems clear. So just to be clear...this sounds like a floater in the tank problem not a "fuel pick up line " problem ???correct???

 

[willie59]

Well, yes, I would say a tank floater is a likely cause, but what puzzles me is you have blown back through the line and the primer bulb still goes flat. Most Bobcat fuel tanks have a check valve on the end of the pickup tube, when you blow back through them it will blow the pickup line off inside the tank. There were some models that didn't have that pickup tube check valve, that may be the case with your machine and the floater occasionally blocks the tube

 

[freshayr]

mine' s a 2007 model . It has gotten worse since I blew back through it. It happened once and then it didn't happen for about 15 hours later. Now it happens over and over. If I blew the pick up line off then I assume I'd get no fuel at all??? It still sucks the bulb flat.