Hello everyone. This is my first thread and the 208s is my first skid-steer or backhoe. I have a compact farm tractor, but I needed something to help me with all the dirt work I have at my land and thought this would be a great machine to do that.
I purchased a 1998 JCB 208s. Its got the Perkins 100 series engine in it (thanks Dave). If there is anything else you want to know about it, let me know.
When I bought it, I knew I was going to have some issues. I only paid $5500 USD for it which seemed to be a great price (great prices come with great issues usually). The man I got it from seemed pretty genuine and told me all about it except for one main issue I am having right now.
I have not gotten much time on it, but it has already overheated on me twice with very little use. I checked it out further and found that the radiator fan is blowing toward the front pushing air towards the bucket. I thought that was odd, since I have never seen that before. Usually the fan pulls the air through the radiator towards the engine. Is this normal on this machine?
The radiator looks good, the hoses look good, the fan is blowing hard (maybe in the wrong direction). I need to check it out when its cold to make sure the water is moving well in the radiator, but other than the fan direction it seems fine. Any thoughts?
I have also found 2 of the injectors are bubbling at the threads. I am not a mechanic, but I assume that is not helping me. I also found a leak at the back of the engine. The engine sounds good though.
The unit runs, drives, loader works, backhoe works. Overall its in good shape for a 98. Some other issues he did tell me about was the turning. It drives strong straight forward and backwards. I can push anything without it stalling, it looses traction before stalling. But when I turn it, it does not want to do a nice 360. It will pretty much turn one side and the other wheels just stay stopped which makes turning a struggle for it. If you keep on it like that the other wheels will end up reversing and get you to a 360, but not very well. Any ideas? This is the same in either direction.
Also, the backhoe seems to be very touchy. If I use the controls nice and softly, it moves nice and slow and has a good amount of power. If I really move the stick full out, it comes to a hard abrupt stop like something is quickly blocking the hydraulic flow. This happens in any direction and on any motion/stick. But if you use it softly it works fine. Any ideas? I am at a loss on that unless there is some kind of adjustment I need to make.
I uploaded a few videos (on my wife's tiny YouTube channel) that can show the engine running and the overall shape of the unit.
(sorry for the bad audio)
Thanks for any help everyone.
I purchased a 1998 JCB 208s. Its got the Perkins 100 series engine in it (thanks Dave). If there is anything else you want to know about it, let me know.
When I bought it, I knew I was going to have some issues. I only paid $5500 USD for it which seemed to be a great price (great prices come with great issues usually). The man I got it from seemed pretty genuine and told me all about it except for one main issue I am having right now.
I have not gotten much time on it, but it has already overheated on me twice with very little use. I checked it out further and found that the radiator fan is blowing toward the front pushing air towards the bucket. I thought that was odd, since I have never seen that before. Usually the fan pulls the air through the radiator towards the engine. Is this normal on this machine?
The radiator looks good, the hoses look good, the fan is blowing hard (maybe in the wrong direction). I need to check it out when its cold to make sure the water is moving well in the radiator, but other than the fan direction it seems fine. Any thoughts?
I have also found 2 of the injectors are bubbling at the threads. I am not a mechanic, but I assume that is not helping me. I also found a leak at the back of the engine. The engine sounds good though.
The unit runs, drives, loader works, backhoe works. Overall its in good shape for a 98. Some other issues he did tell me about was the turning. It drives strong straight forward and backwards. I can push anything without it stalling, it looses traction before stalling. But when I turn it, it does not want to do a nice 360. It will pretty much turn one side and the other wheels just stay stopped which makes turning a struggle for it. If you keep on it like that the other wheels will end up reversing and get you to a 360, but not very well. Any ideas? This is the same in either direction.
Also, the backhoe seems to be very touchy. If I use the controls nice and softly, it moves nice and slow and has a good amount of power. If I really move the stick full out, it comes to a hard abrupt stop like something is quickly blocking the hydraulic flow. This happens in any direction and on any motion/stick. But if you use it softly it works fine. Any ideas? I am at a loss on that unless there is some kind of adjustment I need to make.
I uploaded a few videos (on my wife's tiny YouTube channel) that can show the engine running and the overall shape of the unit.
Thanks for any help everyone.