Hello!
I just bought a 2006 used TB 1140 to help me around the farm. The machine runs fantastic with only one problem which is swinging. Sometimes when you swing and release the joystick command the machine stops in that direction but is in “free fall” under it’s own weight, if you are slightly inclined on a slope.
This is my first excavator and don’t know much about them in detail so I can’t really wrap my head around the cause of the problem, but my logic tells me it’s in the slew motor. Also I asked around some guys which have owned an excavator, told me the problem could indeed be in the slew motor.
But this problem can be described in more detail, if by any chance some really experienced owners and operators on this site might sense what the actual root of it is.
For instance this doesn’t happen constantly. I found that if I just play with it on medium rpm the brake does not apply at all. It just stops the swing and starts falling under it’s own weight. But if I run it on highest rpm and really put some force in it and run it a bit more aggressively the brake applies about 70% of the time when I release the command, but if on a slope it still falls for about 15 to 30 degrees before applying, unless if I if I quickly move the swing command left and right so the whole excavator shakes a little then it applies on the spot.
The guy that I bought it from hasn’t ran it for very long, because he imports the machines from another country to mine and sells them here. He said as he ran it that to his feeling the swing brakes too quickly than he is used on Takeuchi machines, which might be true when you run it on a flat surface on high rpms. But like I said the problem arises when you are slightly inclined, thats when it’s noticeable.
I also noticed that when you swing around really slowly you can hear “growling” noise from under the cab, which I find somehow suspicious, but at the spot that you can hear the “growling” is the spot where the brake applies normally, even if swinging on low rpm. And the position that the growling is most noticeable is when the boom is parallel to the tracks, so if I swing directly up to the front of the excavator above the dozer blade thats the spot with some “growling” noises and thats the position the brake applies pretty much always.
And one more thing which scared the **** out of me and convinced me to fix this problem. I was moving an excavator and lifted the boom and the arm up to get the bucket behind the wall. I had to clear some stuff behind the wall by hand, so as the brake applied and held I left it in that position, turned the excavator off, hoped down and started clearing by hand. My father in law stood by me an yelled “well look at that” and the excavator started falling under its weight around the swing axis. I quickly ran around hopped on and in the last second started it and started swinging in the other direction so the boom wouldn’t hit a tree. My father in law laughed but it scared me like nothing has in a while. This happened in the following order: I rotated to the front position which always applies the brake, mowed up front with my tracks for like 10 meters, lifted the boom and the arm, swing a little left and right so I was sure the brake was applied since I was on a slope which was, turned the machine off, and after a minute or two the brake released with the excavator being turned off.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give out all the details that I’ve noticed, so some expert that really knows this stuff might understand what is happening.
I just bought a 2006 used TB 1140 to help me around the farm. The machine runs fantastic with only one problem which is swinging. Sometimes when you swing and release the joystick command the machine stops in that direction but is in “free fall” under it’s own weight, if you are slightly inclined on a slope.
This is my first excavator and don’t know much about them in detail so I can’t really wrap my head around the cause of the problem, but my logic tells me it’s in the slew motor. Also I asked around some guys which have owned an excavator, told me the problem could indeed be in the slew motor.
But this problem can be described in more detail, if by any chance some really experienced owners and operators on this site might sense what the actual root of it is.
For instance this doesn’t happen constantly. I found that if I just play with it on medium rpm the brake does not apply at all. It just stops the swing and starts falling under it’s own weight. But if I run it on highest rpm and really put some force in it and run it a bit more aggressively the brake applies about 70% of the time when I release the command, but if on a slope it still falls for about 15 to 30 degrees before applying, unless if I if I quickly move the swing command left and right so the whole excavator shakes a little then it applies on the spot.
The guy that I bought it from hasn’t ran it for very long, because he imports the machines from another country to mine and sells them here. He said as he ran it that to his feeling the swing brakes too quickly than he is used on Takeuchi machines, which might be true when you run it on a flat surface on high rpms. But like I said the problem arises when you are slightly inclined, thats when it’s noticeable.
I also noticed that when you swing around really slowly you can hear “growling” noise from under the cab, which I find somehow suspicious, but at the spot that you can hear the “growling” is the spot where the brake applies normally, even if swinging on low rpm. And the position that the growling is most noticeable is when the boom is parallel to the tracks, so if I swing directly up to the front of the excavator above the dozer blade thats the spot with some “growling” noises and thats the position the brake applies pretty much always.
And one more thing which scared the **** out of me and convinced me to fix this problem. I was moving an excavator and lifted the boom and the arm up to get the bucket behind the wall. I had to clear some stuff behind the wall by hand, so as the brake applied and held I left it in that position, turned the excavator off, hoped down and started clearing by hand. My father in law stood by me an yelled “well look at that” and the excavator started falling under its weight around the swing axis. I quickly ran around hopped on and in the last second started it and started swinging in the other direction so the boom wouldn’t hit a tree. My father in law laughed but it scared me like nothing has in a while. This happened in the following order: I rotated to the front position which always applies the brake, mowed up front with my tracks for like 10 meters, lifted the boom and the arm, swing a little left and right so I was sure the brake was applied since I was on a slope which was, turned the machine off, and after a minute or two the brake released with the excavator being turned off.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give out all the details that I’ve noticed, so some expert that really knows this stuff might understand what is happening.
