863 Bobcat pivot pins and bushing replacement

Hello everyone, I have just joined this forum, and this is my first posting. I just recently purchased a 1999 863 Bobcat, G-series, with only 1200 hours. Overall the machine is in nice shape, but I went to grease all of the pins the other day, and everyone except the bottom right bucket pivot pin took grease. I tired everything, heat, oils, lots of grease gun pressure, but no luck. Anyway, the bushing twisted out of position and was sticking out of the arm at least 1/8", so the channel wasn't lining up with the pin's grease hole. The bushing actually wore a nice groove into the bobtach. It was annoying to drop down the bobtach because of this. Today, I removed both bushings (I decided to replace both while I had the attachment plate down). The removal went smoothly. I MIG welded here and there in the bushing and both hammered out easily. The bore, whose bushing wasn't getting grease, is a bit rusty, though. I lightly wire brushed it, and also lightly sanded it with a little old 100 and 220 grit paper. I still have a decent amount of pitting, as I'm afraid of removing too much material. I ordered two new bushings, pins, and seals from Bobcat, and they'll be arriving on Monday. I did this before I got to see some of the pitting in the bore. So, my question is, short of having the arm re-bored and an oversized bushing installed, do I have any other options? I tested the bores with the better of the two old bushings (which I shrunk by welding inside). The bushing will start to go into the side that was working fine, but to go further I'd have to hammer it in. But, the side that was the problem, when I take the same bushing I can push it in by hand with just a little force. Maybe I'm worrying too much and the new bushing will be tight enough, despite the pitting and wear. I'm just wondering if there is anything else I can do, maybe Loctite at the ends of the bushing, I don't know. Anyway, I'm sorry for the long message, but I'm new to bobcats/skid steers, and any advice is appreciated. Thanks. Joe

Loctite may work, check that it is still round and not worn/stretched.
Absolute worst case, you can remove the old bosses and weld new ones in. I have done this a few times. It is not fun, cutting the old ones out takes a fair bit of effort, but can be done.
You sound like you know your way around a welder, so this option may be doable if needed. To line things up, i actually mounted the bobtach to the arms so the pins held the bushings and bosses in place for welding.

Tazza said:

Loctite may work, check that it is still round and not worn/stretched.
Absolute worst case, you can remove the old bosses and weld new ones in. I have done this a few times. It is not fun, cutting the old ones out takes a fair bit of effort, but can be done.
You sound like you know your way around a welder, so this option may be doable if needed. To line things up, i actually mounted the bobtach to the arms so the pins held the bushings and bosses in place for welding.

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Hi Tazza, Thanks for the reply and information. Okay, so what I wound up doing was cleaning the bore out really well, scouring both the bushing and the bore, and decreasing it all really well, then I JB welded it into place. I did this for both sides, even though only one needed the extra tightness. The bushing bore on this machine is in the loader arm itself, not the bobtach. So the only other option would have been reboring to take an oversized bushing. I had already ordered the parts, before I noticed it being loose, and I didn't want to bother sending it out, since boring is beyond my capabilities and tooling right now. I don't even know if a Bobcat dealer itself would do such a repair, or if it would have to go to a proper machine shop. Anyway, the bore was decently concentric, with a little even play all around on the inner side of the arm, where the bushing slipped out of position and was causing wear/rusting. Where the bushing should have been, but wasn't, there was still a decent amount of grab. So I had say 1/2" of decent grabbing. I hope the epoxy works okay. I did the best I could of removing the rust out of the pits, and sanding, without removing too much material in the process. It's been curing for thirty-six hours already, and I plan to leave it for a few days longer probably, since I don't need it right now. That, plenty of grease all the time, I'm hoping I have a decent repair. What do you think? Joe

Bobcatter1 said:

Hi Tazza, Thanks for the reply and information. Okay, so what I wound up doing was cleaning the bore out really well, scouring both the bushing and the bore, and decreasing it all really well, then I JB welded it into place. I did this for both sides, even though only one needed the extra tightness. The bushing bore on this machine is in the loader arm itself, not the bobtach. So the only other option would have been reboring to take an oversized bushing. I had already ordered the parts, before I noticed it being loose, and I didn't want to bother sending it out, since boring is beyond my capabilities and tooling right now. I don't even know if a Bobcat dealer itself would do such a repair, or if it would have to go to a proper machine shop. Anyway, the bore was decently concentric, with a little even play all around on the inner side of the arm, where the bushing slipped out of position and was causing wear/rusting. Where the bushing should have been, but wasn't, there was still a decent amount of grab. So I had say 1/2" of decent grabbing. I hope the epoxy works okay. I did the best I could of removing the rust out of the pits, and sanding, without removing too much material in the process. It's been curing for thirty-six hours already, and I plan to leave it for a few days longer probably, since I don't need it right now. That, plenty of grease all the time, I'm hoping I have a decent repair. What do you think? Joe

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I would use bearing locktight for final assembly will take up the last bit of play

antfarmer2 said:

I would use bearing locktight for final assembly will take up the last bit of play

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Sorry reread ......jb weld is good stuff if mixed right let us know how it worked

antfarmer2 said:

Sorry reread ......jb weld is good stuff if mixed right let us know how it worked

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I never used the stuff before, but it seemed easy enough to mix together. One to one on a piece of plastic, with a plastic knife. I think the serrated edge of the knife helps to pull it all together quick and evenly. It's a little stickier than I thought it would be, but I guess that's where the strength comes from. Joe

Bobcatter1 said:

I never used the stuff before, but it seemed easy enough to mix together. One to one on a piece of plastic, with a plastic knife. I think the serrated edge of the knife helps to pull it all together quick and evenly. It's a little stickier than I thought it would be, but I guess that's where the strength comes from. Joe

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coup[e of things tat might help A. fish eye bore( this is take a sharp punch. put a cople dozen divots all around the bore) by the way this works. B Loctite 660 will take up 6 to 10.000 of slop.

7LBSSMALLIE said:

coup[e of things tat might help A. fish eye bore( this is take a sharp punch. put a cople dozen divots all around the bore) by the way this works. B Loctite 660 will take up 6 to 10.000 of slop.

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I'd like to know how it goes too.

Tazza said:

I'd like to know how it goes too.

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Hey Tazza, I have my wood stove working over time lately in my garage, making sure this epoxy cures good. I don't run it overnight unattended, but I've been giving it a good 12-13 hour shot each day since Monday night, since it's decently cold here in NY. Even in the cold, I believe the epoxy should be cured by now, but I want to make sure. I don't know if this is something that would go bad right away, or only after a while...hopefully that latter, and after a long while! Joe

I've done a bunch like that. In with the new bushing, 4 spot welds to hold the bushing in place and put it all back together. If you need to remove the replacement bushing it comes out with a die grinder. Sorry I chimed in so late.

bobcatguy said:

I've done a bunch like that. In with the new bushing, 4 spot welds to hold the bushing in place and put it all back together. If you need to remove the replacement bushing it comes out with a die grinder. Sorry I chimed in so late.

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Hi Bobcatguy, Yeah, I thought about possibly tack welding the bushing, but I was not sure how the hardened steel (seems pretty hard) of the factory bushing would take a regular mild steel welding. Also, I worried about obstructing the pin seals. I put the machine back together, greased it all well, and put it to some snow removal use. Each little snag got me thinking about that epoxy. There's no real way at this point of seeing if it's holding, unless I take the pin back out. I guess, we'll see what happens. I happened to email a line boring company local to me yesterday, and I was quoted $700 to do both sides, which is what they would recommend. This company rewelds and bores back to factory specs. Seems like a lot, but then all line boring is probably expensive. I haven't shopped it around, since I'm hoping my repair holds for a while first. Joe

Bobcatter1 said:

Hi Bobcatguy, Yeah, I thought about possibly tack welding the bushing, but I was not sure how the hardened steel (seems pretty hard) of the factory bushing would take a regular mild steel welding. Also, I worried about obstructing the pin seals. I put the machine back together, greased it all well, and put it to some snow removal use. Each little snag got me thinking about that epoxy. There's no real way at this point of seeing if it's holding, unless I take the pin back out. I guess, we'll see what happens. I happened to email a line boring company local to me yesterday, and I was quoted $700 to do both sides, which is what they would recommend. This company rewelds and bores back to factory specs. Seems like a lot, but then all line boring is probably expensive. I haven't shopped it around, since I'm hoping my repair holds for a while first. Joe

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I've got a neighbor with the bushings on both sides of his 763 tack welded and haven't had a problem. What I do is use a die grinder and make sure the bushing is clean then slide the pin in to make sure it doesn't bind then reinstall. If you have trouble with the epoxy, just tack it and be done. I wouldn't spend the money for line boring if it was my machine unless the new bushing is VERY sloppy inside the bore and I couldn't guarantee it would be straight once I tacked it.