Help with an S175

[cavedweller29]

This may be a dumb question...ok, I may have a few dumb questions but, here goes.

I have a 2005 S175 with around 5200 hrs. It has never given me trouble until......I had 50 yards of fill dumped, of course, right in the middle of my driveway and, it had to be moved relatively quickly. As I was moving it to my back yard, I suddenly noticed what, at first looked like water pockets in the fill I got (a lot of clay so it didn't really surprise me) but, as I backed up further, I could see it was oil. I looked to the side and saw that the side of my house was covered in oil...literally covered up to about 20 feet high and got out to see what was wrong. I had blown the wiper out of my lift cylinder and dumped most of my oil on my driveway. This being a rush job, I called my local dealer and they didn't have the seal set so, I had them overnighted....aftermarket parts (not sure if that is where my problem lies).

I got the seals and wrangled my wife into helping me and we changed out the seals on both cylinders. Everything inside looked fine...no scoring, pitting etc except a small chip taken out of the metal flat on the piston (not even sure how that could have happened but, I would guess at an earlier time when seals were done). Anyway, got everything back together, and, as I was finishing relocating the fill, I noticed that my lift arms would drift down about an inch and then stop. They may have been drifting still but, if so, it was so slow and so minimal you couldn't see it. To be honest, I can't say if they were drifting before the cylinders were rebuilt or not...they could have been.

I researched problems that could make the arms drift and the only two that appear to be possibilities are, a damaged seal (possible) or linkage not adjusted correctly (also possible). I started yesterday playing with the linkage and after trying different holes, I don't think that is the problem but, I discovered an issue I can't figure out...my first stupid question....how do you get rusted bolts out of the foot pedal mount? I have a pretty extensive shop but, I have tried everything to get them out, cut them off, etc. I don't have any cutting tools that I can fit into that area and get at them. I really don't want to torch them off but, if that is my only choice I will. Have any of you found a way to do it without a torch?

My second question which is probably the most important question, is about the lift drift. Is there some sort of equalizing valve that would allow both arms to drift at the same time?...I had it in my head that if one sides seal was bad, the other side would keep it from drifting. I guess its also possible (likely?) that the seal kits I got were not the correct size but everything seemed to match up okay. Is there anything else I should be looking for that could cause the issue?

Sorry for the book and the dumb questions and thanks for any knowledge you can pass on.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

Lift cylinder or Tilt Cylinder resealed? If Lift cylinder--Did you change the nylon sleeves on the pistons?

 

[cavedweller29]

Lift cylinder or Tilt Cylinder resealed? If Lift cylinder--Did you change the nylon sleeves on the pistons?

Thanks for reaching out. The problem is with the lift cylinder, tilt works fine. I changed all of the parts included in the rebuild kit including the piston seal and the o-ring under it.

 

[brdgbldr]

Thanks for reaching out. The problem is with the lift cylinder, tilt works fine. I changed all of the parts included in the rebuild kit including the piston seal and the o-ring under it.

There could actually still be some air in the system. This would cause the arms to drop a little and stop. It takes quite a bit of slow full movement and letting the bubbles dissipate in the tank and refilling the tank before all of the air is out of the system.

Since you were in a hurry, I doubt that you took the time needed to do this properly. Try lifting the arms up and down, full motion, slowly a few times and see if bubbles show up in the hydraulic fluid tank. If they do, then you've still got air in the system. Make sure to keep an eye on the fluid level and keep it full otherwise you will introduce more air.

Hopefully this is the issue and it will go away after the air is out.

 

[RedNeckMike]

For the bolt can you get an induction tool in there

 

[cavedweller29]

Thanks for the response. I do have an induction heater and was thinking about it but, i have a hard time getting a wrench or socket on it period. A deep socket is needed and when I put a universal adapter on it it is too tall. It is the most aggravating simple task I have run into in a while.

 

[jakc]

Some seals are directional..is it possible you install them wrong?

 

[[email protected]]

There could actually still be some air in the system. This would cause the arms to drop a little and stop. It takes quite a bit of slow full movement and letting the bubbles dissipate in the tank and refilling the tank before all of the air is out of the system.

Since you were in a hurry, I doubt that you took the time needed to do this properly. Try lifting the arms up and down, full motion, slowly a few times and see if bubbles show up in the hydraulic fluid tank. If they do, then you've still got air in the system. Make sure to keep an eye on the fluid level and keep it full otherwise you will introduce more air.

Hopefully this is the issue and it will go away after the air is out.

That is the first thing that came to mind as I read this. I would try the up and down first as it was suggested. Then go on to the bolt issue.

 

[[email protected]]

That is the first thing that came to mind as I read this. I would try the up and down first as it was suggested. Then go on to the bolt issue.

 

[cavedweller29]

Some seals are directional..is it possible you install them wrong?

THAT is something I would do but, I was very careful to make sure the new ones went in right. I took pictures before I started pulling all the seals and the new ones when in the same way.

 

[[email protected]]

How about a picture of that bolt that is so hard to get to. May offer some other ideas.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

There could actually still be some air in the system. This would cause the arms to drop a little and stop. It takes quite a bit of slow full movement and letting the bubbles dissipate in the tank and refilling the tank before all of the air is out of the system.

Since you were in a hurry, I doubt that you took the time needed to do this properly. Try lifting the arms up and down, full motion, slowly a few times and see if bubbles show up in the hydraulic fluid tank. If they do, then you've still got air in the system. Make sure to keep an eye on the fluid level and keep it full otherwise you will introduce more air.

Hopefully this is the issue and it will go away after the air is out.

The bobcat hydraulic system is a self bleeding system, which means that the air goes out itself. It is not like any excavator where the air stays trapped in the system.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

Do you have a bucket positioning valve? If yes, if you turn it off does it still bleed down?
How does it bleed down anyway, how did you test that?

 

[cavedweller29]

Do you have a bucket positioning valve? If yes, if you turn it off does it still bleed down?
How does it bleed down anyway, how did you test that?

It does have it but, I believe it defaults off. I have to turn it on which I rarely do unless I'm using forks. I will double check to make sure I don't have it backwards though.

 

[[email protected]]

This really will not help but I will take an old machine without the bells whistles and light any day over all the wiring, safety switches and safety locks. Man, the have built a machine that it making the MFR's rich Just on parts. I will have to stay with Case at this point. Realize we don't have alot of choices with safety mandates and things of that nature but we do have the time and talent to make one that works. Like todays car's a bell and whistle for everything if one thing breakes they all cost you an arm and a leg. How does a person recover from all that? So to all the MFR's out there who sell for big bucks build a earthmover that works for years. Thing go bad but all this safety is killing the product. Sorry for the rant but it needs to be said. We all can do better.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

This really will not help but I will take an old machine without the bells whistles and light any day over all the wiring, safety switches and safety locks. Man, the have built a machine that it making the MFR's rich Just on parts. I will have to stay with Case at this point. Realize we don't have alot of choices with safety mandates and things of that nature but we do have the time and talent to make one that works. Like todays car's a bell and whistle for everything if one thing breakes they all cost you an arm and a leg. How does a person recover from all that? So to all the MFR's out there who sell for big bucks build a earthmover that works for years. Thing go bad but all this safety is killing the product. Sorry for the rant but it needs to be said. We all can do better.

That's a problem coming from the users. If certain users would have not abused the machines in the past, the manufactures would have not come up with this safety measure or any other. Humans, more then less, learn from their mistakes.
And who wants to sit today in a car with no automatic windows, but then there are these idiots who stuck their heads out of the window and rolled the window up. So now the car needs a safety device that you can not roll up windows when the windows detect a resistance while going up.
And that list goes on and on. Back in the 80's we did not had Seatbelts like today. Now we have adjusting seatbelts because Idiots did not put the Belt correctly on and still got kill by an accident.
Do you need more examples.
All these Safety features is because people got lazy and found more ways to bypass something what would safe their life!

 

[[email protected]]

You're correct. I lived it. So the need for more is a mute issue. The problem is on us. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

It does have it but, I believe it defaults off. I have to turn it on which I rarely do unless I'm using forks. I will double check to make sure I don't have it backwards though.

Ok, but still how does it bleed off?
When you have a bucket full of material and in the air does it go down?
Or when the machine is turned off?

 

[cavedweller29]

Ok, but still how does it bleed off?
When you have a bucket full of material and in the air does it go down?
Or when the machine is turned off?

It's been either smoking hot or torrential rain for the last couple days so I haven't looked at it. I can say that with an empty bucket, it will drop an inch or 2 very steadily and fast...maybe 2 seconds. Then it will catch and stop or be so close to stopped that you can't see it moving easily. If I shut it off, it will very slowly drop....maybe a foot every 10 seconds.

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

It's been either smoking hot or torrential rain for the last couple days so I haven't looked at it. I can say that with an empty bucket, it will drop an inch or 2 very steadily and fast...maybe 2 seconds. Then it will catch and stop or be so close to stopped that you can't see it moving easily. If I shut it off, it will very slowly drop....maybe a foot every 10 seconds.

And was that like that before you changed the seals?
If it drops that fast and you do not have a leak anywhere, then your seals are not correct installed.