Tons of questions, I have acquired a Bobcat 743. As you can see from my prior posts, I have been looking for a small skid steer. Like a Bobcat 371 or similar. I learned from the fine people on this forum that I should not get anything smaller than a 440b. So in all my searches, I found that 440b's are rare and expensive. So I found a 743 that was reasonably priced, or so I thought. For my area, I have learned that a what I would call full size skid steer, like the 743 has 3 price ranges. If it doesn't run or doesn't have an engine it is $3500.00, If it looks rough or has some other issue, it is around $7000.00, if it is a nice one, or at a bobcat dealer, it is 12,000.00. I opted for the 7000.00. Since most of the 440b's were bringing 5000.00 or more. Now that I have gotten it home. If am quickly finding out I may have bought a pig in a poke. Of course the oil was black, it is a diesel. The dipstick was misleading as I have now discovered that it was low on oil, when I bought it. I saw oil on the floor of the motor compartment, Looked like it may have been from where they had check the oil since the oil on the side of the engine didn' go much higher than the dipstick. Well, now that I look at it closer, I think all that oil is from the blow by. They told me it creeped because the "sticks were not balanced. Is that a thing. After driving it I asked if it was always jerking, The old codger told me it was because I was pushing the sticks too fast. They said they added hydraulic oil about every six months. I didn't think that was bad. Claimed they had fixed leaks in it twice. Once I got it home, I checked the air cleaner to find oil in it. The oil was clean, so I don't think it is from the engine, any thoughts?? So how bad is it doc? Thanks for your comments.
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flyerdan
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I've refereed to the 743 as the DC-3 of the skidsteer world, as they are the perfect size to get in an out of lots of places, can do a wide variety of tasks, are rugged and simple and can be found everywhere.
There shouldn't be any oil in the air filter, that's a very bad situation for a diesel, as they can ingest it and run away, which can be interesting to watch on youtube, not so much in your dooryard with your machine.
The creeping and sticks not balanced, is a real thing, they do need to be centered. There are at least two manuals in the manual thread (see my sig) that you should download. It tells how to deal with that. The jerking can be a learning curve, they are short coupled with no suspension and they do bounce around a lot, if you try and fight it it often becomes worse. They are touchy and easing in when starting out smooths things out.
If you have compressed air, HF has a great engine cleaning gun; giving the engine and pumps a good washdown makes it a lot easier to see where leaks are coming from, as well as making adjustments a lot cleaner and more pleasant.
Hopefully you've got a bit of a neglected machine with nothing too serious wrong, but definitely change out the air filter and clean any residual oil out of the housing first thing.
There shouldn't be any oil in the air filter, that's a very bad situation for a diesel, as they can ingest it and run away, which can be interesting to watch on youtube, not so much in your dooryard with your machine.
The creeping and sticks not balanced, is a real thing, they do need to be centered. There are at least two manuals in the manual thread (see my sig) that you should download. It tells how to deal with that. The jerking can be a learning curve, they are short coupled with no suspension and they do bounce around a lot, if you try and fight it it often becomes worse. They are touchy and easing in when starting out smooths things out.
If you have compressed air, HF has a great engine cleaning gun; giving the engine and pumps a good washdown makes it a lot easier to see where leaks are coming from, as well as making adjustments a lot cleaner and more pleasant.
Hopefully you've got a bit of a neglected machine with nothing too serious wrong, but definitely change out the air filter and clean any residual oil out of the housing first thing.
I friend of mine bought a 743b it was neglected, but a good cleaning a few leaks fixed and it has been so far a great machine, one thing the kubtoa v1702 engine does not like to be over heated so make sure that your temp gauge works . and they are cold natured keep in good glow plugs. have fun.
Yes very simple machine. Motor can be pulled in less than a hour...if need be. Totally agree with other comments...v1702 don't take kindly to overheating. Its a PITA but if for whatever reason you may need to pull motor then by all means pull the radiator, oil cooler, muffler, cooling shroud and pressure wash all the gunk out (you will wonder how the hell the engine cooled at all). then make SURE temp gauge is working.
Thanks for the good advise and info. The guy told me that he had pulled the head and had it plained, because it was getting too hot. He also replaced the heat guage, said it too didn't work right. I asked what caused him to remove the head, he said it had an air leak, not oil or water. One thing I am very nervous about is the amount of blow by coming out of the blow by hose. Don't know what to do about that. Thanks so much for the advise and information.
To know for sure, you'd need to do a compression test to see how good the mores/pistons are sealing. Blow by is not great, but small amounts are normal.
Thanks Tazza, I will need to get that checked.
When you change the hydraulic filter, does it poor out the oil?
Yep! Its inline with the hydraulic reservoir and will drain out...just put a catch pan under it(ontop of the battery) and do it fairly quickly...you wont lose that much from what I found. Just did mine the other day. Just have your new filter ready, already filled with oil and oil on the seal. Then you can unscrew the old one, quickly wipe the mating surface(and be sure the old seal came off with the filter.) Then screw your new one on. Fram #P1653A
Thank you Gatorguy. I will follow your instructions. Thanks.
I changed the engine oil yesterday, and I added 2 gallons of oil to the chain drive case. next problem, It appears the radiator cap is leaking. After less than five minutes of my son driving the bobcat, I see liquid coming out the back. After review, it is coming from the radiator cap area. either the cap is bad, or the overflow hose is leaking. I did check the anti freeze in December when I bought it. It tested ok. Any idea's Thanks
replace them both they are cheap fixes but you might want to look at the coolant as the machine is running to make sure you are not getting blow by in the cooling system , if so it might be a head gasket or cracked head as the Kubota v1703 does not like to be overheated.
As far as changing hydraulic filter if you can hook a shop vac up it doesn't take much suction to keep oil in if you can get at it. As far as the coolant leaking I'd be looking at a pressure test of the system to make sure the head gasket isn't letting compression gases into the coolant
As far as changing hydraulic filter if you can hook a shop vac up it doesn't take much suction to keep oil in if you can get at it. As far as the coolant leaking I'd be looking at a pressure test of the system to make sure the head gasket isn't letting compression gases into the coolant. The problem with 743 cooling systems is the air comes from the bottom up through the radiator. So the top can be clean but the bottom packed
Well, I haven't gotten back to it yet. I did get the oil analysis report. Turns out I have 687 ppm of potassium in the engine oil. The report says it is antifreeze. So it would appear I may have compression gas leaking into the radiator and antifreeze leaking into the oil. What to do about it. Should I buy a rebuilt engine? Is there another engine that will go into it, that might work better?
UPDATE: I have changed the thermostat. Old thermostat checked on the stove, it does open. Pressure checked, pumped up the pressure to 7 pounds as it has a 7 pound cap. It held at 7, did not move. So that would tell me the head gasket is not leaking into the crankcase. However, when we started it and let it heat up. the pressure guage went up to 9 lbs, and stayed there. The only other discovery is that the bottom of the radiator was much hotter than the top??? Maybe a clogged radiator??
Removing the radiator is not a bad job to do , it might be worth taking it out and to a shop and have them flush it or buy a aftermarket one and just plan on replacing it. It might be the fins are packed with junk that you cannot see until you get it out also. while you are right there look at the muffler too for holes.
Well the radiator cap is holding. everything stays dry now. and the heat guage goes up half way through the green. So went to moving some big rocks the thing went to making some weird noises when moving the bucket and booms. Though I was trying to pick up too much.. Then it made the same noises with the bucket empty. So I thought that maybe the hydraulic filter was clogged. So I changed it. I filled the new filter before I put it on. Didn't fix much. When I move the bucket it doesn't make the sounds or shutter as much. However, the booms still makes the louder noise and shutters (shakes). Is it possible that I have air in the hydraulic system?? All comments are appreciated. Thank you.
anytime that a system is opened that air has to be worked out and it can take some time depending what part of the hydro system was opened, but the air still must come out to get rid of the pulsing.
