743 hour meter

[daved]

Hey guys I am having trouble with my hour meter. I basically need to start from scratch here. It looks to me that someone had no business working on this but did anyhow. First off the old one does not work. I bought a new one and was wondering how this is supposed to be hooked up, the meter really doesnt spec. I know the one lead has to be positive and that is labeled on new meter. The other must be ground? I just wanted to ask so I didnt find out the hard way. Next, I read that this normally goes on with the key but the way my 743 is It is very easy to leave key on since the cut-out actually kills engine then you have to remember to shut key off. This isnt a problem with me but my Dad is old and Ill put money on him forgetting every other time he is on it.I cant always keep an eye on him, ha ha . Anyhow it looks like there is a yellow wire with brown tracer that goes all the way back to engine, I assume this is supposed to be for the meter. I also noticed my alternator has an unused post that is only hot when alternator is turning. Can anyone think of a downside here. This way I can keep better track of my services and not have to calculate in my Dads screw ups. Finally if there is supposed to be a ground attached to meter I did not see one there. It didnt look like there had ever been one. Thats why this puzzled me. I can pull one off of my gauges but what the hech used to be hooked here? Any help would be appreciated and sorry for the long post.

 

[pondfishr]

It depends on your serial number for a 743 according the Bobcat 743 repair manual. SN 11001-14084 orange wire to the positive + terminal. for the negative - terminal it has two connections with a dark blue and black wire. The 743 14085-19999 which is the model that I have and I had to replace my hour meter. When I bought the machine the meter was missing. You kill the engine with the fuel shut off lever and then must remember to turn the key off. The polarity is not marked on the schematic but the wire colors are red/white and yellow/brown. I don't think it is polarity sensitive. I also bought a small rivet kit at Autozone and it worked great for mounting it back to the cab dash. I just connected the wires and popped in the new rivets the hour meter is secure and works great. Actually looks like the factory installation.

 

[Luthor]

It depends on your serial number for a 743 according the Bobcat 743 repair manual. SN 11001-14084 orange wire to the positive + terminal. for the negative - terminal it has two connections with a dark blue and black wire. The 743 14085-19999 which is the model that I have and I had to replace my hour meter. When I bought the machine the meter was missing. You kill the engine with the fuel shut off lever and then must remember to turn the key off. The polarity is not marked on the schematic but the wire colors are red/white and yellow/brown. I don't think it is polarity sensitive. I also bought a small rivet kit at Autozone and it worked great for mounting it back to the cab dash. I just connected the wires and popped in the new rivets the hour meter is secure and works great. Actually looks like the factory installation.

On my 743 the hour meter only runs when there is oil pressure. I will try and find the schematic out of the maintenance manual and post it here.

 

[skidboy]

It depends on your serial number for a 743 according the Bobcat 743 repair manual. SN 11001-14084 orange wire to the positive + terminal. for the negative - terminal it has two connections with a dark blue and black wire. The 743 14085-19999 which is the model that I have and I had to replace my hour meter. When I bought the machine the meter was missing. You kill the engine with the fuel shut off lever and then must remember to turn the key off. The polarity is not marked on the schematic but the wire colors are red/white and yellow/brown. I don't think it is polarity sensitive. I also bought a small rivet kit at Autozone and it worked great for mounting it back to the cab dash. I just connected the wires and popped in the new rivets the hour meter is secure and works great. Actually looks like the factory installation.

I think that you will find that pos.power is always at the hourmeter and the switching is done via the negative. This wire goes to the switch on top of the hydrostat pump (under your bum ) There are two connections on this switch and the hourmeter connection is to the terminal that sayes NO , which means that it is normally open and when it senses charge pressure it closes and earths out the neg h/meter wire and completes the circuit.

 

[Tazza]

I think that you will find that pos.power is always at the hourmeter and the switching is done via the negative. This wire goes to the switch on top of the hydrostat pump (under your bum ) There are two connections on this switch and the hourmeter connection is to the terminal that sayes NO , which means that it is normally open and when it senses charge pressure it closes and earths out the neg h/meter wire and completes the circuit.

I fully re-wired my 743 after it was burnt. The way i setup the hour meter was drop dead simple, wire it in parallel to your gauges! All 3 run off switched power to the ignition switch, why Bobcat decided to over complicate the wiring has me stuffed.
On a machine i worked on, it had the same problem, the wires at the meter didn't work so i simply wired it to the gauges power wires and presto! all was fixed.
Leaving the key on can be a problem with a 743, one way i found to cure this was to install a small 12v buzzer in parallel with the oil pressure light. When the key turns on the light is on and will beep, start the engine and it will stop as you get oil pressure. When you shut down it will beep to remind you to turn the key off as you have no oil pressure. I did this on my 731 because over time it would drain the battery, the hour meter didn't work so it clicking over wasn't an issue.