853 steering

[carsronnie]

so i bought a bobcat 853 yesterday. great running machine in pretty good shape. 2800 hours. it was about 40 degrees when we went to get it, everything seemed fine. well the next morning it is 10 above, machine starts fine w/o being plugged in, and i let it warm up for an hour. my kid drives it about 10 blocks to the old lady we plow snow for. so i tell him to go real slow, for this is a practice run for him and she has a flower bed with landscape timbers along one side about 100 feet long. well his tracks look like a sidewinder rattle snake! after a couple minutes i got unnerved and got in my self. although i was better, i had a hell of a time keeping it straight too! now i only have about 100 hours of experience on a handful of skid steers in my life, but never had this problem. we had throttle at about 1/3 full. it seems fine at or near full throttle. could that be my problem? i read in another thread where an experienced bobcat guy said the 853 just happens to be this way?

 

[bobbie-g]

I have no experience with an 853. Other machines have mechanical linkage from the joystick levers back to the hydraulic pump. At the pump, there are two aluminum bell cranks that clamp to vertical shafts going into the pump. Occasionally, the aluminum bell crank will wear and become loose on the steel shaft, such that operator control is not great. Sometimes those securing bolts in the aluminum can be tightened OK. I think on one of mine, I've had to shim with a piece of soda can between the aluminum and the shaft to take up the slack. Also, there are rubber bushings in the linkage that can loosen up with age, which puts slop in the joystick control. ---Bobbie-G

 

[7LBSSMALLIE]

I have no experience with an 853. Other machines have mechanical linkage from the joystick levers back to the hydraulic pump. At the pump, there are two aluminum bell cranks that clamp to vertical shafts going into the pump. Occasionally, the aluminum bell crank will wear and become loose on the steel shaft, such that operator control is not great. Sometimes those securing bolts in the aluminum can be tightened OK. I think on one of mine, I've had to shim with a piece of soda can between the aluminum and the shaft to take up the slack. Also, there are rubber bushings in the linkage that can loosen up with age, which puts slop in the joystick control. ---Bobbie-G

853 SERVO ASSIST STEERING. JUMPY..COLD OIL. WARM OIL, JUST JUMPY. CAME THAT WAY FROM FACOTRY. THERE IS A FIX, IT AINT CHEAP BUT IS A FIX, NOT A FIX BUT BETTER,. A NEW SPOOL IS AVAIL WITH FEATHERING GLANDS. EASY TO DO BUT NOTEASY ON POCKET. IT DOES MAKE IT BETTTER. PRIOR TO THROWING CASH AT IT, I WOULD. RUN THROUGH THE SERVICE PROUCDERS ON SET UP. ITS A GREAT BIG PAIN , BUT IT DOES WORK. ITS NTTING EVERY THING HAPPYHE MEAUSRING OF CABLES ETC.,,, MY ADVICE, GET TIRES OFF GROUND, REMOVE CABLES,, FIND SWEET SPOT,. REATTACH CABLES DIAL IN, ITS ABOUT THE BEST YOURE GONNA DO,