Bobcat 751 - leaking bolts?

[LandHardscaper]

Hi everyone, I bought a 1999 751 off a local guy last year and I’ve had nothing but leak after leak. Currently, I have hydraulic fluid leaking from the 4 bolts on the floor by the levers. I didn’t have time to dig into it, one guy said it’s the loader valve. I am not finding anything online about that, could use some help with this. Thanks!

 

[brdgbldr]

Hi everyone, I bought a 1999 751 off a local guy last year and I've had nothing but leak after leak. Currently, I have hydraulic fluid leaking from the 4 bolts on the floor by the levers. I didn't have time to dig into it, one guy said it's the loader valve. I am not finding anything online about that, could use some help with this. Thanks!

Could you take a photo of the area?

 

[LandHardscaper]

Could you take a photo of the area?

 

[brdgbldr]

View attachment 9641

That is the access panel for your chain case. It is over full most likely due to your motor carrier seals leaking.

I have not worked on that model before and the Bobcat parts website has not been working for a couple of weeks so I can't take a look.

The seals that I have worked on (743, 742,753) are normally pretty easy to replace. It does mean removing the drive motors.

If you look at the front face of the chain case you will see a steel plug. The bottom of that plug is how high the chain case oil should be. That is the inspection plug to make sure it's not too low ( this is not you problem ).

I would not remove any excess chain case oil until you are prepared to replace the motor carrier seals because it will just fill it up again.

When you do remove the excess oil, be prepared for a LOT to come out.

 

[haymaker]

This kind of goes without saying, but I will say it just the same.
Make sure your hydraulic fluid reservoir is in the safe zone if you are using the machine.

 

[LandHardscaper]

This kind of goes without saying, but I will say it just the same.
Make sure your hydraulic fluid reservoir is in the safe zone if you are using the machine.

Could it have been that there was too much fluid? I had a guy just fix the machine and he put more fluid in. I know it didn’t need a bunch as I had recently filled the machine, so my thought is he overfilled it?

 

[haymaker]

If the seals are bad, it will leak into the chain case until it fills. This could explain why you added fluid and then he added fluid.
If your repair guy knows what he is doing it is unlikely he overfilled it. Still anything is possible. of course, you never want to overfill any reservoir.
I only mentioned it because I did not want you operating the machine low on fluid. That can lead to some very costly repair bills.

For all I know, this could be a new issue or the seals could have been leaking when you got it. The chain case could have been drained to the proper level before the sale. Either way, unless you use the machine a lot it would take some time for you to notice this problem, especially if you had other leaks you were chasing.

The first thing I would do is to loosen the plug slowly and see if fluid wants to come out. DON'T take it all the way out or like Brdgbldr said, you will have a lot of fluid come out very quickly. you only want to confirm the chain case is overfull. It probably is or it is unlikely you would have seepage from those 4 bolts.

Like Brdgbldr also said devise a plan to replace the seals before you drain the chain case!

 

[reaperman]

There's a chance that water has entered the chain case over the years filling the case also. Id open the cover up and look for milky colored oil to see if it's water or hydraulic oil. That reservoir lubricates the drive chains which is suppose to take 8 gallons of 10w-30 motor oil. However, since its just splash lubrication, oil of most any viscosity would work. On the outside of the machine front/center, there is a plug (bolt), when removed, that acts as a level for the oil inside the chain case, just like a differential oil plug. The correct oil level would be when the oil begins to seep out of the bottom of the threaded hole.

Bobcat no longer uses a gasket under the cover where the 4 bolts are leaking. Instead they sell a tube of special caulk that seals better than a gasket. So when you remove the plate, be prepared to seal it up with some kind of sealant. Also seal up the bolts to keep the splashing oil from leaking out.