Bushings on Bobtach plate

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bobbie-g

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Have the Bobtach plate removed from my T180. I have new tapered pins to replace the ones at the bottom of the plate (one on either side). The parts breakdown does not indicate a bushing inside the lower piviot points on the Bobtach plate. Yet I can see there are bushing inserts there. Anyone have any experience with replacing these bushings? I can just reassemble the thing and leave the slop which won't really hurt anything, but is there a way to replace the bushings? One of the bushings is seated flush with the housing, the other protrudes a bit over 1/8". When I removed the plate, there was no side-to-side freeplay between the lift arms. I now have new grease seals, plus the metal "dust shields" that presumably protect the grease seals (the dust shields were missing from the pins when I removed the Bobtach plate). I don't think there's room between the lift arms to put the metal shields in, unless I cut off the protruding bushing back to flush with the Bobtach housing. Ideas? ---RC
 

Tazza

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There will be bushings in there. The way i remove them is with a home made slide hammer. A length of steel rod with a stop on the end and a piece of steel that slides over the steel rod. I weld the rod to the inside of the bushing then use the weight smacking against the stop to shock it out.
I see no problem grinding the end of the bushing down to allow the cup to fit correctly.
As for installing new pins without bushings, i would change them, no point doing half the job plus if the bushings wear too far, you will need to remove the entire boss to repair it later, i have 2 that are so worn that the boss needed to be cut out!
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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There will be bushings in there. The way i remove them is with a home made slide hammer. A length of steel rod with a stop on the end and a piece of steel that slides over the steel rod. I weld the rod to the inside of the bushing then use the weight smacking against the stop to shock it out.
I see no problem grinding the end of the bushing down to allow the cup to fit correctly.
As for installing new pins without bushings, i would change them, no point doing half the job plus if the bushings wear too far, you will need to remove the entire boss to repair it later, i have 2 that are so worn that the boss needed to be cut out!
Taryn, The next page in the parts manual shows the bushings, my fault for not reading further, duhhhhhhhh....... ------- I really like your weld/slide hammer trick for removal. Think I'll put the rest of the refurbishment project on hold until I get new bushings and fix it up right. Do you rig up some sort of press to put in the new bushings or do you just use a board for a cushion and whack the new ones in place? -------- My parts manual shows new weld-in bosses are available for the bobtach, p/n 6731979 for the T180, presumably they're the same for all bobtachs. I would think that alignment would be a real chore. -------- Unfortunately, the bobtach on this machine has been abused also. Both the upper edges that mate with the attachments are warped by about a quarter inch (hummmm, that would be just under a cm in your world!) so we'll have to do some heating and bending to get those in line and reconditioned. I would like to find the guy(s) who messed it up and hear their explanation...... :) RC
 

Tazza

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Taryn, The next page in the parts manual shows the bushings, my fault for not reading further, duhhhhhhhh....... ------- I really like your weld/slide hammer trick for removal. Think I'll put the rest of the refurbishment project on hold until I get new bushings and fix it up right. Do you rig up some sort of press to put in the new bushings or do you just use a board for a cushion and whack the new ones in place? -------- My parts manual shows new weld-in bosses are available for the bobtach, p/n 6731979 for the T180, presumably they're the same for all bobtachs. I would think that alignment would be a real chore. -------- Unfortunately, the bobtach on this machine has been abused also. Both the upper edges that mate with the attachments are warped by about a quarter inch (hummmm, that would be just under a cm in your world!) so we'll have to do some heating and bending to get those in line and reconditioned. I would like to find the guy(s) who messed it up and hear their explanation...... :) RC
I made my bushings out of 4140 steel and used a copper hammer to re-install them. Even using a plate as a cushion i can see working too as to not warp one side of the bushing.
Alignment of the bosses isn't as hard as you may think. Remember the tapered pins on the arms? they are straight rite? as they don't bind up on the machine, they must be in perfect alignment. Install the un-welded bosses (after removing the old ones) into the bobtach, install the new pins into the arms. This will hold the bosses in perfect alignment, tack multiple places on the bosses, ensure the bobtach still moves freely, then proceed to finish welding them in place. PRESTO, its that easy! the worst part is cutting the old ones out, it was not fun on the two i have done, and i have one more to do *groan*.
With my bosses, i cheated and made my own. I have no idea what the local dealer would want for them, but I'd suspect it would be a little steep. I figure mine will be just as good, if not better than the factory ones, nitrided 4140 bushings and pins. The bosses are made out of old chrome bar, with hard bushings pressed/whacked in. When heat treated, the sear surfaces on the 4140 is super hard wearing. It still has a softer core to allow for flexibility.
You are doing the rite thing by holding off for the bushings, you should do the job rite and remove all the wear you possibly can, you will be far happier with the results.
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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I made my bushings out of 4140 steel and used a copper hammer to re-install them. Even using a plate as a cushion i can see working too as to not warp one side of the bushing.
Alignment of the bosses isn't as hard as you may think. Remember the tapered pins on the arms? they are straight rite? as they don't bind up on the machine, they must be in perfect alignment. Install the un-welded bosses (after removing the old ones) into the bobtach, install the new pins into the arms. This will hold the bosses in perfect alignment, tack multiple places on the bosses, ensure the bobtach still moves freely, then proceed to finish welding them in place. PRESTO, its that easy! the worst part is cutting the old ones out, it was not fun on the two i have done, and i have one more to do *groan*.
With my bosses, i cheated and made my own. I have no idea what the local dealer would want for them, but I'd suspect it would be a little steep. I figure mine will be just as good, if not better than the factory ones, nitrided 4140 bushings and pins. The bosses are made out of old chrome bar, with hard bushings pressed/whacked in. When heat treated, the sear surfaces on the 4140 is super hard wearing. It still has a softer core to allow for flexibility.
You are doing the rite thing by holding off for the bushings, you should do the job rite and remove all the wear you possibly can, you will be far happier with the results.
OK, let me close out this thread. Found lots of irregularities with the bobtach plate: both upper edges bent and warped, one of them cracked and bent and hammered back into place then ground down; one lower pivot housing had the bad bushing, pulled the bushing, and the new bushing wallows around in the hole (the removed bushing was out of round and not square, obviously a cobbled-up fix). I could have had a machinist work it over, but I instead chose to get a new one for $1100 from Bobcat. I'll install it next week. ------ Many thanks to all who responded with advice. :) ---RC
 

renopker

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OK, let me close out this thread. Found lots of irregularities with the bobtach plate: both upper edges bent and warped, one of them cracked and bent and hammered back into place then ground down; one lower pivot housing had the bad bushing, pulled the bushing, and the new bushing wallows around in the hole (the removed bushing was out of round and not square, obviously a cobbled-up fix). I could have had a machinist work it over, but I instead chose to get a new one for $1100 from Bobcat. I'll install it next week. ------ Many thanks to all who responded with advice. :) ---RC
can I have your old one???
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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can I have your old one???
Well, we might come to a deal on that. I'll decide what to do with it in a few weeks, but I sure don't need it. Thought I might post it under the for sale section. Weighs about 80# (my guess), so it would be costly to ship. The handles are bent up (still work fine) and all the rest of the linkages and bobtach pins are still in it and in good shape. email me and we'll talk. rmghorm at gmail.com. at = @ ---RC
 

skidsteer.ca

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Well, we might come to a deal on that. I'll decide what to do with it in a few weeks, but I sure don't need it. Thought I might post it under the for sale section. Weighs about 80# (my guess), so it would be costly to ship. The handles are bent up (still work fine) and all the rest of the linkages and bobtach pins are still in it and in good shape. email me and we'll talk. rmghorm at gmail.com. at = @ ---RC
Actually the top corners bend forward in the center and back on the outside edges is a lack of bracing from the factory.
I pushed mine back into line with a bottle jack and welded another gusset on the back side to hold the inside of the top ears from twisting forward. This is common on the 700 series machines with 2 tilt cylinders.
Ken
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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Actually the top corners bend forward in the center and back on the outside edges is a lack of bracing from the factory.
I pushed mine back into line with a bottle jack and welded another gusset on the back side to hold the inside of the top ears from twisting forward. This is common on the 700 series machines with 2 tilt cylinders.
Ken
Ken, very interesting. That's what happened to mine (at least one of the things!), the insides of the ears bent forward and the outside edges bent backwards. Since I have a brand new bobtach plate in place now, how should I brace it to keep it in line? Seems to me that a piece of angle iron that spans between the inside ears should not interfere with any attachment or the power bobtach cylinder. That would tie the ears together and tend to keep them from bending outward. Maybe use a 1" x 1/4" piece of angle iron. Should I also weld on some iron to the outside of the ears and brace them against the main vertical member on each side? Can you post a pix of your fix? Tnx, ---RC
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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Ken, very interesting. That's what happened to mine (at least one of the things!), the insides of the ears bent forward and the outside edges bent backwards. Since I have a brand new bobtach plate in place now, how should I brace it to keep it in line? Seems to me that a piece of angle iron that spans between the inside ears should not interfere with any attachment or the power bobtach cylinder. That would tie the ears together and tend to keep them from bending outward. Maybe use a 1" x 1/4" piece of angle iron. Should I also weld on some iron to the outside of the ears and brace them against the main vertical member on each side? Can you post a pix of your fix? Tnx, ---RC
Ken, you still out there? :) ---RC
 

skidsteer.ca

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Ken, you still out there? :) ---RC
Sorry, I seen this earlier, read it then never got around to posting the pic.
My773 was out for the last week but is home now.
I'm doing it to my S185 as a preventative measure soon. It has power QA so it may take a slight mod to this basic fix.
IMG_1930.jpg picture by beyondupnorth

As you can see in this pic there is just enough room to slide the pin out behind the new gusset.
IMG_1931.jpg picture by beyondupnorth

IMG_1932.jpg picture by beyondupnorth

IMG_1933.jpg picture by beyondupnorth

This might need a notch cut to clear the cylinder on a power bobtach but I think it would still prevent the problem.
I was surprized how little force it took to twist the top ears straight. I tacked a piece of box iron across the front of the entire quick attach to hold it there while I welded in the brace
Ken
 
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bobbie-g

bobbie-g

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Sorry, I seen this earlier, read it then never got around to posting the pic.
My773 was out for the last week but is home now.
I'm doing it to my S185 as a preventative measure soon. It has power QA so it may take a slight mod to this basic fix.

As you can see in this pic there is just enough room to slide the pin out behind the new gusset.



This might need a notch cut to clear the cylinder on a power bobtach but I think it would still prevent the problem.
I was surprized how little force it took to twist the top ears straight. I tacked a piece of box iron across the front of the entire quick attach to hold it there while I welded in the brace
Ken
Ken, that fix is ever so slick! Now I'm pumped to get it done! I had assumed you tied across the two ears, right to left so to speak. Pix really make it clear now. I may have to provide a bit of relief for the pwr bobtach, but not much if any. I really don't like the pwr bobtach because of the hoses that hang down in the way. I do a lot of mowing and I occasionally get a large branch coming up between the mower and the Bobcat. The hoses are just something else to mess up. --- I note in the pix that on the lower pivot point on the bobtach, there is a grease zerk showing on the end of the pivot pin housing. My buddy has a 773 and the ends of both his pivot housings are open. Full of grease, but no zerk in sight. Almost like there is supposed to be in insert in the end of each housing, but his are both gone. I got a parts breakdown sketch from the dealer, but it show zerks on the side of the housing, not the end. Any ideas? Many tnx for the pix. Great help! ---RC
 
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