Sorry for the delay in my reply, but I had to run out of town for a family emergency. I got back and started messing with my bobcat today, and the leak seems to have gotten worse. I am pretty sure it is leaking hydraulic oil since I just filled it up, and the leaking oil is nice and clean. Also, slightly off-topic, is it normal to feel grinding in the hand controls when you are trying to turn and have the engine bog down?
Can you help me identify where all the fluids are supposed to go and if I have tubes that are not supposed to be open? Here are some pictures to help show what I am talking about:
Ok, the open tube just near the starter is the breather tube for the engine, this must be open. The plugged one down the bottom will be to drain the engine oil. It helps to prevent messes if you simply remove a plug in the sump.
If the oil you see pooling is nice and clean it will be hydraulic/hydrostatic oil. The spot you say oil pools i believe is where your control block is. The seals do go in these and leak, if its only a small leak i'd say live with it as its not a fun job to re-kit them.
The float where the fuel goes in i believe is just to indicate your fuel level.
The oil fill point in the back of the machine seems quite low, but its obviously designed that way. Ensure you do use the rite oil here, standard hydraulic oil will kill your pumps, it must me thick enough to lubricate the bearings and rubbing points when it heats up. It should use engine oil thickness oil.
The levers shaking is normal, especially under low RPM. The engine should be run at almost full throttle or it will growl, shake and the engine will bog rite down and maybe stall. They are designed to run at 1/2 to full throttle, less than that and it will shake and puts the pumps under higher load.
I hope that helps out a bit, another member may be able to help out more.