Bobcat T200- The left foot pedal that controls the boom lift is notchy feeling with little or no control, almost feels like the solenoid is trying to lock it. Removed the solenoid and tryed it, no change still sticky feeling. Is there any way to service the lower control spool without removing the valve body from the machine?
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thetool
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- Mar 22, 2008
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Yes. Disconnect the linkage in front and remove the lock solenoid and block. Remove the bolts from the rear cap and slide the whole spool with the cap rearwards.
If it sticks, I use a brass drift and tap it out. Hope it's just a piece of o-ring.
Watch your seal orientation when reassembling--I like to use new seals.
Good Luck
If it sticks, I use a brass drift and tap it out. Hope it's just a piece of o-ring.
Watch your seal orientation when reassembling--I like to use new seals.
Good Luck
Thanks, I pulled the spool, did not find anything wrong with it, polished it and it still sticks but not as bad. The local bobcat dealer is telling me that the housing is probably cracked. New control valve is around $2500.00!
does the pedal stick with the engine turned off ? or does it feel the same with engine running or off ?
it feels the same with the engine on or off.
thetool
Well-known member
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- Mar 22, 2008
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- 516
I should have mentioned this before, but make sure you don't have a hangup in the centering spring assembly, which is under the cap on the back of the spool when removed from the valve. The spring is sandwiched beween two washers and the whole thing is threaded onto a stud in the rear of the spool. If the assembly comes loose even a quarter turn, the washers come out of alignment and it gets sticky like yours.
Roll the spool on a very falt surface to check for straighness.
You must look closely for any burrs on any of the lands on the spool. This will indicate hard debris or a corresponding burr inside. But usually, hard debris or burrs cause a total jam up of the spool. Did you have to tap it out?
If you get to the point that you're really thinking of getting a new valve, if it were mine and I had the time it takes to install and remove perhaps a couple of times, I would try to polish the valve and bore with a numeral "7" shaped wire, chucked in a drill and the other end looped through the spool eye, and spinning it with some lapping compound on the spool. I've never done this, and I think it might be easy to go too far if it was rushed. I would spin it a little, then clean it up and see if it moved freely, and repeat as necessary, and when it was done, install it and see how it performs, making sure it dosen't bleed down or had no hisses when raising. I wouldn't do this if it were an airplane, but it might be worth a shot, considering the cost of a new valve.
Reason for this is is that although I've heard a lot of folks over the years say, "I think the valve body is cracked inside," I've never seen it happen. I've looked at them with borescopes. A cracked valve body would most likely be cracked all the way through to the outside with serious leakage, even dangerous spraying-it would be more symptomatic than a sticky spool. It was always a time issue and the customers weren't much on DIY, so throwing a valve at it seemed the best way to fix it in a timely manner. Then we scrapped all these nice control valves that I wanted to play with-no time, on to the next job, MUSH!
