losing power

[treenipper]

I have an old 730 Heavy Duty bobcat that operates fine when I first start it up but after about ten or fifteen minutes of use it gets to where it doesn't want to turn or go forward, wont climp a slope or nothing, some folks say it is the hyp pump, some say hydrostatic pump, others say hydrostatic motors ( it has a hydrostatic motor on each side ) Anybody had this happen to them ? Also does anybody know why I could order repair kits for this problem ? Thanks

 

[OldMachinist]

Will it still lift a load when it loses power to the wheels? If it does then the hydraulic pump is likely fine and the problem is in the hydrostatic system. Does it make any irregular noises when it starts have trouble?

 

[Tazza]

Will it still lift a load when it loses power to the wheels? If it does then the hydraulic pump is likely fine and the problem is in the hydrostatic system. Does it make any irregular noises when it starts have trouble?

If the engine is still running well and its only drive functions that are weak, I'm pretty sure i know the problem. I assume its the same as a 731 setup.
Lift the cab/seat or remove it (pretty sure i had to remove it on mine) look at the pump. There will be a square block on top of it, with three hoses hanging out of the left side. Remove the middle one and remove the fitting too, there is a hidden filter here. Remove it and clean or replace it. You should get full drive power back.
Its a common problem, no one knows that there is a filter in here and it never gets replaced or even cleaned!
I bought mine like this, it ran great for about 20 minutes then would scream its head off with no power. Took a while to find out the cure, cleaned the filter and it had all its power back, would run all day without an issue.