One man, doing what I can

[Willgates351]

Hi, my name is Will and I'm new to the site, I joined the site because I bought a mini Bobcat 440B and wanted to talk to people that have knowledge about bobcat, to help me along my way. I'm a computer programmer with a small home-based company [A-2-Z PC Repair], but I landscape, snow plow, work on my on equipment, and do a little roofing on the side with my brother as well. After I rebuild it, I plan to use the bobcat for landscaping and some small contractor work to put a few extra bucks in my pocket. I have boats, trucks, motorcycles, and a hole room of RC toys that I play wit in the summer time. I'm only 44 years old, but I old-school at hart. my father was a mans man, and I take after him a lot, God rest his soul. If he's looking down on my right not, I'm sure he'd be proud of the man that I am. So that a little about me guys. I hope to get to know each of you, and maybe learn a thing or two, so feel free to say hello...

 

[Tazza]

Welcome to the site.
A skid steer will save you so much back breaking work. You will find other non dirt moving jobs for it i bet. I have used mine to lift all sorts of stuff.

 

[Willgates351]

Welcome to the site.
A skid steer will save you so much back breaking work. You will find other non dirt moving jobs for it i bet. I have used mine to lift all sorts of stuff.

What's the most you've ever lifted with it?

 

[Tazza]

What's the most you've ever lifted with it?

I don't actually know. When it's on a pallet, the weight is further out, making it harder to lift.
I think we did an estimate on the concrete pipe, we thought it was about 1 tonne, about 2m diameter. When we were putting it in place, we had it so we could make a pond, so the weight was a long way out the front. The machine was a 731 with a 4 in 1 and one dad sized counter weight hanging off the open rear door for leverage.
The bigger the machine, naturally the more you can lift with it.

 

[Willgates351]

I don't actually know. When it's on a pallet, the weight is further out, making it harder to lift.
I think we did an estimate on the concrete pipe, we thought it was about 1 tonne, about 2m diameter. When we were putting it in place, we had it so we could make a pond, so the weight was a long way out the front. The machine was a 731 with a 4 in 1 and one dad sized counter weight hanging off the open rear door for leverage.
The bigger the machine, naturally the more you can lift with it.

Well my little 440b is only rated 600lbs, but I'm only doing small thing with it. I was thinking about trying to lift a 5x5 4 inch sidewalk block. What do you think, can it do it? slabs around 1150lbs.

 

[Tazza]

Well my little 440b is only rated 600lbs, but I'm only doing small thing with it. I was thinking about trying to lift a 5x5 4 inch sidewalk block. What do you think, can it do it? slabs around 1150lbs.

From what i understand of ROC ratings, it is generally half of what the machine can actually lift, or close to it.
The biggest issue with lifting things, is the further out they sit, the less it can lift. So being 5x5 it is possible it will have the load out too far to handle it. Yet if you had it standing upward so it was only sitting out 4" it may be fine. These are all things that you will work out the more you use your machine.
One extra thing, when moving heavy stuff, keep the bucket as low as possible. If it starts to tip forward, it happens VERY fast and it will knock the crap out of you. Been there, done that.

 

[Willgates351]

From what i understand of ROC ratings, it is generally half of what the machine can actually lift, or close to it.
The biggest issue with lifting things, is the further out they sit, the less it can lift. So being 5x5 it is possible it will have the load out too far to handle it. Yet if you had it standing upward so it was only sitting out 4" it may be fine. These are all things that you will work out the more you use your machine.
One extra thing, when moving heavy stuff, keep the bucket as low as possible. If it starts to tip forward, it happens VERY fast and it will knock the crap out of you. Been there, done that.

I understand. I was working with it today, moving upwards for 500lbs blocks. It was running great, but after about 30 minutes it started to budge down a bit, and then slowed to the point that it died on me. I was using my grapple bucket and working all the hydraulics. The motor is a Kohler twin KT17hp. It was rebuilt, and I'm the first to use it, so I'm confused as to what could be going on. After it sets for about 20 minutes or so, she'll start right back up and run until ti get to hot again, and then start to loos power. Any suggestion, world the coil, or points do something like that, or is it something with the motor itself?

 

[Tazza]

I understand. I was working with it today, moving upwards for 500lbs blocks. It was running great, but after about 30 minutes it started to budge down a bit, and then slowed to the point that it died on me. I was using my grapple bucket and working all the hydraulics. The motor is a Kohler twin KT17hp. It was rebuilt, and I'm the first to use it, so I'm confused as to what could be going on. After it sets for about 20 minutes or so, she'll start right back up and run until ti get to hot again, and then start to loos power. Any suggestion, world the coil, or points do something like that, or is it something with the motor itself?

Not sure if that engine has points or not, it may be electronic, hopefully someone else can answer that.
One thing it could be is the fuel line is too close to the engine causing it to heat the fuel, if it gets too hot, it may be causing it to turn to vapor, giving less fuel?
So, is the engine bogging down, or are you getting less drive power and the engine is running fine?

 

[Willgates351]

Not sure if that engine has points or not, it may be electronic, hopefully someone else can answer that.
One thing it could be is the fuel line is too close to the engine causing it to heat the fuel, if it gets too hot, it may be causing it to turn to vapor, giving less fuel?
So, is the engine bogging down, or are you getting less drive power and the engine is running fine?

The fuel tank is right behind the set, and it's plastic so I don't think that's it. It does have point though, and I does back fire from time to time, so maybe the timing is off a bit. The funny thing is that It'll run fine once it cools down for about 20 minutes for so. Also, I'm getting a bit of blow-back for the oil stick, not sure what that's all about but I think I'm going to take the motor back out and give it a once over and see if I find anything/