Would you trade your 743 for a difference machine?

[MalcolmV8]

Hey Guys,

I have a feeling my 1986 743 is going to need a reman engine at some point and I'm trying to decide if I want to spend the money on a reman engine or just replace it with something better. What's better? well I guess you don't know what you don't know. I've never owned or driven another skid steer so I have nothing to go by.

This is a DIY unit I use at my house. Building a 105x80 block garage so it's done a ton of work and I still have to do the 105x40 pad out front (tons of grading), build up about 5 feet of dirt in layers compacting on the one 40 foot side run, driveway etc.
But outside of the garage it's a great general unit around the property. I use the forks for lifting heavy stuff and saving my back, pulling engines out the back of my truck or lifting transmissions etc. I have a million uses for this thing and love having a skid steer so much even when the garage project is done I'm keeping it lol.
I've noticed a lot of models are bigger, I do like how this unit is fairly compact and "nimble" around the yard and garage etc.

As for the issues. Well darn thing over heats frequently it seems. I can hear coolant boiling in the pipes / engine when I shut it off. It did this right as I purchased it a year ago. After some diagnostics I replaced the radiator, installed a thermostat, added an over flow bottle (it was missing), new radiator cap etc. and I thought I had the cooling issues resolved. Then just recently the over heating thing happened again only my new temp gauge didn't budge out of the green which is really annoying. I shut it off and sounded like boiling water. Checked it next day once it had cooled down and radiator was empty. Guess it's consuming coolant as it doesn't leak where parked. Filled it and thought issue would be done but nope, I still hear little bits of boiling or bubbling, nothing to bad but still hear a little when shutting it off after a bunch of work.
I also see some nasty white jelly looking substance on the blow by tube and on the motor compartment floor where the blow by tube points. Possibly oil / coolant jelly but can't tell.

Anyhow if this thing craps out on me, is there a better model I should be looking for? or just rebuild this sucker?

Thanks
Malcolm

 

[fortworth-cowboy]

Hey Guys,

I have a feeling my 1986 743 is going to need a reman engine at some point and I'm trying to decide if I want to spend the money on a reman engine or just replace it with something better. What's better? well I guess you don't know what you don't know. I've never owned or driven another skid steer so I have nothing to go by.

This is a DIY unit I use at my house. Building a 105x80 block garage so it's done a ton of work and I still have to do the 105x40 pad out front (tons of grading), build up about 5 feet of dirt in layers compacting on the one 40 foot side run, driveway etc.
But outside of the garage it's a great general unit around the property. I use the forks for lifting heavy stuff and saving my back, pulling engines out the back of my truck or lifting transmissions etc. I have a million uses for this thing and love having a skid steer so much even when the garage project is done I'm keeping it lol.
I've noticed a lot of models are bigger, I do like how this unit is fairly compact and "nimble" around the yard and garage etc.

As for the issues. Well darn thing over heats frequently it seems. I can hear coolant boiling in the pipes / engine when I shut it off. It did this right as I purchased it a year ago. After some diagnostics I replaced the radiator, installed a thermostat, added an over flow bottle (it was missing), new radiator cap etc. and I thought I had the cooling issues resolved. Then just recently the over heating thing happened again only my new temp gauge didn't budge out of the green which is really annoying. I shut it off and sounded like boiling water. Checked it next day once it had cooled down and radiator was empty. Guess it's consuming coolant as it doesn't leak where parked. Filled it and thought issue would be done but nope, I still hear little bits of boiling or bubbling, nothing to bad but still hear a little when shutting it off after a bunch of work.
I also see some nasty white jelly looking substance on the blow by tube and on the motor compartment floor where the blow by tube points. Possibly oil / coolant jelly but can't tell.

Anyhow if this thing craps out on me, is there a better model I should be looking for? or just rebuild this sucker?

Thanks
Malcolm

So out of experience, I would keep that machine and just rebuild it or replace the engine if the engine is bad. Maybe needs just a new head gasket.
Unless you wanna spend at least $15000 - 20000 for a newer used machine, where you might have to dump some money in.
I wanna say, that for what you use it, you have a solid machine. Spend $4-8k to build that machine up and it should last you a other 10 years.
Maybe start with a coolant flush and also clean your radiators. How is the belt from the fan? If that belt is worn,, rotten damaged it will not cool good either.
Maybe take some pictures and post them here, then I can tell you more.

 

[MalcolmV8]

I'm not far from that cost unfortunately. In my part of FL I purchased the absolute cheapest bobcat I could find and it was $12k with some haggling for this thing. Now it needs a motor, dang.

I flushed and cleaned all the coolers when I purchased it and installed a new radiator, cap and installed the missing over flow bottle.

Looked at it again today and it definitely blew a head gasket now or cracked a head or something. Coolant is like milky looking.

Here's underside of radiator cap


Here's the valve cover breather that has newly developed this white milky gunk too


Here's the bottom of the blow by tube where you can see it spitting the stuff down there


When I shut off the engine I can hear bubbling and gurgling in the cooling system and over flow bottle for about 30 seconds. I'm not sure how long it'll keep going. Wondering if I can finish my garage project and then swap motors and service anything else I need to or do I just halt my project and do a rush motor swap as fast as I can and keep going.

Any pointers on a good place to source a reman motor?

 

[MalcolmV8]

Here you can see the blow by it's always had. Has been this way since I purchased it.

 

[Micheal]

When I started looking for a used bobcat almost four years ago all I saw was $10,000+ and looked abused. And they were in another state.
I ended up talking to a guy who had one sitting in his yard. I had it towed to my house and started working on it. $2500 not running and I've put about 6k more into it. Now I use it every chance I get.

 

[MalcolmV8]

Yup they are good machines and hold their value. I agree everything you find used for sale is so abused and half destroyed it does make it tough. But I use the heck out of mine almost daily a lot of the time so it's a huge asset to me too.

 

[mrbb]

buying used is always a gamble
just the nature of the beast

BUT this also means, we as buyers can decide on what issues something has,
many issues we can see, and decide on if its worth the $$ seeing damages
this is also where one has to be really honest with there ability or not to actually repair and fix things they see!


the unseeable damages, are, always there, and few sellers are honest these days IMO
they all want top$$ for things, they may or may not know has issues(and many times the reasons there selling it)

very few folks are selling a machine they owe NO money and is in great condition, sellers like this are rare!

most folks selling are selling , IMO< are selling to get rid of something they no longer want to deal with that has know issues,
OR maybe they want a different sized machine, or both!

in any case, if they had it any amount of time, odds are they know what issues it has, and again, few are telling ALL at time of sale these days!

this is again, why, its buyer beware

and as for your question, should you keep what you got or replace it???
do you keep the devil you know or try a new one??


well, I gather it comes down to if your current machine fits your needs,
is it big enough to do all you want to to,?
does it have enough hydraulic flow rates for attachments you may want to some day use??

and what are your skills on fixing it,?
are parts readily available for the yr/model

older machines are getting harder to get parts for,
and all the more so the lesser popular models of an era!
every brand has some models that sell more of and sum they sold fewer of! which adds to availability of parts many times!

so, when you ask these questions, I think your answer will come about!
as there isn;'t any way for use to say what to do for you!
, as we do not know what you need of a machine are, or your repair skills!

what maybe the right machine for me/us , may not be for you and vice versa!


and chasing machines based only on price tags , doesn't ever tell the true costs to get it and have it reliable!!
as most all used machines will need something replaced
, fixed or even just basics, on fluids and filters and it all adds to the costs
as I never take a sellers word on they JUST replaced ALL fluids and filters,
I'd always rather start off KNOWING there new by doing the replacing of them myself! and knowing there NEW< GOOD filters and not china knocks off, and same with correct fluids!
and that alone can be a few bucks really fast after buying something, plus any ISSUES I find in the process

as I always do a good cleaning before putting something to use, which tends to expose issues, be it bad hoses, leaks, , or worse, cracks in things and so on!

and don't forget, fresh paint can hide a lot of things, so just cause it looks good,?? don't mean it is! lots of scammers, like putting new paint on things to get higher $$$ for them! cause rhey know many buyers buy based on looks and DON"T know what really to look for at that! , HAHA!

 

[Fabricator]

This is a DIY unit I use at my house. Building a 105x80 block garage so it's done a ton of work and I still have to do the 105x40 pad out front (tons of grading), build up about 5 feet of dirt in layers compacting on the one 40 foot side run, driveway etc.
But outside of the garage it's a great general unit around the property. I use the forks for lifting heavy stuff and saving my back, pulling engines out the back of my truck or lifting transmissions etc. I have a million uses for this thing and love having a skid steer so much even when the garage project is done I'm keeping it lol.

I bought my Bobcat 630 over 25 years ago under similar circumstances. I looked into renting a skidloader to help with various tasks while building my workshop and after adding up what it would cost for a weekend here and there and then again, I started looking at what used equipment was available and found I was in about the same ballpark. Plus, I'd have the skidloader here all the time and could use it when I needed it rather than have to plan each rental and then rush through things to get the most out of it while it was here. Further, I could sell it when I was done and recoup my money! Well, that never happened (and I added a mini-ex) because it was just so dang useful for all those other tasks you mention!

You mention unloading engines and transmissions, so I'm guessing you have some mechanical wherewithal. It seems you're on a schedule for your garage, so I can understand you don't want to tear the machine apart in the middle of that project. However, I'd start by assessing your machine - both (as MrBB says) as far as whether it is meeting/will meet your needs as well as whether there are any issues beyond the overheating. If it does meet your needs and is in decent shape otherwise, I'd lean towards keeping it and rebuilding it. If you're finding it doesn't meet your needs and/or has other issues as well, then I'd start leaning toward replacing it. As others say, a different machine isn't necessarily going to not come with its own issues, though.

If leaning towards keeping it and rebuilding it, I'd take some time to determine what you're looking at. Is it a head gasket? Or is it a cracked block? And continuing to overheat it is liable to put you in the latter category (or worse) even if it started out as the former. I wouldn't keep running it and hoping for the best. If you're handy, I'd pull the head to see what is going on and go from there.