I parked the Bobcat in July because it was pouring hydraulic at a leak. I had replaced a bad drive hose a few years ago, and I did not put a new O ring on the connection. So right from the git go we were getting small leakage, but it is hard to take the 250 lb tracks off the machine to get to the connection with the bad O ring. In July we started literally spilling hydraulic on the ground so I parked the bobcat and was going to wait to cooler weather to work on it because I cannot take the heat and get exhausted.
Well we overfill the empty hydraulic and start the Bobcat. I move some gravel on the horizontal plane, and no leakage. Then I start using the bucket to lift and spread some dirt. My wife notices oil on the ground and I pull the machine into a position where the Lull can help us pull the track off the machine, and we can zero in on the leak, and order an new O Ring and fix what we think is the leak. The wife notices some Hydraulic by the glass eye which allows you to check your hydraulic. So we have to lift the Cab and there is all kinds of hydraulic coming from the drain hose for when you change hydraulic fluid......we had overfilled the hydraulic. So we begin looking at the machine carefully. There is NO oil on the rubber track. When it was leaking from the o ring we believed the oil was coming from the main drive connection, but then we started checking visible hydraulic linkages, and Lo and behold we had a leak from the main cylinder on the right side which helps lift the bucket. The connection was loose and a quarter turn it was tight and not leaking. We had found the leak which was dripping on the rubber track making us believe that the main drive O ring was responsible. You have no idea how difficult it was going to be to remove the track in my weakened state and my wife has lost physical strength as we both age. I have a heavy equipment mechanic who works on our machines, but we were looking at close to a thousand or up to five thousand if the main pump had failed, so this is a huge lucky break, so now with cool weather I will be repairing and pulling trees from the river for firewood this winter.....back in business and happy.
Well we overfill the empty hydraulic and start the Bobcat. I move some gravel on the horizontal plane, and no leakage. Then I start using the bucket to lift and spread some dirt. My wife notices oil on the ground and I pull the machine into a position where the Lull can help us pull the track off the machine, and we can zero in on the leak, and order an new O Ring and fix what we think is the leak. The wife notices some Hydraulic by the glass eye which allows you to check your hydraulic. So we have to lift the Cab and there is all kinds of hydraulic coming from the drain hose for when you change hydraulic fluid......we had overfilled the hydraulic. So we begin looking at the machine carefully. There is NO oil on the rubber track. When it was leaking from the o ring we believed the oil was coming from the main drive connection, but then we started checking visible hydraulic linkages, and Lo and behold we had a leak from the main cylinder on the right side which helps lift the bucket. The connection was loose and a quarter turn it was tight and not leaking. We had found the leak which was dripping on the rubber track making us believe that the main drive O ring was responsible. You have no idea how difficult it was going to be to remove the track in my weakened state and my wife has lost physical strength as we both age. I have a heavy equipment mechanic who works on our machines, but we were looking at close to a thousand or up to five thousand if the main pump had failed, so this is a huge lucky break, so now with cool weather I will be repairing and pulling trees from the river for firewood this winter.....back in business and happy.