Hey everyone, I was using my little 553 yesterday to move snow and was at it for maybe an hour when on the dump I was making started to slip on the bucket. I lifted the arms up so I could angle the bucket to dump the snow when my hydraulic system failed to the point where I could not drive it either. It is stuck on the snow bank and I barely had enough room to squeeze out of the cab due to the arls being up. I found my v belt off off the engine ND orange fluid pouring out from someplace on the right side of the engine compartment. Has anyone had this happen to them. This is stranded on a public dead end road out side of my driveway. Not sure how to get it back on to my property to work on it safely. Can it be towed , dragged, or put it on a flatbed with a winch. I cannot get to the hydraulic fill cap due to the lifting arms being in the way. Can someone help please?
How far would it need to be dragged before you can work on it?
6' just to get in in the driveway, 120 ' to the garage
The bucket is all the way tipped forward on the edge and the front tires are off the ground, cannot get to the hydraulic fill cap, I think if I can add fluid and get into the cab, then maybe I can get it working,.
Which belt is off? Can you get a picture?
it's the v belt that drives the alternator and the water pump, I pulled my back out yesterday trying to climb out of it.Not up to going out yet, only one belt.
Water pump? It won’t run more than a few minutes without the water pump working. Do you by chance use long life coolant that is orange? Is that your leak from an overheated engine.
The belt coming off probably knocked something off or cut a hose.....or your water pump bearings have failed and its leaking from the shaft.
It's possible that it was the coolant, but it feels like hydraulic fluid and I lost the hydraulic and hydrostatic functions, it was acting strange like I was losing hydraulic pressure but I was trying to finish before it quit. I ended up shutting it off because it wouldn't move and I couldn't move any of the hydraulic functions. I had to get skinny real quick and squeeze out of the cab door with the lifting arms blocking my door. I can't get to the fill cap for the hydraulics because the arm is blocking it.
bobcat uses an orange hydraulic fluid in some applications
I ended up paying $350.00 to have a flat bed come and pull it up, then backed up the driveway 130' and took it off, at least it's off the street, now to figure out what is going on with it.
Thanks for your thoughts, I can at least work on now it as time permits.
Check the level of hydraulic oil, if it has a leak or something the arms up could make the pump run out of oil so nothing works, or work sluggish. The v belt of would make it overheat. I don't think there are any safety functions that would fail if the voltage got to low