Hi, I am new here. This looks like an interesting forum. Here goes my problem. My 2070 Mustang skid steer has been losing hydraulic fluid and I finally located its source as the left hydraulic drive motor. I know how to get it out and all but can a somewhat knowledgeable fellow like me take such a motor apart and change o-rings, seals,etc or is that a no no for me? Its leaking out of the housing itself between 2 machined surfaces. I hope the question is clear enough.
If that has the Charlynne/Eaton drive motor, with tapered/keyed drive snout, I would say its very doable if you have some mechanical experience. They sell kits with excellent diagrams. Work clean, keep things organized.
If you've never worked on intricate hyd's. I'd recommend having a shop that specializes in that brand take it apart to inspect it and see what's wrong. Unfortunately when drive motors start leaking it's usually because of a mechanical failure inside the motor rather than just a seal leaking. Extra care has to be taken just to take a motor apart and everything has to be clean, clean, clean like an operating room. There are some very tiny oil passages that could get plugged with tiny particles you couldn't see. I was quoted $285 by an experienced shop to take apart and inspect a drive motor on my skid steer. The shop foreman was a really nice guy and showed me the innards of a similar motor explaining how precise everything has to be. He's the one that said it's very rarely that they just need new seals and in most cases it's not cost effective to repair them. I decided to go with a new motor since the other motor was already replaced because it was also leaking into the chain case. The first motor was torn down by this shop (for the dealer) and wasn't worth fixing. In your case if it cost $300 or so to tear down and inspect would be worth it. It would be much better than you just taking it apart and hoping it just needs new seals. In the inspection everything is examined and measured with micrometers and other highly accurate instruments.
How many hours on machine? I agree with dave. When a hydraulic motor blows the seal out, most of the time its buggered. And the other side is not far behind. What kills skid steers is low engine rpms. High rpms means high flow and lower pressure. Low rpms means low flow and high pressure.