Just bought a 2007 331 bobcat excavator with 400hrs. Nice machine super clean. While hoisting a heavy generator with a chain hung on the bucket death we noticed it is slowly bleeding off and bucket is lowering with some weight on it, also had problem with dropping some logs while moving them same thing happening, not super fast bleed off but it is lightening up. what to do how to fix? thanks
Confirm that it's the cylinder by capping the curl line and cracking loose the uncurl line (so that it doesn't act as a one way-displacement cylinder) and apply some force to the bucket to see if it holds or drops. If it keeps moving then you have bad piston seals. If not then you have to look at the valve.
Ok thanks for the tips. Is this symptom something common on a bobcat 331 with this few of hours?
I've never touched a bobcat excavator, but anything can happen at anytime. We'll see if anyone else has seen this before.
Well my new one- e50` did this with the thumb…The dealer , after keeping machine a week , said this was in specs…Poor dealer…The quick coupler pins also did not work, until you tried and tried, then it would work…Dealer said nothing wrong….. Took to a Kubota dealer, and they found and fixed the broken pin inside the casing, and further the thumb --on its own-- stopped slowly going down….My experience with a poor dealer is the reason I always suggest---before buying--to really check out the dealer…. I believe Bobcat really is set up to rent equipment (here in Charleston S C) and they don`t have a knowledgable mechanic….Maybe they have changed, or at least tried to change, but no more Bobcats for me..tony
OK cool was mainly just wondering if this was something common on these machines with low hours, ill probably have to get a mechanic to check it out.
cylinder seals are a pretty cheap and easy fix, I replaced the seals myself on my bucket cyl last spring for about for about 30-40 $ in parts (bob cat 323 mini ex) and they can be the cause of the bucket drop….