So glad to have just found this site. I have a couple of skid steers and have always struggled to find repair info. So here's my problem... A week or so back, i fired up the machine in question to find an awful squealing noise. I quickly turned it off to give it some thought and decided it was a belt. fired it up again and sure enough, within a few seconds could smell the rubber burning. before i could make it back to the key, it stopped so i started poking around. Popped off the accessory belt cover to find it was still spinning, then noticed the cooling fan was not spinning. at the same time i noticed the machine wanted to creep even with the traction lock on. not sure about the creeping, but i assumed the fan belt burned or broke, or maybe the bearing (assuming there is one) in the fan went out. today i pull the machine in the garage to tear into it, and the fan is running just fine, no creeping issues. Any idea how this could happen? i'm stumped. It was quite cold the day i had the issue, about 10 degrees, but it gets used plenty in the cold and I've never seen that before. the machine sits outside so i'm wondering did moisture get into the fan and freeze it in place or something? We hadn't had any precipitation to speak of though, and i can't see how any amount of water would get in there. Not sure what to do now, i don't want to fix it if it's not broke, but cant afford to have it break on site either. Any ideas?
About the only thing I can think of is the tensionor for the fan belt is a crappy set up that wears. I'm wondering if the tensionor is stiff on its pivot, which is common. If the tensionor was somehow lax and that caused the belt to slip enought. This is idea is kinda a stretch. I would look the look the tensionor over and see if it moves freely and if the pulley is wearing crooked. As for the creep, that is completely not related. Creep is cause by wear in the steering causing to be out of adjustment. There is no way the machine can drive threw the brake unless some knuckle head has been in there. the machine can move a couple of inches before the brake locks, once it locked, it is not moving.
Thanks for the reply. Guess i'll have a look in there and see how the tension pulley looks. Not real familiar with bobcat issues/repairs, mine's been good to me, but i can't figure out what else it could be.
X2 on bobcatdans comment, also does that have the aluminum 90 degree gear box to the fan. If so that has gear oil in it and has to be at a certain level for lube. I'm not sure about the "G" series, but have seen them on earlier series. I too am replacing a tensioner on one and the bronze bushing is wiped out, causing the pulley to run crooked.
I too have found my fan not spinning when it's cold. I'm. It sure how water can get in there but it seems to work fine when it's warm and frozen when we'll it's freezing. I'm going to pull the plug and see what if anything comes out