Howdy boys...I've been reading your posts about Bobcat skid steers for about 6 months and picking up some tips. I bought a 2001 Bobcat-863 turbo hi-flo back in October. I've been using it for dirt work and more recently snow removal at my house. It's a powerful machine and has been reliable and fairly easy to learn how to use. It's got the ACS controls rather than foot pedals, and had 2001 hours when I bought it. It has 2020 hours now. I just noticed a small pool of hydraulic fluid this afternoon under the right front tire. Couldn't see any obvious place where the leak started. I haven't used it for a week, and it wasn't leaking then because I was hooking up snow chains to the tires and would have noticed a leak. I'm going to check & top-off hydraulic fluid levels tomorrow and then start and run the machine with some cardboard under it to see if I can narrow down the leak. Any suggestions from someone that has had a similar issue? I'm thinking the leak might be coming from the lift arm cylinder seal since I saw a few splashes of fluid on the wheel axle. Would the cylinder still remain pressurized after the machine hadn't been started for a week? Would appreciate any insights from you folks that have owned these machines for years as I am a rookie and don't want to start fixing things that ain't broke.
sounds like your axle seal might be leaking. remove the tire & check & see if there is oil on the rim or around the axle tube.
When I bought my machine it had dirt/oil on the left side axle that worried me. Ended up being a leaking aux hydraulic fitting that was barely leaking. I found it by cleaning everything really good and placing clean blue shop towels on the ground and on the axle to see were the drips were. Hopefully it's the cylinder as that is probably easier to fix than an axle seal.
Bobcat-863 hydraulic leak...things checked so far Thanks for the suggestions guys. I tried a few things yesterday...checked hydraulic levels in sight window on a flat surface and it's ok. I checked in the manual, and the wording for properly checking fluid level (snapshot below) has me curious. When it says "tilt bob-tach fully back, does that mean I should use the attached bucket to tilt the entire machine backwards and check the fluid level? HYDRAULIC/HYDROSTATIC SYSTEM Checking And Adding Fluid Use only recommended fluid in the hydraulic system. Put the loader on a level surface. Lower the lift arms and tilt the Bob-Tach fully back . I parked the machine outside on a level surface in ~20-30 degree temps, with the bucket about 1 foot off the ground, cardboard under where the suspected leak was from, and then went to run some errands. Came back 6 hours later and the hydraulic lines had lost pressure, bucket was on the ground, but no oil on the cardboard. Cleaned all dirt & oil from my shop floor, parked the machine back inside the garage in ~35-45 degrees temps, left the bucket about 1 foot off the ground, and cardboard under the suspected leak area. Checked this AM after 12 hours, and the bucket is still up off the ground, no fluid on cardboard. Maybe a seal that's contracting/expanding with temperature and then only leaking a little bit?? The fluid that I cleaned up off of the shop floor was clear, not the darker color you would expect with a leaky axle seal. Was planning to use AW-46 hydraulic fluid, but then did some checking and found that AW-32 is recommended for running in lower temps. I sometimes get into the -10 thru -20 degree temperatures at 8000 feet. If I let the machine warm up for a few minutes before using, wouldn't the AW-46 still be ok in colder temperatures?
if it is your axle seal that is leaking, bobcat uses their hyd oil in the chain case, it will be clearer than a heavier gear oil. put your side arms all the way down & curl the bucket back to check the hyd oil. you can check the chain case oil to see if it is low
I would think weather that could could cause a seal to leak a little especially sn older seal.
Thanks for the tips guys, will be checking chain case fluid levels this AM. Used the Bobcat to clear snow again last Sunday for about an hour, put cardboard under it when I parked in the garage, and no more hydraulic fluid leaks so far. I was hitting all of the grease fittings after clearing snow, and with the bucket raised up I noticed that the sheathing for the electrical umbilical that runs along the hydraulic lines from the front at the AUX-Hi Flo panel is worn through where the electrical harness runs through the rear lift arm pivot point. I don't currently have any attachments that would use the AUX hi-flo fluid/electrical connections, but don't want to let the situation get any worse. Have any of you ever had to repair/replace the AUX panel electrical cable assembly? I'm planning to use some electrical tape to protect the exposed wires for now, but would like to implement more of a permanent fix in the near future. Have any of you ever repaired or replaced this umbilical harness?
if you arent using the electrical connector, i'd just disconnect it from the main harness before it blows the fuse. the harness connector should be around the battery. it's a roundish type 7 pin plastic connector. the ACD harness may be a 7 pin, 14 pin or both