Anyone have to replace idlers yet? Im at almost 1000hours, and my second idler in 2 weeks is dieing. The first one cost $658, the front one is $758. I found a couple aftermarket sources for them but they list no prices...
I just replied to another post about skid steers. We have an ASV RCV(its like an RC-100) and we just replaced the bearings in the tracks on both sides. Cost close to $3500 (800 hours). So its happening to all brands is it?
Ya thats no good, I found a source in ontario that quoted me $350 per idler. Luckily my rollers seem fine. The one idler that is the worst, it seems i caught it in time, and might just get away with doing the bearings, which will be under $100.
Bobcat needs to rework their undercarriage components for the real world. I auctioned off 3 864G's that continually ate bearings in the bottom rollers and their idlers were not hardened correctly. I don't mean to bad mouth one brand, BUT the Takeuchis I have at 1300, 2400, and 3500 hours have never failed a moving part in the undercarriage besides the track itself. Two of my 864G's took 12000 dollars each in under carriage parts just to make 1000hrs.
heymccall, the 864G is a very old machine (relatively speaking) and was Bobcat's first foray into the CTL market. I doubt you'd see those issues (widespread) anymore.
Coastal i would not go with any aftermarket idler go with bobcat its better in the long run . I have 5 t250 track bobcats i run some after market idlers on them all some have 2 hrs some 40 hrs and all have just come apart . so long story short go with Bobcat Brand here in Ga they run 700 for back and 900 in front
Southerndigger is correct based on my experience selling Bobcats and having friends that sell both Deere, Mustang (Takeuchi) and Case. You can count on around 1,000 hours on front and rear idlers as an average and about 1,500-2000 hours out of the mid rollers. The two primary makers of these wheels are both Italian- Berco and Passini. Aftermarket idlers and rollers will not last as long. You get what you pay for, the same as tracks. In my experience, Bridgestone will last the longest- 750-1000 hours on the higher end, and the others brands usually last around 500-700 hours sometimes less. Heymccall, you are getting great life. The Mustanf salesman that I know from my Bobcat days tells me that they are getting around the same life as all of the others.
Stay away from After Market Bobcat Track parts Got to agree that the after market idlers and rollers from Korea are junk , they are less than 1/2 the OEM price but don't last , have gone thru quite a few of them , they warranty them but they fail again
I just picked up my new TL150 today and hope I have that good of luck. After reading so much negative stuff on here about CTLs I've been having some reservations.
OK Fella's I just saw this post and had to jump in on this one. Not all aftermarket products are inferior. Just the products you purchased from whoever you purchased them from. I'am in the aftermarket parts business, so I have a little bit of experience in this area. For Digdeep, and the rest of you, both Berco and Passini produce for both the OEM and the aftermarket. I sell both lines of products. Passini Group manufactures ITM [aftermarket] and Sorefa [Deere]. Berco also sells in the aftermarket and I doubt that either of these companies differentiate in the quality of the products, because they are manufactured in the same factories. One of our main suppliers for UC is Valuepart, Inc. [a Passini owned company] They carry a wide variety of items have excellent Quality, Warranty Policies and Product Support. I also handle Bridgestone. So when I quote a customer on Rubber Tracks, I give them 3 options: - Bridgestone -Avon [France] - Asian [China or Korea] The acquisiton costs are incrementally less, but the Warranty is the same. I leave the choice up to the customer.
Berco does have a part number on the Bobcat T series rollers and the number is in the aftermarket dealers Berco line , but they can get it from Berco , it's only OEM for right now , so the Koreans copied them cheap , and man has it been a disaster , installed a bunch of them and they started going out like popcorn popping , the casuality rate I'd thik is 50% , the company sent replacements and they lasted about the same as the first ones 80-100 hours , this past Friday they gave the first moneitary credit on the original purchase for one company and I went to the Bobcat dealer and paid $682 a piece for them ,paid $360 aftermarket , I for see a lot of credits to come , the time wasted with all the changing them around , and down time was a killer , take care when buying aftermarket ------------the after market tracks don't last either , have tried just about all brands and had the same results , half the time as the OEM Bridgestone who use to sell to us when I was service manager at a rental house , but they cut that out , the aftermarket tracks probally don't last because the rubber is not as firm ---------for now I wouldn't install another track or roller that was aftermarket on a Bobcat
Wow, I had 1770 hrs on my T190 CTL when it was traded off for my 247, and all the idlers and rollers were in mint condition, the sprocket was in need of replacement, but the tracks had to be done at the sme time too, how do you people only get 1000 hrs before rollers and idlers start going bad??
when you do nothing but hard grading you see wear and tear quicker then some other .
! We see a lot of street and demo work which wastes alot of rubber , the Bobcats seem to be 800-1000 hrs on the Bridgestone OEM tracks , the aftermarkets tracks 350-500 hours ---------I seen machines that do majority dirt landscaping that had 1700 hours on the original tracks , the operator also makes a lot of diffence in the life of the track ----------on the sprockets I have seen the aftermarket spockets doing a wicked wear pattern that looks nothing like the way the OEM sprocket wears and in turn damages the metal crossover bar that is molded into the rubber of the track , seen a few eventually eat thru a few of the bars ----------the Takeuchi track set up which has metal plates molded into the path where the oversize flat lip roller rides on is the best set up , have seen them go over 2500 hours on a set of tracks and rollers still going
2000 hours on our T300. idlers and tracks are still in good shape, we're expecting another 1,000 hours out of the tracks
Haven't seen any roller problems with the Bobcat since they went to the greased and sealed units on the 864's. On the older 864's the rollers and front idlers were oil filled. They sucked, the seals failed, what lil bit of oil was in them leaked out and away they went. Track tension maintainance is a MUST! Too tight and you will have problems. 1/2 to 5/8 inch slack between the center roller and the track, with the machine lifted. Drive motors are a different story. I'd start looking for failure at around the 1100 hr time frame. We were doing real good until we went over the 1000 hr mark on several of our machines. But we also have a couple over the 1500 hr mark that are just fine so far. Other problems have included bent or broken bucket tilt cylinders. They don't like back dragging with alot of pitch on the bucket. The more extension, the more likely you are to break one or bend one. If you do have problems with ANY drive system component, and you are out of warranty, INSIST that your dealer or you, contact the regional service rep. You will get a deal on the repair. It's a known problem. They will work with you. There is also a field mod on the T-300's, some S/N's, for a cooling fan hose replacement. Check with you dealer if you haven't recieved a letter. Also lastly, on any model Bobcat T series. When you have the track off, change the final drive oil! Bobcat only item, special syn oil, cheap, one bottle will do 3 machines. Can you tell I've been working on a lot of Bobcats lately?? LOL!
I'm with you on the last remark, I changed that oil when I blew the drive motor bearing 2 days before the warranty was up and I had the other side done too. After 250 hrs, I did the same again, this time got CAT to sample and test the oil and everything was clear, it's a real PITA to take the tracks off, pop the drain plugs, refill and replace the tracks, why Bobcat never put an external drain plug, no one will ever know. But what peace of mind doing that whole process brought though. But that old T190 is gone now for a cheaper running CAT 247B2 MTL and I don't regret anything about the CAT.
bobcats idlers and spockets wear funny not all of them wear out it kinda depends on how you use it conditions and so forth keep the tracks tight also helps a bunch the front and rear idlers are known for the bearings going out and theres really nothing you can do about it but spend the 500 hundred dollars a roller or idler when they go out sorry to break the news to you but its just how it is bobcat is kinda slow on admittiing and fixing there design flaws i work for a dealership and i see it weakly basically you can just run them until your tired of looking at the worn idlers or until the bearings go out in the or replace them is about your only to options but keeping the tracks tight is your best bet to keep the drive train in good shape make shure you dont over tighten the tracks also because that can cause more harm then good to have them to tight you should be able to push on the track and it give a little but not touch the track frame also your drive motors on your machine have they ever been replace and it not the outter bearing in them are week the old style where real short on the sprocket are the new ones are about 5 in from the center of the track to the out side of the motor but they still arent full proof thye have problems with them to your looking at about 5 to 6 thousand dollars per drive motor if they have to be replace. the machine will not want to move when the drive motors are going bad if this happens get it to a dealership immediatly to get checked out because 12 thousand dollars for drive motors is alot cheaper then the 20 or 30 for whne the metal shavings go throught the case drain filters and take out the hole system because then you have parts and labor to fix everything and diagnose what needs replace and buy then its about every major hydralic componet but that is just something to be aware of not saying its going to happen to you but its something to be aware of for future purchases of bobcat track loaders do your services on time and change the finale drive oil and case drains at 1000 hrs every 1000 hrs if you see metal shavings in the case drains look to the drive motors because thats where 98% of the time they are coming from any questions and ill be happy to answer them
one bottle of oil for the track machine final drives will do 1 machine and do both drive motors with that one bottle i work for bobcat and that is a fact that 1 bottle has 90 cc's of oil in it and 45cc's per side on the motors
the 250's and 300's have a external plug the 140 180 190 dont they are located under hte track spocket on the drive motor so you have to pull the tracks off a little trick lossen the brake bleeder fitting first because if you take the grease zert out you are probaly going to loose an eye they are under very high pressure then take the bleeder fitting all the way out and then take the grease zert out after that then take 2 2x4's and stack them ont op of each other on the track frame start hte machine and use the traction lock over ride button and roll the tracks forward to compress the track tensioner it before you do that though remove both covers on the side of the track frame and the bolts other wise you will break the bolts off and it will scare the crap out off you when they break and grease will go 50ft on a nice warm summer day at that point but roll the track around until the front idler is even with the track frame front and then take a 3ft pry bar stick it in the groove in the center of the track frame by the front idler and be caeful not to get pulled by the track but pry out on the track and roll the track forward and the track will roll of the front idler and then you can remove it from there pretty easy reverse the prosess to put it back on
Wow good info there... Rather than spend the big bucks on the bobcat idlers, we made a cheap fix for it and its been holding up fine for about 300 hours in nasty pacific northwest mud all winter. We took the oddball sized bobcat bearings out, got (4) $30 generic sealed bearings (2 per side) machined the axle slightly to fit, pressed them in and voila $200 idler repair. Ive blown 2 drive motors in it too, both on the same side, the second one was a dealer screwup on the install, and they replaced the non blow side under warranty to the upgraded version, its been good since. My drive motor went hauling rocks....we move rocks that are a weeeee bit big for a bobcat i guess....lol Now the stupid thing creeps and is extremely jerky at slow speeds...
Wow!!! I am thinking of selling my BobcatS205 and moving up to a T300. You guys have me leary of a CTL. Sounds like I need to be prepared to spend major bucks on upkeep. I can only afford an older machine in the 28000-34000 range. Should I just go with the S300? I am working in mostly dirt but having to go to my Chiropractor at least twice a month on the wheel machine.I was under the impression the CTL would have a smoother ride. I have been wanting to jump up in size just to be able to get jobs done and on to the next one. Any thoughts? I have to admit the T300 is a bada** looking machine. T300 or S300??
I dont know what u guys are doing with your machines, I have a T300 and the back idlers lasted 2400hrs, never replaced a roller or front idler. I use it with a grapple, harleyrake, buckets and forks. Run in mostly topsoil, chirp, and rocky red clay. Tracks last somewhere around 1500hrs. But I paid almost $850 per idler, thought that was kinda high! Sprockets are at 2600hrs and still good. I have had this machine every direction you can think of on 1to1 slopes and never have any trouble with tracks coming off!
I am a owner/operator and the only person that will operate the machine. I am working in red clay, topsoil, sand and do some gravel/screening driveways. I spend very little time on concrete/asphalt. I think running the thing myself and taking care of it I could probably match the wear times you've gotten.
Bobcatmechanic I had a drive motor go out on my 300 at about 2500hrs from outer bearing going bad. Had a local hydro-stat specialist rebuild them for about $1500 per side, all new bearing but reused old seals, they said they looked like new. I found the least little bit of Tiny metal shavings in the hyd tank. I busted the tank trying to flush it so now I have a new tank, so any ideas at how bad my system could be contaminated? And now that I have it all back together when it gets good and warmed up it shows a warning (hyd charge pressure too low) at Idle. I have the gold package and at full speed the hyd pressure gauge shows about three bars above low, any ideas?
Bobcat's hydraulic systems are shallow and pedantic, Cat has massive tanks and far more superior hydraulic power, if you got metal shavings into a Cat tank, you'd be surprised how easy it is to get them out again.
I don't know why all the company don't run seperate oil reservor for there hydraulic oil and hydro tranmisson oil and that way you wouldn't get the other comtaminated everytime. I know it is cheaper to build,just one oil for both ,but they aren't doing the customers any favor. They do it a lot on alot of machine now days.In the old days you had two different oil reservor.Better ideal i think.:usa
i have heard storys of the cats getting the metal shavings all through the system when there motors fail to i guess its all in how quick you notice a probllem and how quick you get it fixed but once there in the hyd system there there for the life of the machine thats a fact unless you replace all the hoses and components is about the only way you would get them all out
on the low charge pressure issue i would go with the reused seals those guys are idiots granted they saved 'yeah right saved you money" no they cost you more because the reused seals some of those you can get away with reusing and not but the seals are more than likely bad in your brake section and the charge pressure witch is about 420 psi usually is probably all going to the motor to keep the brake out and its just leaking by into the case drain side and thats where your charge pressure warning is coming from i have messed with 5 drive motors in the month of march to april and 4 of them have been bad brake seals or the brake disks breaking the other was a plug came out under the brake section and let oil just pass straight through with out doing any driving on the motor that was an interestion one didn't see anything wrong and then out of shear luck when i flipped the section back over i heard something rattle adn sure enough under a nother plug there was a cavity for oil to pass through to drive well in that cavity they put another plug and that secong plug came out put it back in resealed the drive motor and back in buisiness the seal kits for those motors are about 900 - 1000 dollars but to get it reasealed the first time and not have any leaks thats the way to go a way to check that is get a t fitting a pressure guage and a porta power disconnect the line from the brake valve and hook the porta power to that line by its self with the t and guage in line then pump up the brake to 450 psi if it holds and does not bleed off check the other side then if they both test good take the case drain lines off at the silver cannister in the center of the machine in front of the hydrostat it will have 5 lines running to it the back to that come into each other on the same fitting go to the drive motors extend those out with a hose with a number 6 jic fitting check the flow by looking at the oil coming out when the machine is running run the oil into a bucket to catch it it should be a trickle if its a steady flow coming out liek high pressure your motor is probably bad that is a way to check it for your self if you have the tools and the know how to do it all the brake valve is right under the steering plate right in front of the control valve since i didn't say where it was at follow the hoses back if your unsure about witch valve you are looking at one comes in from the bpttom and goes to the right motor the other also hooks to that same fitting crosses the center and runs to the left but as for the low charge pressure warning i would say your looking at bad seals in the motor as i have said already you may also try changing the hyd filter and seeing what that does also that silver case drain filter in the center of the machine take it apart and see if there are metal shavings in it they can only come from the drive motors in that one there is another one but its for the aux hyd its located behind the left side motor pain to change but there are a few things to check
also go into your deluxe panel and find the vitals screen you can watch the charge pressure there see what its running with the oil at about 120 degrees ferenheit then puch the press to operate button and see if ti drops off if it does i would lean towards drive motors but it could also be a bad brake valve if your case drain filters plugged and blown out then you have metal shavings all through the system not any real way to get them out its really with the machine for the rest of its life sorry. thats always fun for problems down the road and the service tech just keeps finding metal shavings in the port reliefs and control valve spools and every where else you dont want to see metal shavings at.
That is absolutely hilarious And I really like your website. In defense of the Bobcat's, to whom my allegiance is no longer beholden, I must say that smaller reservoirs are more economical, less environmentally threatening, and idicative of more efficient cooling system engineering. IMO caterpillar tried very hard to copy the Bobcat cooling system, but just couldn't quite get it right and made up for it with a larger reservoir. IMO there are really far greater issues of concern with Bobcat loaders than their excellently-designed cooling systems. I fear it will be one of their last great innovations.
The reason Cat (and others) have such a massive reservoir is because Cat is a true open loop system, meaning all oil returns to the tank where it is circulated continuously, it's also filtered and sent through the cooler by a separate pump. The bigger the oil supply, the better the cooling. My Bobcat would run a brush cutter for 10 minutes and the lines were already too hot to touch with bare hands, my Cat takes 3 hours to get the lines that hot, now which one is more efficient at cooling? I've had to shut down my T190 while doing moderate grass cutting with the flail mower due to the excessive heat problems, my Cat just keeps going. Every excavator (maybe not Bobcat) uses and open center (or loop) system, and it's a proven and time tested set up, Bobcat's inferior tank size is it's down fall, if I had one little oil leak, I had to get it fixed ASAP as it wold use up the entire tank, my Cat can go for days before the oil level drops to an unacceptable limit. Caterpillar did not try to "copy" Bobcat, they took all the patents from other companies (Case, Thomas, Bobcat) and improved on their designs, hence Cat cabs looking like a Case and the visibility is close to Bobcat. Bobcat could never get the open center system right as it's doesn't work well with gear pumps and the extra room for the reservoir wasn't possible in their frames, so Bobcat abandoned it, Cat waited until the Patents expired and bought them and improved on their designs. You've picked the wrong person to say the Bobcat's system is best, I can argue that until my death, Cat (and others) are much, much better.
Whoa Ron- I certainly didn't mean to get your hackles up by slamming your beloved Cat's. The bigger the oil supply, the better the cooling. Conversely, the more efficient the cooling system, the less voluminous the reservoir needs to be. That's a fact. My observations and opinions on Cat's attempt at copying Bobcat's cooling system were based on the inspections of the many Cat Loaders taken in trade at the local Bobcat Dealership I used to work for. They may not be accurate, but everyone has an opinion and there were a lot of machines for me to look at. I could argue each and every one of your points, but this thread has been hijacked several times over already, and I don't want to alienate any more than I already may have. At this point in my life, I really don't care which brand is superior. I want to fix them all. I still like your website
3000 hrs thats awesome are u mostly in the dirt and those are original tracks
Ive seen sprocket lifes on here vary in hours, What seems to be the average your seeing on last? We've already put a set on ours and have 1600 hrs on it currently and the sprockets are starting to wear again.
We have a T-250 and two T-200's that go through OEM tracks in about 1,500 hours. The first T-200 we bought had all the idlers replaced free in the first 500 hours because of a factory issue, now 2,500 hours later it's still going strong. We beat the crap out of these things, they have been spun in pit run to many times to mention. I get a kick out the ASV guys.
I sold over 200 Bobcat "CTLs" over 8 years here in Wisconsin and I'd say that your an exception to the rule with over 2,500 hours. it doesn't matter who makes the machine the one constant from the factory is "we had a factory issue and now these new (fill in the blank) are much better". I hope you get another 2,500 hours out of them.
Well the first Idler went (front left) at 300 hours, and then at 500 hours the other front one went so they just upgraded them all. It now has 2,800 hours on it so 2,500 on that front left idler. The machine looks like death and is overdue to be replaced, but one of our guys just loves the thing and won't give it up. Bobcat's usually only last us 2,000hrs but we are just going to run this one into the ground. Our other T-200 I believe had the original idlers done at 700 hours and it's almost at 2,000 now as well and hasn't been down a single day since then. T-250 is at 900hrs on the original idlers. Oh and both T-200's have had the sprockets replaced, the newest one just got done last week.
hey guys, could anyone tell me the easiest way to remove a track for a T300? i know there isnt an easy way but there has got to be an easier way than the way i am doing it. thanks so much. sorry, i dont want to hijack this thread , but i cannot post a new thread yet. jeff.
so whats the way you are doing it? i assume you are releasing the grease first using the correct tool on the correct fitting - heed carefully the previous advice about the grease being under extreme pressure .
bobcat t190 I've changed the big hydralic filter in the back but my information center is still telling me that my filter is plugged or sometimes it tells me that the filter is not connected. I was told that there is two small filters under cab. What do they look like? and when I try to turn the machine to do a 180 theres a bit of wineing, but not that loud. I hope this doesn't mean that theres something wrong with the drive motor and if it does does anyone have any advice