Hello all, Another newbie here. I bought a 215 and a 955L at an auction this past summer for my own use. I'm not in the dirt business (metal fab & welding) I have the 955 in the shop now and will be finished with her in the next week or so, But I have a few questions on the 215. It is a 96L model and I don't know how long it has been since a complete servicing. I will change all the filters, engine oil and anit-freeze and gear oils in the pump drive,swing gear and finals. The big question is do I flush & replace the hyd. system oil and start new with a brand I know, or get it tested and see how it is and add to it and hope it's compatible with my hyd oil ? I have a problem with the steering as it will move froward & back, but will not steer using the directional stick. I have to pick it up and turn the house while moving to steer it. Thanks for any & all help, as I'm sure I'll be back when I get into it.
Hello . 215 sounds interesting. So when you move the steering stick does it change the speed of travel or anything at all. Also if you pick up each track do they both drive the same speed with no load. I mean how many second for about three revolutions?
Howdy, No, when I move the stick it does nothing. No change in travel forward or back. I don't know about the track drive speed as I was outrunning a blizzard when I moved her around to the back of the shop and was not paying attention to the problem. And there she sits for the present. Regards, Dan
Are you saying the house wont swing when tracking? or you can't get the tracks to turn the machine?
Can't get the tracks to turn. House swings OK when tracking.
neither stick will make either side turn? possible swivel problem ? as far as the travel alarm goes, does either side operate the travel alarm ? have you made sure you just dont have a bad travel alarm? pj
Don't the 215's have two pedals and a single turning stick? Maybe make sure it's connected. Try lifting one side and see if the track will reverse itself when moving the stick side to side. Because movin the stick fully to one side should make the machine pivot in place. Could be weak drive motors.
Definitely have the hydraulic oil sampled and filters changed first. Then change pending on laboratory analysis results. That's unless first you can see contamination in the oil or tank, especially wary of condensation. Don't forget to clean/replace breather assembly too!
It been a while but on the old 225 i had the stick was just like steer clutch on dozer.Just helped on easy turn and the two pedal that you had to move back and fore for a hard turn,and yes turning wasn't there best assect.To counter rotate you had to use the pedals one forward with toe and the other down with the heel.So did you just use the stick, or stick and pedals when you was trying to turn? Good luck
Uhh, Construct'o, unless that was some kind of odd, or very late model, I think your memory is off a little. All the 2xx Cats I have seen, and owned, and still own, each pedal only went one way, and one pedal put both tracks in reverse while the other puts both tracks in forward. Moving the stick a little way took power off one track, a little further stopped that track, and all the way reversed that track.
Sorry! Your probably right it's only been thirty years since i had the 225.
I did have a problem with the tunring of the machine when i got it.It would lug the machine down and almost kill it when you was trying to turn it under load.Cat worked on it for ever seemed like.Started on re building the stick and pedal valves (steering)under the floor board.No help. They didn't want to do anything with the pumps,which was the final fix.They tried shiming up the one pump(low on pressure),but finally put a rebuilt one in and that fixed it.I believe there were 2 pumps,thought they had to work togather,one was weak.Correct me if i'm wrong Mitch.By the way thanks.
Thanks for the responses, Gives me some direction when I get into it. The controls are as mitch504 said, one pedal forward one back and the stick to steer. I also remember my buddy (flatbed driver) saying that they had to give it a shove with the 955 to get it on the dropdeck trailer, So the power must be down on the track system for that to happen. It walks OK on the flat surface. I picked up a set of books for it and will look at the pump setup and find where to take pressure readings. There are two pumps on it as Construct'O has said. This is my first hyd. excavator so it's all a learning curve for me right now. It gives me something to think about waiting for the thaw.
I'd be very suspicious of possible leaking seals in the centre swivel given the symptoms.
You need to run that machine at full throttle or it will destroke the pumps. Worn out piston pumps will kill the engine and do no work. It takes just as much power to pump leaking oil into the pump case as out to a cylinder to work. The leaking oil builds case pressure that counteracts the signal pressure and holds the pumps in max flow longer. Later Bob
I've got a few directions to go in now, so next month I'll have her in the shop for the goin' thru. The machine runs great and has the same engine (3304 Cat) as the 955 I bought with it. Pins, bushings and cylinders are tight and the bottom is good. I really didn't plan on buying it but it went for a couple of grand over scrap, and I have a bunch of my own work to do that will more than pay for it. Thanks to all concerned for the help, Dan