I just picked one up about a month ago,its my first skid steer. I am loving this machine more every day. I owe a special thank you to this sites founder Steve Fraizer,for keeping me from buying an older,cheaper one (I wont mention brand names)with the old hand foot controls. THANK YOU STEVE. Listening to his advice and wisdom,I went with a Cat machine with pilot controls,and I love the precision with which you can control the machine. I am still getting used to it,but coming from a compact tractor to this SS,I notice a huge power difference,both in engine and hydro power. Now i need to find some attachments,I am looking to get a harley rake,grapple bucket,4 in 1 bucket,and a backhoe eventually.Money/slow economy is the only thing stopping me now.I plan to make a 3PH adapter ,so i can run my 3PH attachments on the SS that i already have access too.Since that wont cost too much,it will be my first new attachment. I like to fabricate things myself,so ill build it when i am slow,I plan to run this pto motor. http://surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2008082308364128&catname=hydraulic&item=9-7368-125 I dont have any experience running other small machines,but this Cat aure has a lot of power and lift capacity compare to a similar sized tractor.
Good one John, Congratulations. I've always maintained the 24X series was an excellent all rounder. Check for an electrical relay near the fuel lift pump/filter. Make sure its fitted right way up (wires down) so water does not get into it. Also, periodically check the wiring and plugs on the relays at the upper left side of the engine compartment. Be careful with the wheel studs when mounting/dismounting wheels. The studs burr a little then the nuts start to strip fairly easily. Plenty grease on those bottom pins when its real wet or real dry. Any questions give me a yell! Good Luck
Thank you for the tips.I will look at the relay tomorrow.Everything works on it,exc the rear lights,the switch doesnt light up,I did a quick fuse check,and all is well there,i gotta pull the switch out and see if there is power to it,and if the lights work at all. I already replaced 2 studds when i put 2 new tires on it ,the day i picked it up.It came with pallet forks,a 74" bucket with a tooth bar,and a 2001 5 ton equipment trailer.The trailer is a bit small,IMO,ive been using my 14K 7x14 dump trailer to move it so far. I replaced both fuel filters last week,the oil is still clear,but im going to change it anyway. When i got it,the radiator hose support bolts had fell out of the cyl head,and the rad hose was laying on the turbo.I fixed that immediately,and thats been it.The previous owner didnt run it hard,since there was a roll of shrink wrap stuck under the throttle,i dont think it was past 1/2 throttle the last few yrs. Before it gets cold here,Id like to service the cooling system,I doubt it has been done,as well as a full service on the entire machine. I love to grease to excess,so I have that under control,with the exception of the one fitting that wont take grease ,that i still need to fix.
Congratulations on your find John! Anyone in the market for a skid steer is selling themselves short if they don't at least demo a Cat, their controls are so much more precise than anything else I've operated. This translates into more accurate and faster grading with less fatigue. In my area, Cat's support system is the one other manufacturers model themselves after. My 248 is one of the smartest decisions I've made in investing in my business.
I was wondering if anyone knew what hydro fluid to run in the 246. I use basic AW46 or 32 in my old Ford tractor,but wasnt sure if the skid steer used something different.I built a homemade log splitter,and after filling the 5"x30" cylinder from the aux port on the 246,I need to add some fluid to it. The fluid in there has a very slight red tint to it,like someone added a quart of ATF per a few gallons of hydraulic fluid.
John, I'm not familiar with your temperature range but the manual lists from 5W hydraulic through to 15W-40 Cat DEO (which is engine oil). So before some bright spark tells me "you can't run engine oil in the hydraulics" I'll go scan the manual for you and see if I can post it.
Here it is:
likewise with bobcat - they recommend their proprietry oil but also state that engine oil can be used.
Mouse, Westrac here (Wigmores back a few years) put 15W40 in all the skids and even heavier for up north. They come from the factory with 10W hydraulic (thats the red stuff John) and they wont perform for 9 months of the year. The straight 30W is no good either...the change to Cat DEO is dramatic.
Thank you very much for the quick,detailed reply. I do not have the service manuals for my machine,so you posting the graph was helpful. I think from looking at the chart, SAE15w40 in both my engine,and hydros will be best.I am in a climate where it rarely gets below zero,maybe 3x a winter in the overnights.Most of our winter low temps are in the teens to 30's.I am used to using motor oil in hydros too,my toro reel mowers use SAE 10w30 in there hydro systems as well.Im going to run Shaeffers X7000 supreme in the engine,and I may just run the same in the hydros,since they dont need a change too often.
Glad to be of some help John. I always check that the oil meets the manufacturer's API requirements....for the skid I just use Cat DEO as my dealer sells it at the same or lesser price than I can buy other brands anyway.
I got my chuckle for the evening. "Bright Spark", thats funny. CASE also runs engine oil in the hyd. for some machines.
Here is the oil I run in just about everything I own now. I plan to run it in the Cat as well.This 15w40 is tough oil,and none of my small gas air cooled machines consume this oil,although it pours as easily as a 5w30 conventional oil in the cold.Ive been running this about 3 yrs now,and have ran schaeffers products well over 10 yrs now. http://www.schaefferoil.com/datapdf/700.pdf
i couldn't for the life of me find an oil that matched the recommded api spec - what is recommended for the toolcat is cd... took me a while to get confirmation of how the api codes work. salesboy even rang one of the major oil companies to find out what they recommend - to 'get a what sort of machine is that?' reply
Just wondering do you plan on using if for snow work? If so are you going to put a snow pusher on it?