Looking for a little advice. I have a 2013 299C and earlier in the year had something happen where I lost all hyd function. My fan wasn't turning, no tracking arms, bucket, anything. I had it towed home and everyone on a forum and a cat help line I talked to said its likely the coupler on the motor for the hyd pump. My son and I pulled the motor and coupler was great. Next I was told it would be the charge pump. I pulled it and everything looked good. At that point I didn't have much to do other than put everything back together get it back running and let someone else check it out. Went ahead replaced hyd filter, air filter, in tank hyd filter and all new cat fluids while it was down. I also replaced a few o-rings and just cleaned it up in general. I Got everything back together and low and behold the hydraulics were working. The fan was back turning and everything back up I had to change out my battery terminals and all, so got that done today and put a few minutes on it. It sems that everything is working normal other than #1 the high gear isn't engaging. Its a 2 speed and when I press the button on the joystick it doesn't engage like it did before or show the green rabbit on the display. #2 my arms are falling down steady once I stop raising them. They seem to be raising strong but start falling as soon as I let off. They did not do this before. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Step one would be to cut open your hydraulic filter like in this video...
Is this the same machine you posted about previously that came from an auction with the hydraulic problems.? Need a machine Serial Number to look up info in case things start getting technical.
It is, though it was an estate auction where the owener had died and sold all his equipment. It has been a good machine and I've been happy with it, though its not a full time work machine. I do atv salvage on the side so I mostly use it around the house and to work my hunting lease and odd job here and there. CAT0299CKJSP01817 is the serial number.
Thanks, I kept the one old one and will have to take a look. I did pump all the old hyd oil out and take apart the end of the hyd pump when I checked the charge pump. I completely removed the tank when I had the motor off. I have yet to see any metal or glittery anything. That doesn't mean there isn't but I haven't seen anything that has alarmed me yet.
At the moment I can deal without the high speed. What Are my steps to diagnose the falling arms? Its possible that when my son was using it the first time where we lost all hydraulic that he did something that could have caused the issue with the arms, I just know that prior to the issue there was very little arm leak.
Test for leaking lift cylinder seals first. Raise the arms up close to maximum height and block them in position. Disconnect both lines to each lift cylinder and then plug the port that supplies oil for the RAISE function. Remove the blocking and watch how fast the cylinder comes down. The rod should not move more than about 1/2" in 5 minutes. An alternative method if you have an infra-red heat gun is to raise the lift cylinders up to maximum with the machine systems cold and keep the Raise control pulled. Point the heat gun at the part of the lift cylinder where the piston is located. If you can detect a significantly higher temperature around the piston than the rest of the cylinder the piston seals are leaking.
Whats the best method when blocking the cylinders? I don't have another machine but have chains and hoist to possibly attach to tree limbs? I don't have a heat gun but have a thermal drone. Would that be sufficent?
Anything will work provided that it makes it safe for you to work under a suspended load without it being able to kill you. Not sure what one of those is. You can buy an infra red temp gun for around $20 at most major hardware stores, like this one - https://www.google.com/search?q=inf...5vUHE5THM2QWtfNxgBMAE4ASCor9HyC0oIEAIYASABKAE