I am having trouble with loader making it up hill with any power/speed. On flat ground loss of power does not seem great. This is a 1995 Dresser 515C picked up used, new engine/swap around 2006. It almost feels like it slips/has power/speed to first going up hill. Just a barely slow crawl. I had planned to use this to push snow but it is no good at all with this issue for me. I don't mean to sound nooby, but is there something I am missing with a high/low gear? There is a third lever that acts like an aux hydraulic line on inner side of seat (don't have manual) but see no hook up line for such. Hydraulics seems pretty decent on level ground and there is definitely some wear in pins/bushing drive shaft but I am not surprised at that given age. Checked the easy stuff. Filters, etc looks okay. Does anyone have any helpful advise in diagnosising this issue? I do not have a manual for this and am unfamiliar with this type of equipment and of course Kamat/Dresser do not have dealer in my area. Thanks
It sounds like you are having a fuel supply problem. Is there any smoke when you are trying to go up hill?
No additional/extra smoke that I noticed. Then again, I'm typically in the machine. You're right, it could be issue, I'll have someone run and observe the stack. The filters were supposedly changed 08/14 with little use since than. I do not see recent evidence of hydraulic filter being changed however. Will report being on smoke.
You first have to determine if it's a lack of engine power or the transmission is not getting into high gear . 1 : can the loader go into a bank of dug gravel and load the bucket full and then raise it without any issues ? 2 driving along on flat ground, will the loader travel at the desired speed ? 3 have you checked the level of the trans fluid , does it smell and is it turned dark brown ? once we have those answers , you may know your problem .
No excessive smoke has been found. I think we can safely assume this is not a fuel supply issue. Lift capacity/load not affected with issue being presented. Lifted vehicle with no bog down. Driving along flat ground speed seems to be fine - although I doubt it is up to new engine speeds per spec book. Trans level good. No browning/discoloring. Here are some further observations today with playing around to end the day. Bearing on drive shaft seems to be loose. There is a "grinding" when doing sharp turn. I am not surprised with age; however, can this affect total lose of power? I would expect some lose, but total? Additionally, it was suggested today that this engine could be fully hydraulic ran and it would be simply the pump. Is there merit to any of this? Frustrated, ready to not keep if not figured out shortly. No manuals, no "dealers" near, parts sparse so far as I can tell this far if I can even figure out specifically what is needed.
Is the engine speed proportionate to the drive speed?
You said in a previous post that the engine was changed, was the engine that was installed the same make and model? You are going to have to determine if the engine is going to maximum RPM . if it isn't , there lies your problem of being slow going up a grade . It is the last 300-600 rpm that puts the torque converter in stall mode which means if the torque stalls at 2800RPM and your engine is only getting to 2200 RPM , the transmission is not getting up to speed . I removed the original engine from my 1980 Fiat Allis 645B and installed a 4-71 Jimmy . The original engine would rev to about 2800 no problem and it worked great and drove along the road great too until it windowed the block . The 4-71 would only rev to 2150 and the machine was like a maggot slow as cold molasses. I got a GM tech to increase the RPM and it was like a new machine . I would purchase one of those electronic tachometers or get a guy that has one to come and check your RPM . It may be your problem . Hope this helps .