I'm having problems with my cooling fan of my Cat 248 skid steer vibrating in cold weather. I've got a theory on the cause of this, the radiator and fan sit at an angle of about 30 degrees from horizontal under the rear deck. I believe that rain/snow is accumulating in the fan hub, then freezing, causing a pretty severe vibration at operating speeds. The fan is not easily accessable to prove my theory, and the only solution I've thought of at present is to cover the rear deck of the machine to prevent water from entering. Long term it might be better to drill some drain holes in the fan hub, but I don't have a heated location to work, and it looks like it will be a while before temps go above freezing. Has anyone else heard or experienced this problem with any Cat skid steer? The radiators are all set up in a similar fashion regardless of model.
It this happening first thing after you start it then or does it also do it after it has been running for awhile? The fans sits close enough to the engine, it should throw enough heat off in a short time to melt any ice in there. We don't have ours yet to get a better look but I am following you. I would think even after it is parked and starts to ice it should not be that bad because of the angle of the fan and remaining heat, icing would be somewhat limited. However, you have been in the deep freeze lately. Hope it warms up for you. I am interested to see what you find out here for our reference as well. If this is the case, you will have more of a problem with that blower than we would with just a blade or bucket and ours is parked in 40 degree shop to melt and dry. Rain/washing water still could create a problem if that is collecting where it shouldn't.
Mert, the problem is evident at start up and in this cold weather, remains throughout operations. The fan is below the radiator and blows up through it, so it is continuosly sucking cold air, no chance of the radiator heat thawing things out. Last night we did sidewalk clearing and I was afraid the fan would shake apart. I have to run at full throttle to power the blower. After about an hour of operation, I shut the machine down for about 15 minutes hoping the heat from the engine below might thaw it out, but it didn't happen. A few days before our frigid temps, we had nearly 2 inches of rain. I believe this is what caused the problem. My dealer suggested a piece of plywood cut to serve as a cover for the radiator as a preventative measure for now, I'll be speaking with a service rep to come up with a more permanent solution.
That sucks! I will get a chance to look at ours and see if maybe by chance something has been done since '99 to remedy this. We "should" be getting ours this week. At least we are supposed to be looking at it Monday and checking on some things about how it is going to work with our current bucket and whether extra height needs to be added to the new bucket for the mount to completely fit on it. All is the exact same as our last machine (except the machine) but it doesn't hurt to check. We want it right the first time.