hey guys! im new to the forums, and new to the world of excavators and i cant get much info from anyone in the industry around where i live i have a mini hoe, kobelco sk50, mid 90's, rubber tracks, yanmar 3 cyl diesel... you know your typical little excavator! i am very VERY mechanicaly inclined, and can take part and fix almost anything... however i am VERY fussy about specs... not just "thtas good enough" but "what it is SUPPOSED to be". hope you understand, its a large investment to have some rinkydink guy tell you "AHHHH that will do" now on to some questions about said machine #1, how tight should the tracks be (i was told 3.5 to 4 inchs droop at center roller) #2, what oil should be used in the final drives (JUST replaced one do to the old owner neglecting the machine so i want to avoid failier due to wrong oil) #3 motor oil... taking a wild stab... standard 15/40 diesel oil? #4 hydraulic oil... i know it seems like a stupid question... BUT i did have an OLD allis chalmers/ buda forklift and it ran ATF in the hydro system... i realize that my excavator is 45 years newer, but i figure the only stupid questions are ones that arnt asked! #5 is there any other things i need to know that could possibly save some wear and tear or breakdown... how often do you grease the turret? the rest of the joints? i think that about covers it... thanks for any advice you may have!
So you're basically saying you don't have an owners manual, in which all these questions will be answered. Perhaps this might be of use http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kobelco-...03628?pt=BI_Books_Manuals&hash=item256fc0e98c although this would be for the series 3 short radius (zero tail swing) version. You most likely have a 1 or 2. However I'll attempt to answer your question best I can, 1, 3.5 - 4 inches sounds a bit much, sure it wasn't 3.5-4 cm? 2. Gear oil every 500hrs 3. Yeah whatever the go is in your area, if it is cold you can use a lighter weight oil 4. Go to a professional oil supplier and they should have the specs for your or similar machines 5. Grease daily (10hrs), except for the slew ring bearing, that's every 200-250 hours (when you change the engine oil), the slew ring is supposed to be well greased every 50 hours, with a lot of grease at every quarter turn of the house but you can't over grease the ring so I give it a few pumps every 10hrs and a good dose at 50 hours. Ohh you may have a grease nipple on the water pump of your engine, if you do, do not grease it with black moly grease and only give it one or two shots every 250 hrs with high temp bearing grease. I will advise that you get an owners manual, which may be problematic if your machine is a grey market one, in other words never officially sold in Canada or the US. That manual on ebay will be of some help as basic maintenance does not really change with different generations, however if you can lay your hands on the proper one for your machine it will be better. Also change all the filters. There may be a filter in the hydraulic tank, which at the very least should be pulled out and inspected.
i talked to two dealers, one said 2 inches, one said 3.5 to 4 inches (yes im SURE they said inches NOT cm) unless you do alot of extreme side-hilling (which i dont) i assume when you say gear oil for the finaldrives you mean 80/90 weight? the charts that came with my new drive claim 80/90... but alot of ppl have said 50wt too... due to it being a cycloidal drive (of which i have NO experience with) i wasnt sure if 80/90 was ok for rotating cams and the workings in there, if 50wt would be better for the parts? as for the slew bearing and rotec, i was told if you grease it too much you crap the seal out and its a real pain to get back in place and holding... also was told about 10 pumps per 90deg (personaly id LOVE to pump the hell out of it so that i could "flush" the old crap grease out) also... there is two grease nipples about 60deg apart from each other... would you grease BOTH of them when you grease the slew bearing? sorry if this seems very basic... as i said before, im very mechanically knowledged... rebuild many machines/trucks/harelys... but this IS my first excavator and i want to save myself as much failier due to no being aware as possible thanks
I do not know your particular machine, so cannot comment on actual grease fittings. You have to understand that there is a difference between a slew ring bearing and the ring. The bearing is the part on which the house (upper part) rotates and it carries the weight, this is the part you do not want to over grease. The actual ring is a big toothed wheel with a toothed cog, this turns your house. The only thing that will happen if you over grease it, is that you might find a big blob of grease on the ground. That's why it is advised to grease at very 90 degrees. Most machines have a diagram somewhere on the machine that details the greasing schedule, however your's might be missing that? Re that cycli thingy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloidal_drive but yeah not sure what Kobelco want you to lubricate it with?
ya, my buddy is a HD mechanic and he looked at me like i was daft when i told him about the cycloidal gear reduction... as i have found out they use 80/90w gear oil in them, i find that odd considering how its constructed... never the less i will run what they tell me to! now back to teh slew ring bearing... i was under the impression that when you grease the SRB that the grease that spils out of the inside of the seal was what greases the rotec? is that incorrect? is that second grease nipple in fact the rotec grease nipple? my machine IS a grey market machine so i cant get a manuel... thus why i am asking so many questions... also... when it comes to hydraulic oil... do these (KOBELCOS or any other mini hoe) all use iso aw46? if not then what?
That's why I posted that link to ebay, it might not be for your machine but will have a lot of stuff in there that is similar to yours, like oils to use and the greasing principles. NO the SRB should have a separate grease line to the ring. Perhaps you can crawl under the machine and see where the grease lines go?