I have a 1992 JD 310D # 782510. I cannot get any grease to enter the bottom bushing on one of the swing cylinders. See bushing #4. I removed the grease jerk and I can easily pump grease through it. I poked my knife blade into the threaded grease jerk hole and the space is full softy grease and the knife blade slides right in with no problem. I can't imagine the washer # 30 seals the top of the gap so tightly that grease cannot be forced out of the top of the bushing. Has any one seen such a phenomena?
Bushing likely has a small hole in it to allow grease to enter and is now clogged solid with dirt/debris.
Funny, I had exactly this discussion with my shop this afternoon. The bushing on the end of the loader arms on my T200 won't take grease on the right side. I took off the zerk, and grease flows through it easily. I can stick a screwdriver in until I hit steel. I asked my shop, and like Willie said, there is probably a pin hole that is plugged up with dirt or hardened grease. I ordered a Grease Fitting Rejuvenator, which is a tube in which a piston slides. You fill the tube with a light oil, put one end over the fitting, and strike the other end with a hammer. This is supposed to force the oil into the void, and dislodge any blockages. I'll let you know if it works. The mechanic said that with my machine, the only way to guard against this is to grease them almost every time you use the machine. I suspect he's right.
I bet it is like other pins. On other pins the pin is cross drilled so the grease goes around the corner and out the sides of the pin, or the the other way around. After some neglect and abuse the old grease clogging the hole looks almost like clay when you drill it out. I have done this several times, take it apart and clean it. I have wondered if I could chuck an old piece of cable in a drill and get it to go around the corner but then you would have that old clay like grease loose inside the joint. There are other threads here on the topic unless that pin is a different situation.
I bought that grease zerk cleaner tool at a local parts plus dealer. I removed the grease zerk filled up that tool with diesel and screwed it to where the grease zerk goes and just tapped the top of the tool with a hammer and it was good as new.
If the grease is suposed to go thru the bushing, the bushing might have turned blocking grease entry.
Bushings come is several variations. Most have two holes drilled in them on opposite sides. They typically have a grease groove cut in the bushing to deliver grease, some bushings have the groove on the outside of the bushing, some the groove is on the inside. If the problem is debris clogging one of the bushing holes, dislodging the debris depends on how bad it's clogged. Methods such as zerk tools that you fill with fluid and hit with hammer, porta power pump/hose connected to grease hole, sometimes work, but if there's a lot of debris packed in the hole and grease groove, even if these tools move the debris, there's no room in the close tolerance between pin and bushing for it to go. Sometime you can remove the zerk and simply drill a new hole through the bushing. Problem with bushings on loader/hoes, they typically use a hardened bushing that won't drill with typical drill bits.
They are prone to blockage if they are not greased regularly. This happens a lot with Bobcat (and probably all skid steers) when the bushing is not greased regularly, it will rotate in the bore when heat and friction build up due to lack of regular greasing. That is what I have done on my Bobcats from time to time and works pretty well. Now we're not going to discuss WHY we had to do that...:cussing
Yep, I've done that on Bobcat bushings, you can drill them. The trick is catching it in time before the "don't know how to operate a grease gun operator" totally hammers the pin and bushings to where drilling a grease hole would be a colossal waste of time. :Banghead
Thanks to all that have replied. All this information is good to know. I think I will remove the swing cylinder and have a look at the bushing. I hope it has not turned in the casing. I hope to dig out the dirt and put it all back together to fill it with grease. I let you all know what I found.
Could anyone tell me how to remove the bushings on a T200? The zerk is in the center of rotation. I don't see any bolts or other means of retention in the arms.
Not really sure what you're asking LWG. Which bushings are you referring to? And, retention of loader arms?
Most bushings are pressed in.
I am referring to the bushings in the very end of the loader arms, where the bobtach is. I don't see how the pins are retained in the loader arms.
You mean like this ...on a 300 but I think the same..
Ahh, you're talking about the pins that attach the coupler to the loader arms. T200. Hmm, it's late at night, and I have had a few beers, memory is not running on all cylinders at the moment, LoL. I'm not certain, but I'm thinking the T200 is similar to the T300 in the attachment of coupler, check out this thread and see if it is;
Thanks, that looks close. The T200 has one central tilt cylinder, and it looks like the T300 has two, with grease fittings on the rod ends. That thread seems to be mostly related to the upper pins, i.e. the top part of the bobtach plate to which the rod ends of the tilt cylinder connect. My problem is with the bottom pins, and the setup looks different between the T200 and T300.
So the third pic down of removing the lower pins is different...Hmmm I guess I am remembering wrong I thought they were the same inside circlip setup....
Could be the same, I was operating off of memory, and I really didn't pay attention to the inside of the arms. I was looking at the outside of the pins, where the grease fitting is. I'll see if I can take some pictures today.
Ahh, forgot the T200 had the center tilt cylinder, that one a bit different, the coupler pivot pin is not a tapered pin like other Bobcat models. Here's a pic of a T200 with coupler removed. There's a 3/8" bolt (arrow pointing) that you remove, and I think the pivot pin has a threaded hole in the end of it. Screw appropriate size bolt in the hole in pin and use it to pull pin out of coupler and loader arm pivot bushing.
Ok, that makes sense. Except I don't think either side of mine has the 3/8" bolt. There's just a hole where the bolt was. I suspect the pin is free to float in and out, which is probably not a good thing. The hole in the end of the pin is tapped 1/4-40 for the zerk. Take out the zerk, the retaining bolt is already missing, screw in a 1/4-20 bolt and pull it out. Sounds like it should work.
...and the bolt would keep the pin from rotating in the bore, keeping the grease channel aligned. So when the bolt is missing, the pin can rotate, and the grease channel gets blocked.
Molybdenum grease is a graphite based grease and it becomes hard like clay when the fitting is not greased regularly. I usually take a welding rod and flatten one end and chuck it up in a drill and clean it out. If the bushing hasn't turned it usually works.
Well, I got it open, sort of. I used the rejuvenator tool, and filled it with fuel conditioner. I tapped the end with a hammer, but I couldn't feel much movement. After a while the grease gun worked and pushed grease between the loader arm and the outer aspect of the attachment plate. There was no grease coming out between the loader arm and the inner aspect of the attachment plate. I guess half is better than none. And the pin was loose to float in and out. The left pin was flush with the out pin boss, but the right protruded about 3/4". This is an older machine, and I thought someone has just replaced the pin with one of the same diameter, but a little longer. With the hints in the posts above, I assumed that without the retaining bolt, the pin just drifted out. A few taps, and it went right home.
Thanks Iron@Dirt and Willie 59 and others, I have been studying my service manual in preparation to start the repair tomorrow. As I can see in the manual that the bushing has a hole in it and a groove on the interior, I believe the bushing has probably turned in the boss. I've been noticing for a while that it was getting more difficult to get grease in that bushing. Big question now is how do I prevent it from turning again? Can I glue it in with JB Weld or something? I have been the owner for a year now and have kept the grease to all pins. Also there is very little play in the swing cylinder pins or any other pivots in that area of the backhoe.
Deon, when you remove the grease zerk, does the hole make a straight shot to the pin through the bushing? If so, you can remove the zerk and clean the hole real good, remove all the grease, wash the hole out with starting fluid and compressed air, then you could view in the hole with a light an see if the hole in bushing is lined up. If it's not, you would likely have to do some disassembly, which is not a 5 minute job on those things, nevertheless would likely be required to fix your problem. The do make carbide tipped drill bits that will drill hardened steel, just never tried to use one that small in a hand drill in a position like that, don't know if that's a viable option or not, to drill a new hole in bushing.
Hi Deon, See if you can get a replacement bushing with a grease groove on the outside(or put one there yourself) that way if the bushing turns again it won't matter. One other idea is to machine a grease groove around the inside of the bore the bushing presses into. A way of making the bushing resistant to turning in the bore is to 'Stake' it this is accomplished by grinding/drilling/etc... a notch or several into the end/s of the bore on the edge next to the bushing(with the bushing removed) then punching the bushing into that notch/es here is an example, this is of a transmission pump but same basic usage. Hope this helps
Deon, Willie's plan with a carbide drill might get you going for now, if turned bushing is your problem. Thing is you could try it and it might not turn again if its gaulded. If you install a new bushing and there is slight slack(.005- .010), you could use 515 or 609 loctite, wonder working stuff, but parts must be extra clean. You can buy a carbide tipped drill for concrete, a lot cheaper, and almost as good as full carbide. If you drill, you will have to drill into the pin slightly.
Fixed it. The bushing has a groove on the exterior and the interior. The exterior groove was clogged with dirt. I lifted off the upper bearing support and lifted the cylinder out from the bushing and with a 20 ton jack, I pushed out the bushing from the bottom. Cleaned the groove and installed the bushing the same way it came out. Grease is now flowing through. Thanks for all your tips. It's much appreciated.