A friend took his backhoe across a shallow Creek with a bedrock bottom to make a crossing. Water was max 1.5' deep. He finished his work and crossed back to the other side with difficulty. It was on a steep 30-35 grade to pull himself back to dry land. While doing this it started to smoke a little from the rear under the hoe. Now when working for five minutes at moderate to max rpm on level ground it starts to smoke a little. Any ideas? Also the front wheels were half buried coming out of Creek. Thanks for any help. Hoe is a Cat 416B 4x4
Parking brake? Mud in the service brakes? Electrical short? My 580sK has spent many hours in mud over the front tires, I am putting a front wheel bearing in it this week after 29 years, so, maybe mud isn't good for them?
Come on somebody. Anyone ever have smoke from under the rear of a backhoe?
Smoke or steam?
Good question. Now that I think about it. When I saw smoke it would dissapate quickly. You think maybe something sucked up some water and is burning off now?
I was betting on steam too. If he had the axles under water, good chance he got water in them. One bad seal and water is in. Crack some drain plugs and see if any water comes out from them.
Thanks but I don't think it's the axles because I only see smoke/ steam while stationary and digging for 5 minutes plus.
Do the wheels turn when it's lifted on the stabilizers? I've seen a few machines that they do. Could water have splashed up on a hyd. component and it's turning to steam once the oil warms up?
No wheels don't turn lifted. Keep in mind it was in water first time last week. Since then I'm on dry ground and level. While working for 5+ minutes it will create a little smoke/steam from under rear end. I'm thinking maybe a little water got into something the other day and is burning off....that's all I can figure/I dunno?
Get off under the machine and see where's the smoke/steam is coming from... Maybe get a laser temp gun to look for hot spots. I'm betting the steam/smoke from the engine is traveling under the frame driven by the radiator fan.
I'll do as you described. Your guess sounds feasible. As far as the "friend" part... I identify as a friend of mine when I do something questionable
I nearly bought a John Deere 450 C bulldozer. First time I tried it, I didn't run it long enough. I returned with a trailer to haul it, and a more experienced friend to give it a very thorough inspection. Half hour into running it, it started smoking from the winch. It was a wet snowy day, crawling was no fun! Source of smoke was the open end of a long hose running back to the crankcase vent. He also discovered patches both sides of the cast iron transmission case. Other than the parking brake, I can't think of anything under there to smoke. Might you have an electrical fire starting under there burning old grease build up. I saw a loader used to move wood chips, the build up of pine dust mixed with leaked hydraulic oil made for significant fuel. Ignited, probably by a cigarette butt, it burned to the ground.