I need some help with my Cat 299D2. Im burning large piles of trees and need to roll the trees and brush into the fire. I'm close but not "IN" the fire so it is hot. After a little while my loader hydraulics will stop working. The hydro light on the dash lights up and there is zero movement from the joystick. The hydraulics to the tracks work fine so I was able to back out and shut it off for a few minutes and when a little cooler I start it back up and everything looks fine. I can see no signs of heat damage anyplace so I'm confused why the loader hydraulics stopped working. Any thoughts on what would cause this? Is there some heat override switch someplace that shuts down the hydro if things get too hot? If so, why did the tracks still work? I ended up using a 20' long tree trunk as a push rod on my grapple to finish pushing material into the fire. Luckily the tracks still worked but my concern is the loader was partially up so I could not open the door and if the tracks were dead, my only out would be to try to get out the back window. What would cause this loss of hydraulics to the loader? Thanks, Doug
Call Kenny Logins and tell him about the Danger Zone. It’s probably your guardian angel, supreme intervention or fate, protecting you, from yourself. I wouldn’t question it. Just let it be. Meanwhile, figure out a better solution for tending your stump pile. Welcome to the HEF! Good to have you on board.
Thanks for the welcome. Something had to cause it to stop working so I just need to know why to avoid it in the future.
Check the door switch mounting if all is ok to press the door switch properly
Possibly its just so so, and a liiiitttttle bit of heat distorts the door enough to loose the door switch contact
I had my door glass replaced a couple years ago and to be honest, I'm not sure the dealer has the switch connected because sometimes I will see the door partially open by an inch and everything still works fine. Shutting the door takes a pretty good slam after that. You bring up a good point but even if I work on it, I'm not sure how to test it. Thank you
Tending fire w skid steer is a Nono. Too easy for ambers to get sucked into the engine bay or land on hose coverings and smolder.
My brush fires are dependent on having snow on the ground and a fair amount of wind. It's important to work upwind from them fire to make sure all sparks and embers are blown away from skid steer. The perfect machine would be to have a long reach excavator with a thumb to feed them fire from a distance, but that's not in my budget.
For brush pile burning I like to use a backhoe or an excavator. When rebuilding the bucket for the skid last year, I did weld some 2x2” angle iron across the top, for the mounting of a weld on hook and the ability to pick up a 15” joust pole and be able to push with it. Feels much safer being back from a big fire. I did have a Cat backhoe break down on the loader hydraulics, feeding a fire 17 years ago and had to pull that machine out backwards, dragging that bucket on the ground. That was a close one!
I'm searching for a 15'-20' long attachment to push from a distance. Thanks for everyones help. I think BobATack had the correct reason for my loss of hydro to the loader. Cat has a way to bypass the door switch so I'm going to give that a try.
I like to build them clean and build them tall light it and forget it till later in the day or better the next morning and tighten it up and it’ll burn it’ll finish burning
Burn piles only burn, as well as they are laid. Hand laid piles, will always burn better than machine laid piles, unless you’re burning a pile bigger than a house.
The jumper harness that is used to bypass the door switch (for those types of machine operation that require it to be run with the door removed) is located at floor level in the cab behind the operator seat towards the left side of the machine. the door switch is effectively the implement system lockout control. Post a machine Serial Number and I can probably find an illustration showing the location.
I have installed the jumper harness and my hydraulic issues are solved. Thanks everybody. My only tool for managing my fires is my track loader and I needed something to keep me away from the fire, yet still push and roll trees and brush into the flames, so I had a 20' fire pusher made by a local metal fabrication shop.
Bet that’s a little bouncy. Looks like a good tool though! Thats what my joust pole looks like.
Good to hear. Please be advised that the intention of the jumper harness is to permit the machine to be operated temporarily if for some reason the cab door has to be removed which is not the case for your operation. It should not be regarded as a permanent solution because with it in place it is possible to inadvertently operate the implements with the cab door open. This can result in machine damage or personal injury.
He will fix it when he puts his new door on if he doesnt now!
I just used my "fire pusher" for about 6 hours today and it worked great. Harley Happy was spot on when he said it will be bouncy but I made it work. I like the idea of putting a full length skid plate on the bottom of the forward pusher plate might be a good idea. I can then let if float when pushing and I have something to grip some logs when I need that 1" lift 20' away. The perfect tool would be a long reach excavator but that $$ is not doable.
Like this fella…… HeavyEquipmentForums
Looks like you did make something like I was thinking of, keep away from the fire.
Ive probably waste 2 or 3000 on doors myself....