Recently bought a regular Case 430 and have been looking it over. This is the first skid steer I've owned and I'm excited to have it. I went to give it a bath and I couldn't believe how much crap had accumulated in the tub! Must've been 2-3" of swamp mud, gravel, concrete dust and oil. I bought it from a dealer who said he got it from a demolition contractor. I believe him cause it's only showing 3000 hours but it's beat up pretty good. The only problems I've found so far though are the engine and hydraulic oil levels are low, the hand throttle doesnt seem to work at all and the foot throttle barely works, and when you run the engine at full throttle a flashing yellow light and alarm comes on which I think means air filter restriction. What kind of engine oil does this machine take? just regular 15w-40? I'd like to put some in before I move it again. The pins and bushings for the quick attach have more slop than I'd like. Is it hard to swap new ones in? Any special tools/procedures?
I can relate to you as I to got a well used Case 430 skid steer and so will share my experience so far with mine. I traded a low hour, straight and clean, small, New Hallond skid steer in for a high (8000) hr. Machine. I wanted a bigger machine than I had was the main reason for the trade. I also didn't want to spend much money at the time to do this deal. So I found this machine on a local dealers lot and asked him to look at my machine and give me a trade price. I traded for $1000. Very good deal I thought and so traded. The 430 needed pins and bushings, tires, servicing, a bath, and some TLC. I had this work done before I even brought it home, except the bath, which cost me $500 for pins & bushings, $800 for new capped tires, a couple hundred for changing fluids and filters. Changing fluids is a big deal because you find out if there are any peaces or chunks that come from any compartments and oil samples will tell a story on just what you might be dealing with in the future. So after all that I have a machine that came from a dairy farm that owns 6-8 skid steers and that traded in three at this time. I assumed that my machine was used for an assigned job most of the time because of the number of machines around. I do not know what that job was. I also do not know any history as to what components may have been changed. But I can tell it runs strong, starts perfectly even in cold weather, and I couldn't be happier with it. I even put steel over tire tracks on it and when pushing dirt it will roll dirt over the back of the bucket and pile it up on the front step of the cab and if you don't stop pushing cover up the bottom half of the glass door. Love my (old Case)!
The throttle cable is a common replacement on those. 15/40 is the oil of choice. Good machines.
Glad to hear of your success with your 430. I was actually trying to find an XT series machine but when this one popped up within my budget I jumped on it. I looked at other brands and sizes but I couldn't turn down the brute strength of Case. The 430 has an IVECO 445/M2 that makes about 80hp which is plenty to make it dance around. It also has good standard auxiliary hydraulic flow which I liked because I want to run a brush cutter. I've ordered a set of manuals for it on CD. I need to read over the operators manual so I can figure out what all the buttons do lol.
After pondering about how to get the old bushings out I came across something that reminded me of the trick you can do where you weld a bead around the inside of the bushing (or bearing or whatever) and as it cools it shrinks and gives you just enough clearance to knock it out of the bore. And that's exactly what I did, using an old pin and sledge hammer to drive them out. Does anyone know where I can find the bushings for the cylinder ends? I found the boom bushings in the schematic for a 60xt but I cant find the bushings for the cylinder ends anywhere. The exploded views I could find for the 430 didn't show any bushings. They are 1 1/4" ID by 1 1/2" OD by about 7/10" long. I need 4 of them. Methinks case doesn't consider this a serviceable part and would rather you buy new cylinders to the tune of around 500 clams each
I just got all the materials I needed for my pins, bosses, and bushings from a good machine shop that has a big supply for steel on hand.
Dale Weiss> Tractor Stuff.. 1800-428-8183 all things case.. Tell'em the Pump Guy sent ya..
Also try colemanequip.com I often weld a grade 8 bolt with nut on the end to bushings in the boom end. Makes it much easier to pound out.
The 4 series case machines are very good machines overall. Great visibility out the sides with great power to weight ratio. Downsides - they are loud, fuse panel are horizontally mounted (they weather and get dirty much faster), and the battery cable runs are long with many connections so the joints have to be routinely maintained to start well in the cold temps. I take some thick inner tube rubber and cut a piece so it covers the fuse junction box so rain and dust won't corroded it as quickly. Drill a hole and zip tie it.
Thanks for the advice guys. I called the tractor stuff guy and he said he can either get aftermarket bushings for $16 a piece or OEM for about 20. Those prices seemed pretty decent to me so I ended up sending him an email with a list of the other bushings and pins I need. Just waiting for him to get back to me. In the meantime I've been browsing the operators manual trying to figure out what all the warning lights mean and how the auxiliary hydraulics work.
Yea, Dale is one of the good guys.. He'll help where he can.. & go that extra mile for ya.. & he gave you the option of OEM or aftermarket.. just TRY to get that kind of service from a Case dealer..
I'm still waiting for the new pins to get here but while I was messing around I noticed something off. Most of the time when you try to lower the boom it moves down very slowly and loads the engine like it's hitting a hydraulic relief. Other times it will do the same thing when raising the boom. If you play with the bucket control at the same time you move the boom you can sometimes get it to behave normally but it all seems pretty random. A quick search tells me the self leveling valve is suspect #1. Does anyone know how to take one of these apart or what could be wrong with it? Case just lists it as "non serviceable"
It might be functioning as designed, try to figure out the randomness. Does it tilt the bucket back when you lower the boom, so that the bucket is going over relief when it's all the way back already? or when the bucket is all the way dumped and you raise the boom?
make sure you don't have an aux. switch in the on position. It should not do what your experiencing.
Messed with it some more and did some more research. Here's what I *think* I know. As the lift cylinders are rising oil is flowing out of the rod ends, through the leveling valve and back to the reservoir. As it passes through the leveling valve meters off a controlled amount of this returning flow and diverts it to the BASE end of the tilt cylinders. Forcing them out as the boom goes up and thus keeping the bucket level. When LOWERING the boom the valve serves no function. The fluid flows in the opposite direction freely through an internal one way valve, bypassing the metering section and having no effect on the tilt cylinders. Or at least it's supposed to. Most of the time my machine appears to work as intended when raising the boom. The engine loads slightly, the boom goes up quickly and the tilt cylinders automatically push out to keep the bucket level. However occasionally it will "hang up" when raising. It will rise slowly and load the engine excessively as though there were some obstruction to the flow. Conversely more often than not when lowering the boom it will "hang up" as before, loading the engine and moving slowly. The only way I have been able to semi-reliably remedy the situation is to work the tilt cylinders in and out for a few seconds. This typically gets the boom working normal again, but not for long. Usually just for 1 cycle or change of direction. Based on this my best guess is something wrong inside the self leveling valve. Maybe the check valve is broken or sticking? Or the metering spool is defective and trying to send fluid where it shouldn't? I really don't know. It does seem strange that it hangs up more often when lowering as that should be the simplest path the fluid takes. Here's a picture of the valve in question.
Coleman equipment has really good parts break downs online for these machines and the parts guys are helpful too. Good luck keeping the bottom end cleaned out. I can't imagine how all that stuff finds its way in there. My 450 came from a dirt contractor, I think it had a dump truck load of select fill in the bottom.
I would also check the aux switch as KSS says. If it's locked it will rob flow from the down function on the boom. I believe it is the top horizontal switch on the left joystick. The one below it toggles the aux flow and is momentary. At least that's how mine is set up.