Hello all, Just wanted to say Hi, Today i've picked up a 1845C Case, and i was pleasantly surprised after reading a bunch of forums about its reliability and ease of use. I haven't even started it yet, but it looks like it might need a few things. Question number one: Is it worth buying used tires\wheels for training purposes not to destroy the new wheels? If so, where would i find such? (Tri-State area) Question two: Is it better to change all fluids right away? (although the previous owner said that he changed everything, but the filters look old.. ) And another thing i've noticed when it was being put on the trailer, the ALT light does not turn off, what can it possibly be? Thank you in advance for your help, and knowledge.
Welcome...I'm a new-to-me 1845C owner as well. Been reading through the archives and learning lots. I've been wrenching on old cars and equipment...for fun...my whole life, but still it's a learning curve. What year is your 1845C....mines a 1989. So the machine was running while being loaded? If the alt light is staying on then it could either be a faulty indicator light, bad wiring, or the alternator is not in fact charging. Easiest solution would be to grab a multi-meter, fire the machine up and then put the meter to the pos and neg and see how many volts are at the battery....should be 13.5-14.1V or so. If it is charging then it's a wiring or circuit problem. I have the opposite to you, have old worn tires and need new ones. But I'm going into winter so will leave the old ones on while I run my chains....so I don't chew up new rubber.
Yes I would service everything right away. I always like to know that I am starting fresh, and that I know what filters and fluids have been used and when.
Don't forget the simple stuff. Alt light could come from low idle, or loose belt, too...
They're generally good machines. The way I approach skid steer maintenance is with the constant thought that these are incredibly handy machines, but when something breaks, they can be incredibly expensive to repair. So, anything you can do in the way of maintenance to prevent failures will save you a lot of money downstream. Parts for any skid steers are pretty high. With that in mind, here are some of my suggestions: 1) Tires - What kind of tires (tread) are presently on your machine? If you are a HOWA (home owner with acreage) type owner, rather than a concrete contractor, then just stick with what is on your machine, for now. It'll be hard to wear them out superfast. Practice on gravel or dirt. Taking wide radius turns or 3-pt turns helps a lot. If you are doing tight quarters type work on concrete, throw down a bucket of gravel or sand so the tire skid around more easily, then sweep it up later. It'll go a long way to save wear and tear not only on your tires, but your drive chains, sprockets, etc. New tires of construction tread, like what I have raise heck with grass and turf, but they're good for digging. Wouldn't be a bad thing to have a set of worn tires around for doing turf work if you had some of that to do. 2) Fluids Anti-freeze. Make sure there aren't any leaks on the radiator and the hoses look good. Get into the habit of each time, checking the oil and antifreeze, tires, and any other leaks daily. Here's why: If you read enough forums, you'll come to find that a lot of sad owners who's machine leaked out antifreeze through something like a dripping hose or radiator over a weekend and ruined their motor because they ran it hot. If there is any doubt on the condition of the hoses, I'd recommend installing new. Probably wouldn't hurt to put new oil in it too, that's not a lot of work or money. Make sure the belt looks good, and shake fan/water pump shaft to make sure there isn't excessive play there. Make sure the fan shroud is securely fastened. These plastic fan shrouds can shift and they warp over time, or get cracked. If you detect any cracks on yours whatsoever, my advice would be to at least screw some tin to fortify it while you are waiting for a new one to arrive. I've read a few sad stories of guys' machine getting badly damaged because the fan shroud got into the radiator fan and caused lots of damage back there. The reason I'm overly pro-active on something like this is many years ago I bought a vehicle with a warped head. I took it off, had it straightened, machined, new parts, etc. Pretty expensive. Ran great once I had it back together. A week later I took it for a drive and warped the crap out of the head again!! Low and behold it leaked antifreeze onto the ground through a small leak in the lower hose. The worst part was I had that lower hose in my hand and told myself I should replace it ..and didn't! So I had to go the whole route all over again. Cost me a lot of time and money. Be proactive because should something go wrong, you could be talking thousands of dollars. Remember, the motor is in the back and you can't see back there or hear very well, to detect problems as quick. Oils - At the bare minimum I would remove the front chain case covers (the white rectangle covers by each foot) and peek in there with a flashlight. What I would be looking for is, can you see any oil at the bottom, and what is the condition of the sprockets (sharp teeth?) and what do the holes on the sprocket look like (clean edges or all 'chewed' up). Those holes are where the safety lock pin goes into. Get into the habbit of when you raise the safety arm, to, creep the machine until the pins lock into position ...rather than 'jam' the pins into place, which can result in chewed up bosses around those sprocket holes (and less safe machine). You'll see what I mean when you look at them. Also, you can grab the chain or look at it to gauge it's tension. The chains need to be re-tensioned fairly frequently and there's a proceedure for that. Even if you don't do it right away, at least you can know the current state of chain tension). It might not hurt to change the chain case oil anyway. It's 10-30, and you drain it out the bolts in the back bottom. When I got mine, supposedly the guy changed it fairly recently, yet on one side it was very low and very mucky. It's easy to do. Plus sometimes those chain cases fill up with water (seriously) and rust components or freeze up in the winter. You can drain it a little better by driving the front wheels up on a 2x6 or something to tilt the front of the machine up. Some guys flush dirty chain cases out with diesel, or some solvent. Oh, and when you're all done with the chain case inspection, inspect the seals on those rectangle covers very carefully Make sure they're clean and if cracked at all, replace them, clean any rust and debris away from where they seal on the machine itself so they fit nice and seal well. I put a light layer of silicone sealer on mine before I replace them. The reason is, these machines are notorious for leaking water into the chaincases through faulty cover seals and like I say, you read about guys having them fill up with water too. There is also a pair of covers, the same in the rear on each side of the engine. While on the topic of filters, don't forget the diesel fuel filter too. Use good quality filters, like NAPA (Wix), not the cheapest thing you can find. Drive Motors - There are two hydraulic drive motors, one on each side, which drive the big sprockets you looked at in the chaincases. There is a pint ..(or maybe it's 1/2 pint, I can't remember) of gear lube in each of these motors. It is one of the most often overlooked lubes to check, and also potentially one of the most costly if they run dry. Repair of these motors can be a couple grand each, so plz don't overlook them. I bet the previous owner never checked this lube but you should. Remove the panel where the operators feet would rest, then the seat panel as well. Then you have full access to the front of the belly pan. Yours might be filled up 4" deep with debris and oily crud like a lot of them are. If so, clean all that out with something like a hand garden digger and a shop vac, or whatever. I had about everything you can imagine down there in mine from dead rodent, office supplies, shirts, hats, sticks, snack wrappers of all types, bottles and every form of earth and stone one can imagine. Take your time and get it spick and span clean. There are steel plates bolted on each underside by the front wheels you can remove and shovel the dirt out of, if that helps. Same for the rear. Wash or blow it clean when you're done. Then, there are 2 plugs on the backside of each drive motor with a 3/8" square drive recessions (like you'd see for checking differential gear lube). The bottom plug drains the fluid and you fill through the top. Like I say, I believe it's 1/2 pint of gear lube each motor, but get a manual (at least one of those cheap Ebay CD's ...which aren't that great BTW, but better than nothing) and refill. At least that'll reassure a key component is lubed properly. Grease - Grease up all the zerks. Often overlooked ...and again, a source of $ad stories are key and often overlooked zerks between the wheels, and one on EACH axle (wheel bearings) which are extremely easy to overlook and hard to lube w/o doing a little body contorting to get back in there behind the wheels. Don't over-grease either and knock the seals out the backside. There are also zerks on the driveshaft, u-joints to grease which often are overlooked. Of course, the arms and pins too. I lube up the control pivot points too with regular oil from time to time. Hydraulic oil - It takes 10-30 motor oil, and if you add some you need to go to the case dealer and get a Qt of HTO additive which is an anti-foaming agent. Don't overlook this. Who knows what the last guy did?? I've found it's not really any cheaper online than the dealer (at least for me), so might as well get to know the local parts guy as they can be a big help sometimes. Check the hoses and if there are leaks at the front cylinders (common), which are actually pretty easy to put in new seal kits. Safeties - Make sure your machine is safe. The pins which lock into the sprockets get chewed up by inattentive operators. If that happens, they might not lock right. Don't bet your life on an easy to replace part. It's all mechanical, just check that they're doing their job right and replace if you have any doubts. Bear in mind at all times, and never forget this, that as fun and handy as these machines are to use, a lot of good people just like you and I have been killed by their own machines getting in/out of them and doing something they knew wasn't a good idea. It's easy to hook trousers onto a control lever and get thrown. Cut off any hammer hooks on your pants. Don't EVER get in/out with the boom raised. If you think it's probably not a good idea to do, DON'T DO IT. You're always just one stupid mistake away from catastrophe on these older machines. Personally, I tell my neighbor when he uses my machine to shut if off every time he gets in/out, I'd rather buy a new starter than a new suit for his funeral ...same cost. As far as your machine's alternator, sometimes the light on mine will stay on at low revs but it goes off at higher RPM's so check that too. Yeah, I like your idea, go around it and give it the maintenance it needs and it should give you years of good service. Sorry for the long post, now I need to get back to work!!
Amazing post Jeepwalker....Thanks you!
Couple other things that came to mind to check: Inspect for cracks around the main arm bung (right above where the 1845C sticker is). Look for cracking around that bung (not uncommon), easy re-weld job. Even if it's cracked 1/2 way around, which isn't uncommon, you can still run it, but something to put on the to-do list. Inspect for cracks around the muffler-to-exhaust-manifold flange. Cracks often occur there from engine vibration and eventually the exhaust may break off. Easy to reweld while it's still mostly intact. Seat belt, a lot of people remove them. I would encourage you to replace yours if it's gone. Buckling up should be the fist thing you do when you sit in the seat, and last thing you undo prior to getting out ....at least that's what I've always been taught. If your seat is worn or cracked, which it probably is, you can still get replacements or covers from Case. That'll spiff things up for you. Hey, lets see some pictures of this bad boy!!
Thank you guys for all the info. This community is amazing! But as far as my wheels go, there is literally no thread left and i need to be able to climb up and down a hill and one rubber is off the rim..
The pin brakes are in my view the biggest issue with the machine. Here are some things that will help you with them. If you are on an incline and lift the lap bar up the machine will roll until if finds the next pin hole. Be ready for that, it wont be a lot of movement but you may get some. Also when you get back in, if the machine is facing down hill back the machine slowly up toward the top of hill to release the pins. It wont take much but just remember that those pins lock into the hubs and in order for them to retract when the lap bar is down, you have to relieve the pressure of the pin in the hub. You can feel the pins doing their thing once your used to the machine. Usually only an issue when the machine is parked on a slope. Really important to keep the belly pan clean. Keep the cables and springs free to move. I have had it freeze up from snow that partially melts and freezes and prevents the pins from working correctly. I had 6 1840's in the 90's. The 1800 series were good machines, which is why they still bring good money.