I have an early model (square HVAC) Takeuchi tb180fr with just north of 3,500 hours. This is first excavator for me. (Upgrading from a late 60's IH 3444 with a 3121 hoe). Bought it end of January from a used dealer in TN. Only thing dealer would pass on history wise was it was traded in on CTL and that the unit had come out of PA. Unit is very clean, starts great, idles great, runs great, no smoke, etc. A/C is good in the TX sun. New tracks. I tested a local TB175 and a TB180FR in OK before pulling the trigger. Oddly enough neither of those units would restart when warm? The dealer with the TB175 said it was probably fuel filter...I was going to make an offer and it ended up selling on ebay for buy it now price while I was standing there! The TB175 was about $8K cheaper and had less than 1,500 hours. I was suspicious of the hours given the asking price. Other than not starting the unit ran fine. The TB180FR in OK was a former rental unit. It operated fine. Dealer said there was slop in side to side boom bushings. Anyways, back to our story. On delivery I noticed the right side drive was weak. Caveat Emptor! Apologies in advance to any used equipment dealer's reading this but I think they are all full of ****. That's OK, I expect it! One step removed from an auction. I replaced all fluids and filters when I got it. Am using good 46HD fluid. Hydraulic fluid wasn't clear but wasn't by any means bad. I wouldn't have had to replace it but that's what I do when I get a new piece of equipment. Filters, screens and reservoir were CLEAN. Final drive gear oil was due though! I had the local Tak dealer come out to check out my pump pressures and give me an opinion on the drive. Charged me $600 plus! A little over an hour of checking stuff and travel time. Guy must live a long ways from me. Technician said pump pressures were good and because of the way x, y, and z were acting it needed a drive. Pump pressures were all in spec. 3,150psi range?...I have the sheet with the actual pressures somewhere in the house. Replacement drive motor from dealer is around $7,000. That's not going to happen so I went with a Korean unit from a place in TX. Son drove down to pick it up. Good overall experience with that shop. Got the new unit swapped in and...it's doing the same thing as before. Well that's $2,400 I didn't need to spend. (I'm handy with a wrench and can ultimately repair or rebuild anything but I'm a parts swapper, not a mechanic. I understand the difference.) Unit goes forward and backwards fine but will skew perceptibly to weak side over the course of 10-15 yards. The tracks in the air travel speed on the weak side is still within spec per the manual but slower (in the air) than the good side. I'm going to use this unit to crawl around in my woods. Having only having one side that has the power to turn isn't going to cut it. If I go full throttle it kind of turns on the weak side but not really. The strong side is strong. Motor will turn the unit at idle. Recommendations on what I should attack next? Local dealer said they never see the swivel joint seals go bad. A Tak dealer I talked to in WI said same thing. They never see a bad swivel joint. Thanks in advance for advice and suggestions. Looking forward to having this thing working like it should.
I only have 4 of these, so I'm not an expert on them, but I've got questions. L vs R fwd speed @ turtle L vs R rev speed @ turtle L vs R fwd speed @ rabbit L vs R rev speed @ rabbit Not needing actual values, just whether the lazy side is lazy in both directions and both speeds. As for swivel joint, never on any of mine and one is over 10k hours. What about the travel levers, are they both equally sloppy? On mine, these idiots will pack dirt in there so much so that it penetrates the boots and erodes the valve stems. The free play from fwd contact to rev contact (free play) should be the same.
Good day tx I believe that the previiouse advice heymccal is very good, it may be that the issue will not show up when you free run the tracks but under pressure it may be a different outcome, I have attched a document that may help some of the points you may have already covered but it is a standard document that illustrations may appear some what different to your actual machine however the process & principle are the same for trouble shooting. Kind regards Uffex
Takeuchi TB180FR Reference Value Table (Rubber Crawler - 5 Revolutions) From the shop manual: Standard - Low speed 41.4 +/- 1.8 (Allowable value 47.3) Standard - High speed 20.5 +/- 1.3 (Allowable value 24.7) Observed Strong side: Low speed 48.9 (forward) 48.6 (reverse) High speed 25.2 (forward) 24.9 (reverse) Observed Weak Side: Low Speed 56.5 (forward) 55.7 (reverse) High Speed 40.3 (forward) 38.5 (reverse) All measurements in 'seconds' In my singular focus on the drive motor I didn't check ANY of the rollers or the idler on the weak side when I had the track off. Not a good move. I know.
I've had the idlers worn half through the shaft and bottom rollers siezed and it didn't affect travel. I don't have the hydraulic schematic handy, but, iirc, one pump runs each track, and it sounds as if one pump is set low and the other is set high (needs adjusted). I shall contribute later on that, once I get some free time.
Good dayTx I suggest there may be number of components that may give rise to the issue you describe - track motor this can be illiminated by switching lines - central passage (Turning joint) again this can be taken out the pitcure by switching lines - pumps again the same simple process - lastly the main valve make sure its fully shifting as Heymccall pointed out. The process of diagnostics is some what dictated by which is the easier to try however I would recommend you begin at one end and then work to the other. Hope you find this helpful. Kind regards Uffex
Technician's notes on the March 2020 repair order: 'Check pressure at pump and pilot pressure' 'Connect gauges and test pressures at pump' P1 = 3050 P2 = 3050 P3 = 3150 RO also states 'Right side drive motor is weak and will have to be replaced to solve the travel problem'.
Yea i'd definitely agree that even something seized won't affect travel speed, I had the upper roller on one side seized for a long time and no difference in speed. If tracks are in the air, they should spin at idle. I believe even on the ground mine will turn. It's worth looking into the levers themselves as heymccall said if you've done that much without fixing it. It's a good thing you passed on the one with the side to side bushing slop, gotta be one of the worst repairs ever..... The non starting issue when warm mine had when I got it, and seems to be really common as the exact same machine as mine at auction when I got mine had the same issue. It's not fuel filter related. Mine was partly starter getting too hot, and issue with main wiring harness ($$$$) that was like $3500 to fix that alone.
Update: Machine is working. Lots of $$$$$ but it’s working! I didn’t have time to do any more diagnosis and trust in dealer was zero. Ran across a local independent heavy equipment repair shop that agreed to take a look at it. I gave them the pump tests from the dealer. So the local shop started at the motor end and continuing to find no issues worked their way all the way back...to the pump. PUMP was bad! There was wear from trash AND swash plate was intermittently not working as designed (because something was sticking in a bore at times)? I’ve got some pictures that I could post but on iPhone they are too small for me to understand the damage I’m looking at. So after installing rebuilt pump, putting on some new hood struts, repairing a bad ground, and fixing a fuel solenoid shutoff issue they returned the unit on Monday. Maybe get some time this weekend to do a little cleanup in the woods.