# Slop in quick attach plate?!?!?



## rob_cook2001

This will be a hard one to describe so please bare with me guys lol
On my S300 for the past 250 hours or so (the machine has 420 total) I have noticed the bucket moving up and down on the quick attach plate when back dragging. It seams to be moving about 1/2 inch up and down. When I first bought the machine you could see the bucket "pull" into the plate when you locked the power bob-tach. Now you don't see the bucket move at all. When I first talked to bobcat about it the salesman and the guys in service said it was not right, They sent the regional service rep out and he said it was maid to do that??? After he came out the other guys are agreeing with him. I Have ran many other skids and never noticed this at all but it could be I am just anal about my own stuff. I do not abuse my machine, hell most people say I am way to nice to it. 
Anyone have any thoughts?
I will try to take a bunch of pics tomorrow if that will help.
Thanks
Robert


----------



## DGODGR

I will be using my A300 tomorrow. I will check it to see how sloppy it is. I think mine has some slop but my meter reads 2,300 hours. If you look at the attachment dogs you will notice that they are tappered. I would think that this should take all the play out (they should engage deeper as the bucket wears out). This is just my theory, and as I think more about it the engagement travel would be limited by how far the levers could travel. Make sure you are greasing the engagement dogs regularly. Things bind up when they dry out.
I'll get back to you.


----------



## rob_cook2001

The Engagment dogs or pins look to be in great shape. The machine gets greased at least every 8 hours of operation. The only time I notice any slop is backdragging. 
Thanks Jason.
Robert


----------



## rob_cook2001

The funny part is the regional rep told me it was because The machine was new and my bucket must be worn out. Then when I told him the bucket was purchased new with the machine he back peddled.... I LOVE the bobcat machine but hate the warranty sercive.
Robert


----------



## JD Dave

It might be just as easy to fix it yourself. I'd assume it was the bucket that has the play in it not the QT. If you could get another attachment to see if that's the case or not. The more info you have the easier it will be to get warranty.


----------



## SnowRemovalKing

Re: Quick attach plate slop: I had to deal with this on several of our small loaders. I used shim material (1/8"x1/2" flat bar) and welded it in place to remove the slop and this greatly helped. Gradually the play increased again; the plate is actually deforming a little. The shims have held the problem for about 3 years; the adapter pins are tapered on the ends but the actual holding area is a true cylinder and do not have slop in them.

The Kubota adapter plate actually broke vertically in half. We repaired it twice and just finished installing a new plate on the loader arms. Kubota said that the plate was underdesigned; they agreed to pay half ($900); the new plate was much heavier and a different design.

You will need to address the problem, eventually the bucket will fall off when you backdrag; it's really cold when you have to dig the bucket out of a snowbank and repair it then.


----------



## rob_cook2001

The problem I have now is it is out of warranty. I brought up the problem numerous times while it was under warranty and they said if it got worse they would cover it even after the warranty....we will see about that lol. I have never noticed it with another attachment, but I will try to use a friends bucket. I will get some pics today or tomorrow, should help to explain things.
Thanks again
Robert


----------



## In2toys

Mine does that *after* I grease the pin zerks. Only on back drag... But my machine is pretty tired... I chalked it up to that. Just try putting your pallet forks on & put some back pressure on them. That should rule out the bucket.


----------



## jomama45

I've got a scarifier bucket that does this as well Rob, but it's an issue with the bucket & not the machine. I've been meaning to weld additional material on the backside of the opening for a while now, but I'm a procrastinator..............................

Next time you have the bucket on, raise the arms up so you can see that the pins are sticking through the backing plate at least an inch, and maybe you'll see if there's a gap as well.


----------



## rob_cook2001

jomama45;1125116 said:


> I've got a scarifier bucket that does this as well Rob, but it's an issue with the bucket & not the machine. I've been meaning to weld additional material on the backside of the opening for a while now, but I'm a procrastinator..............................
> 
> Next time you have the bucket on, raise the arms up so you can see that the pins are sticking through the backing plate at least an inch, and maybe you'll see if there's a gap as well.


I raised it up and the pins are sticking through like they should be. There is a little gap between the bucket and the plate. Tomorrow I will make sure to take pictures. I just can't see the bucket moving that much being normal. If my bucket falls off back dragging I am going to to call up the regional rep and strangle him through the phone :realmad:
Robert


----------



## jomama45

I don't think it's gonna fall off, it's probably just annoying. My last S250 had 4500 hrs when I traded it off, and if the bucket didn't fall off of that one, you should be OK..........


----------



## rob_cook2001

We will see lol. Jomama did you ever have to make any major repairs to your S250? Did you ever have to replace the pins?
Thanks
Robert


----------



## jomama45

rob_cook2001;1125237 said:


> We will see lol. Jomama did you ever have to make any major repairs to your S250? Did you ever have to replace the pins?
> Thanks
> Robert


The '02 I actually bought used when it was 2-3 years old, and it already had 3500 hrs. It was from a dairy farm operation, and @ 1500 hrs. per year, I knew it spent alot of time idling. It was indeed loose when it left and probably "should" have had the pins replaced, but I didn't notice how bad it was until I bought the new one. As for repairs, I really can't remember anything major, except MAYBE an alternator????

My '07 only has about 1000 hrs, and I haven't done a thing to it yet, other than grease & PM. I still have the original tires actually.


----------



## DGODGR

rob_cook2001;1125139 said:


> I raised it up and the pins are sticking through like they should be. There is a little gap between the bucket and the plate. Tomorrow I will make sure to take pictures. I just can't see the bucket moving that much being normal. If my bucket falls off back dragging I am going to to call up the regional rep and strangle him through the phone :realmad:
> Robert


When I first started talking to the rep it was because my dealer just could not give me any answers that made any sense. At first he seemed as though he would be able to provide good insight and helpfull advice to the issues I was having at that time. He soon prooved my initial impressions wrong when his responses to my questions began to get vague and geared more to protect the manufacturer and dealer than resolve the problem. 
I did not have a chance to check out my coupler today. Sorry. I assume that you were at the dealership when you were talking to the rep. Did you mount a new bucket to see if it reacted the same?


----------



## rob_cook2001

DGODGR;1125271 said:


> When I first started talking to the rep it was because my dealer just could not give me any answers that made any sense. At first he seemed as though he would be able to provide good insight and helpfull advice to the issues I was having at that time. He soon prooved my initial impressions wrong when his responses to my questions began to get vague and geared more to protect the manufacturer and dealer than resolve the problem.
> I did not have a chance to check out my coupler today. Sorry. I assume that you were at the dealership when you were talking to the rep. Did you mount a new bucket to see if it reacted the same?


I was not at the dealer, he came out to my farm. And like you said, at first it sounded like I would get some answers then he went into "cover our A$$" mode. Guess I need to try another bucket. I love the bobcat machines, I love the parts and rental service. But the warranty service has been less than desirable. The only other problem I had was a hydraulic coupler started leaking 2 DAYS out of warranty (with only 220 hours on the clock). The service department didn't want to do anything but my sales guy(who has always been great) made them cover it.


----------



## DGODGR

I finally had a chance to check out the bucket/coupler on my A300 today. I' m sorry it took so long but I have been really busy trying to get my dirt jobs on order for winter (not done yet!). My bucket is loose as well. I don't really notice it unless I pick up the bucket, set dump angle at close to full dump, and bounce the bucket with curl and dump commands. I can see the slop between the lowest part of the coupler and the top edge of the triangulated bucket engagement dogs (for lack of a better term). I had all of my attachments on hand so I checked them all out. The only one with any play was the original 3/4yd, low pro dirt bucket. The snow bucket and 8' plow are both as tight as....well, lets just say they are tight. No slop at all. Upon closer inspection of the backs of the attachments I noticed where the slop is coming from. If you are standing at the back of your bucket, look down at the square holes (again, in the triangulated bucket engagement dogs) that the coupler pins engage, when coupled. On the dirt bucket the square hole is being bent, or rather smashed by the work loads. The holes are not perfectly square anymore. If you grease the machine as regularly as you say you do, you may have to wipe some of the grease from this area to see what I'm talking about (assuming that your machine is doing the same thing as mine). The back, upper edge will no longer be straight. It will reveal an indentation. It won't take much to generate the play that you have described. Many have pointed this out already, but I thought I would elaborate since you have not yet revealed any definitive discovery for your problem. I would not worry about it falling off. Mine has over 2,200 hours on it to get to the point it's at now. I doubt it would fall off if it had 3x that many hours. When it gets bad enough, I will throw a bead on there and grind it back flat and smooth. Ready for another 5-6k hours. I feel it's better to use the weld, for the actual engagement surface, than to weld anything else in there. There are some exceptions (it would be a bit more work though) but you would have to buy some really hard metal to be harder than the welded bead.
Let us know what you come up with.


----------



## DGODGR

Well.....what happened with your issue?


----------



## rob_cook2001

I am sorry Jason, I trashed my camera but picked up a new one today, I will be getting my pics up tomorrow. I washed the bucket off and the "Holes" in the bottom of the bucket where the pins go in are not worn. They are almost perfectly square. I did some grading today and damn I love this machine, the "slop" in the plate/bucket is the only thing I can Knock on it. I am sure it's not that bad but to me it feels like it. I will make sure to get the pics done tomorrow.
Thanks a bunch.


----------



## wildbobcat

I have this same problem with my bobcat S205. I found this site and message board trying to google why it was happening with my machine. I began doing some investigating on my own and found out some reasons why this slop is occurring between the bob-tach and the attachment. Part of this issue is wear but I feel that another part is a design flaw in the new bob-tach itself. I took pictures today to show the issue and explain it. I also created a free shutterfly website to host the pictures online. https://bobtach.shutterfly.com/pictures
Read the comments I posted below the pictures for the explanations. Hope this helps everyone - I plan in the spring to have my bob-tach welded up to fix the flaw and plan to post the results here.
Again here is the picture and site:
https://bobtach.shutterfly.com/pictures


----------

