# bobcat hydraulics clicking??



## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

This is going to be hard to discribe but I will try. Started noticing this a few days ago. When raising or lowering my boom I am hearing a click about 1/2 way up. It only happens 20-30% of the time and some times it is on the up stroke some times on the down stroke, and it's inconsistant as how far up or down it is. The click sounds like it is coming from they hydraulic cylinder it self. Seams to be working just fine, the machine only has 510 hours on it.
Thanks
Robert


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA (Sep 15, 2007)

I'm going to say you have side to side movement in 1 or more pins. The click is most likely the lift/tilt cylinder or arm smacking to one side. I bet I'm right check it out


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

Would that mean I need new pins with only 500 hours??
robert


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA (Sep 15, 2007)

Did you check her out yet?


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## DGODGR (Nov 30, 2008)

This may sound like a stupid suggestion but at the least it will eliminate one possibility. I suggest that you grease your machine really well. By that I mean that you should grease it and then move all the functions several times. Then grease it again. I have had problems with the Bobcat fittings taking grease. It may take few cycles (like I described above) to get the grease to cover the pins and bushings well. I doubt that your pins and or bushings would be worn out yet. I have a hard time thinking what might be "clicking" inside the cylinder if you have no other obvious symptoms. I once had a boom cylinder, on my backhoe, make a squeaking noise (like the boom needed grease). The problem was in the cylinder and was resolved by adding a friction modifier to the hydraulic oil. It could possibly be a broken pin or bushing but I think it would make the noise consistently if that was the problem. I think it's probably a dry bushing.


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## Milwaukee (Dec 28, 2007)

At my old job they have Trojan loader they lift old car. It would TICK loud when leave fork in air. It sound it come from hinge or cylinders it more hammer hit steel HARD it Tick.

You could ask someone to stand near and try find where noise come from.


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

Thanks guys. I am going to check it out tomorrow, the weather sucked today. I grease the hell out of the machine. Every 8 hours the machine gets 3-5 pumps in each Zerk.
Jason, have you had to replace the pins/bushings in your A300? if so how many hours did you get out of them?
Thanks
Robert


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## DGODGR (Nov 30, 2008)

I've replaced bushings on the backhoe (has over 12,000 hrs now) but not the A300. We just serviced it the other day. It has either 2,200 or 2,400 hours now.
I like the idea of having someone outside the machine to try to help locate the source of the noise. IMO the way that sound can travel through steel may make that difficult. 
3 to 5 pumps may not be enough. Some fittings on my machine take >6 pumps to get grease to start coming out of the bushings. I have noticed that the Bobcats can be difficult to get the grease to distribute evenly in the bushings. You may have to make a mess before the grease gets pushed around enough to properly coat the bushings. One last thought. How well are you greasing the lower bushings on the lift arm hydraulic rams? You know, the ones that you have to access through that small hole in the bottom of the frame (below the the model designation emblem, S300 in your case). IMO this small access port can make it hard to correctly line up the grease gun nozzle and it makes it impossible to see if you are getting grease into the fitting. On my machine the bottom of the frame has a lot of grease laying in it.


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

I have to haul another load of hay today then I am going to mess with it. I know what you mean about the lower grease zerk that you access through the hole in the body. I am pretty sure I am getting enough grease to it. I will lube the hell out of it today then start messing with it. I got one hell of a laugh when I first bought the machine, the head mechanic at the dealer told me only to give each zerk 1 pump every 8 hours.... what a joke lol
Robert


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## DGODGR (Nov 30, 2008)

I forgot to mention one other thing. When my A300 was new I had trouble with many of the bushings taking grease, or rather they would not take grease. Your machine still is pretty low on the hour meter but I think that you probably have enough hours to get things loosened up enough to take grease. Still, I would make sure that the grease is getting into the fittings properly. You are probably getting tired of me suggesting the grease. It is after all such a simple answer. I have been around equipment a long time and any time I have heard the cracking or popping it has always come back to lack of grease (for whatever reason). That's not to say that it can't be some other problem. I still strongly believe that it is a grease issue and, after all, wouldn't it be better if it was a simple little issue. 
I have had some fittings get dry (usually on older machines though) to the point that the grease becomes mixed with dirt that creates a sort of rock hard mix inside the bushing. I have seen tools that claim to alleviate this problem but I have found them to be ineffective. This IS from not greasing the fitting enough. Sometimes the fitting will, for reasons unknown to me, begin to take grease again. Most times it is necessary to disassemble the offending bushing and manually remove the previously mentioned material. I have found that using PB blaster (until such time that the machine can be properly repaired) can be effective at, at least, eliminating the offending noises that the dry bushing brings. It will require several squirts over the course of the day though. I mention this because you can also use this method to try and locate, what I think, is the offending bushing. I recommend spraying each bushing on the lift assembly, one at a time, until the sound goes away. You mentioned that the popping noise is intermittent so that will make things harder to track down. With that in mind it may be better to go with my first suggestions. At least now you have a few options. I hope, for your sake, that you figure it out soon. I know it would be driving me nuts.


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

Well I figured it out... Pumped a whole tube of grease into the machine, then whiped off all the excess. It was still clicking. Got my brother to hop in the machine and raise the boom up and down and saw it right away. The "hard line" on one of the boom cylinders got tweaked some how ( I have no Idea how). and the soft line it hooks to was rubbing against the body of the machine. The click was the hard line bumping around in the little clamp that holds it in place. I bent the line back but now need to replace the soft line since it was rubbing against the machine and is worn pretty bad..... glad it was not something worse but now I am scratching my head as to how the line got bent, it is pretty well protected.
Robert


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## NICHOLS LANDSCA (Sep 15, 2007)

Well you figured it out


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## DGODGR (Nov 30, 2008)

rob_cook2001;1210425 said:


> Well I figured it out... Pumped a whole tube of grease into the machine, then whiped off all the excess. It was still clicking. Got my brother to hop in the machine and raise the boom up and down and saw it right away. The "hard line" on one of the boom cylinders got tweaked some how ( I have no Idea how). and the soft line it hooks to was rubbing against the body of the machine. The click was the hard line bumping around in the little clamp that holds it in place. I bent the line back but now need to replace the soft line since it was rubbing against the machine and is worn pretty bad..... glad it was not something worse but now I am scratching my head as to how the line got bent, it is pretty well protected.
> Robert


After reading this post, I had to go out and check my machine, as, for the life of me, I could not figure out how you could bend that steel tube (I thought maybe there was another line on the outside of the boom, or something, that I didn't recall being on the machine). The steel tube you are referring to is inside the frame or the lift tower for lack of a better term. Maybe somebody bumped it with a set of forks, or something similar, attached to a different machine that was operating in the vicinity of the parked S300. Check the other side for the same wear pattern on those flexible lines. Mine were replaced under warranty, and I insisted that they also install an additional cover over the hoses too (which has worked great for close to 2000 hours). On my machine the hoses were rubbing on the gusset, that goes between the two sides of the lift tower, on BOTH sides of the machine. The length of the hose is critical. If they are rubbing they are too long. The top side of the hoses will display friction wear at the point of interference. Mine had worn through the rubber shield and were beginning to wear through the braided steel when I noticed them. BTW those hose are a huge PIA to replace. I had to buy some "angle wrenches". I have put that term in quotations because I am not sure if that's the correct name. It's the name that I was given, and the tool guy that I bought them from new what I meant when I bought them. They are open ended wrenches that have a sharper angle than a standard wrench. If you don't use those wrenches there is not enough room to turn the fitting before the opposite end of the wrench hits something.


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## havenlax18 (Dec 16, 2010)

I had this problem with the s-185. Turns out its a leaking line not getting hydrolics to the boom. Not a big surprise. I am used to leaking lines. My only problem was that you could not get to it easliy.


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

DGODGR;1210834 said:


> After reading this post, I had to go out and check my machine, as, for the life of me, I could not figure out how you could bend that steel tube (I thought maybe there was another line on the outside of the boom, or something, that I didn't recall being on the machine). The steel tube you are referring to is inside the frame or the lift tower for lack of a better term. Maybe somebody bumped it with a set of forks, or something similar, attached to a different machine that was operating in the vicinity of the parked S300. Check the other side for the same wear pattern on those flexible lines. Mine were replaced under warranty, and I insisted that they also install an additional cover over the hoses too (which has worked great for close to 2000 hours). On my machine the hoses were rubbing on the gusset, that goes between the two sides of the lift tower, on BOTH sides of the machine. The length of the hose is critical. If they are rubbing they are too long. The top side of the hoses will display friction wear at the point of interference. Mine had worn through the rubber shield and were beginning to wear through the braided steel when I noticed them. BTW those hose are a huge PIA to replace. I had to buy some "angle wrenches". I have put that term in quotations because I am not sure if that's the correct name. It's the name that I was given, and the tool guy that I bought them from new what I meant when I bought them. They are open ended wrenches that have a sharper angle than a standard wrench. If you don't use those wrenches there is not enough room to turn the fitting before the opposite end of the wrench hits something.


I agree that I have no ideal how that hard line got bent. I am the only one who runs this machine, maybe after 24 hours straight I hit something and don't remember lol.
The machine goes in for it's 500hour service in two weeks and I will get the line squared away.
Thanks for everyone's input.
Robert


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## snocrete (Feb 28, 2009)

Glad to see you got it figured out Rob....I personally have never experienced what you've had happen....so I was curious as to how this turned out. Good thing its minor, but it sure is strange.


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

snocrete;1212034 said:


> Glad to see you got it figured out Rob....I personally have never experienced what you've had happen....so I was curious as to how this turned out. Good thing its minor, but it sure is strange.


It had me confused... and still does but a new line and it's good to go. I bent the line a little by hand this morning and moved pallets of ice melt today. No clicking at all.
Robert


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