If as a homeowner you care for your property yourself and you have land, likely you will have equipment to tend. Large pieces of equipment like the Bobcat mini-excavator are significant investments. However, if you have land to manage they can be essential to manage the property. But how do you care for such a piece of equipment? Here are some top tips with a step by step guide on how to fix a Bobcat mini excavator.

Bobcat Mini excavator – Caring for one at home

Often people can be pretty handy when it comes to their own car. But then, when they own or work with a Bobcat mini-excavator. They tend to take a step back when it comes to simple repairs. Fortunately, learning how to repair mini excavators isn’t always as hard as you might think. In this post, we will run you through all the steps required for final drive motor removal. And give you the lowdown on how to safely remove the drive motor from a bobcat mini excavator.

Step by Step: How to fix a Bobcat mini excavator

First things first. When it comes to fixing a bobcat mini excavator, you need to check out the manual. Whilst these tips can be used as a handy guide, nothing compares to the real deal. Especially as there are different manufacturers with their own specificities out there. So before thinking about removing the final drive motor from your excavator, always go to the manual first before doing anything else.

But with that in mind, here are some tricks to remember when your bobcat mini excavator needs to be fixed or removed:

Step 1: Deep Clean

Park your bobcat somewhere firm and flat. Then, before taking anything mechanical apart, it’s a good idea to give it a thorough clean down. That’s because you don’t want any dirt or debris getting into unwanted places. Power washers work great for this sort of job. Getting things clean first helps to prevent unwanted contaminants from getting into your motor on removal.

Step 2: Remove the tracks

Once you are happy that everything is properly cleaned, you can remove the tracks from your mini-excavator. You can do this by pushing your excavator off the ground with the bucket. Then,  you should be sure to prop up the excavator before trying to take off the tracks. You can do this on wooden blocks or with a sling. This will help to prevent injury in case of any hydraulic failure. To remove the tracks, you’ll need to reduce the track tension first. Once this is done, you’ll be able to remove it.

Step 3: Loosen Sprockets

Loosen, but don’t remove, the sprocket bolts.

Step 4: Mark hydraulic hoses

Now is a good time to take note of where your hydraulic hoses are connected. Adding a differently colored zip tie to each hydraulic hose connection point. Or some form of color-coded tag. Can be a great way to ensure you don’t make any mistakes when it comes to reinstalling/replacing your final drive motor. This is a top tip that you’ll be glad not too have ignored when it comes to reinstallation!

Step 5: Detach hydraulic hoses

With the hydraulic lines now safely tagged. You’re ready to remove the hoses. Just be sure to be ready with caps in hand to cap off the hose and plug ports. This is important as it helps to stop impurities from getting into the system. Fortunately, as you should already have cleaned your excavator by this stage, this will further reduce the risks of contamination!

Step 6: Pull the motor

The loosened bolts can now be fully removed. Removing the bolts may require some force so an impact wrench comes in handy here. Once all of the bolts securing the final drive to the track frame have been removed, you can pull the motor. You should try to lever the motor out. And be careful not to strike the motor when trying to loosen it.

Start from the outside edge of the track frame and carefully prize it out. This will help you safely remove the drive motor from your bobcat mini-excavator.

Fixing a Bobcat min-excavator in summary

If you work with a mini excavator. Then at some point, you’re likely going to need to replace the drive motor. This can be a challenge and it’s true that it does take some time if you want to do it right. But if you follow these tips. And take careful note of the recommendations in your manual. Then these steps will ensure removing your final drive motor goes like a breeze.

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