Shop Talk Blog

A Spooky Troubleshooting Guide for When Your Equipment Acts Possessed

Your skid steer can act downright haunted some times, with things like strange noises, phantom movements, and mysterious leaks -- and sometimes, death. The good news is that it isn’t ghosts, but rather an all too real issue with mechanical or hydraulic causes. So here’s a Shop Talk Blog post where we provide practical troubleshooting tips, empowering you to take control of the situation.

The Phantom Creep: When Your Skid Steer Moves on Its Own

Have you ever had your final drive inch forward or backward with no input? No worries: your skid steer isn’t possessed by a spirit. The most likely causes are …

• A sticking control valve
• Contaminated hydraulic fluid
• A faulty joystick

How do you deal with this “spirit”? That’s pretty straightforward: clean or replace the hydraulic filters and bleed the hydraulic lines, and if that doesn’t work, then inspect the control wiring.

Running a rental business means keeping your machines in good shape and ready to go. When a skid steer or mini excavator breaks down, it's not just inconvenient. It costs you money, frustrates your customers, and can hurt your reputation. At that moment, you may be asking yourself: should we repair the final drive motor ourselves or call in a professional?

Here are a few additional blog posts that you might find of interest:

• The Case Drain Filter: A Small Component That Prevents Big Trouble
  
• World's Biggest Hydraulic Shovel?
• Quick Look: Kobelco SK150LC-3

Why Many Owners Choose Self-Repair

For many rental companies, the first thought is to handle repairs in-house. You may already have mechanics on staff. Tutorials and repair videos are easy to find online. Doing the work yourself feels like a quick way to save money and get a machine back to work.

There are some jobs your team absolutely can and should do. Changing gear oil, checking seals, cleaning case drain filters, and watching for leaks all fall into that category. These routine tasks prevent bigger problems later. For small fixes like that, handling repairs in-house makes sense.

You’re on the job, deadlines are already tight, and suddenly your skid steer doesn’t sound or feel right. Every hour of downtime costs not just time but money. 

That’s why we’ve put together this Shop Talk Blog post to help you learn the early warning signs of a final drive that’s about to fail. That way, you can catch these problems before they become catastrophic-- and more expensive.

Loss of Power

If your machine suddenly feels weak, maybe struggling to climb like it used to, or is sluggish when it has to move with a load, then here are some possibilities as to what is wrong with it:

• A blocked case drain filter
• Internal wear in the final drive
• Weak charge pump
• Final drive brakes are not releasing
• Other hydraulic issues

If power loss is only on one side, or the machine tries to curve to the side, that’s a big clue it’s a final drive issue.

If your compact track loader or skid steer has started making unusual noises, don’t ignore it. Strange sounds are one of the first signs that something may be going wrong inside your final drive motor. And if you catch the problem early, you might be able to avoid costly repairs—or worse, a complete failure that brings your jobsite to a halt.

It’s never good when a final drive motor stalls or gets jammed, especially on the job site. But here’s an outline of typical causes and how we diagnose them.

Here are a few Shop Talk Blog posts you might find interesting:

• Revisiting the Topic of Gear Oil
• Load Sensing Final Drive Motors
• Gear Oil Part 1: How to Troubleshoot Gear Oil Problems with Your Final Drives

Learn how we diagnose a weak final drive motor.

Here are a few other Shop Talk Blog posts you might be interested in:

• Hydraulic Hoses and Final Drives
• CTL / MTL Undercarriage Basics
• Preventing Hydraulic Contamination

One of the most important relationships for final drive motors ties together power, torque, and speed -- and understanding this relationship can help you troubleshoot your final drive motor.

Here are a few other blog posts you might find helpful:

• 5 Reasons a Final Drive Can Lack Power
• Torque, Traction, and Horsepower
• 3 Critical Questions About Single-Speed and Dual-Speed Final Drives

Let’s quickly review how to troubleshoot a hydraulic pump by looking at common symptoms and discussing the causes -- and whether the issue is even related to the pump.

Here are a few other Shop Talk Blog posts you might find interesting:

• Preventative Maintenance and Compact Equipment
• 7 Quick Tips for Skid Steer Maintenance in Extreme Weather
• Results of Hydraulic Contamination

Good final drive repairs not only fix what went wrong, but they track down why it went wrong in the first place. Is the company that you entrust your final drive to this careful?

Here are a few other Shop Talk Blog Posts you might enjoy.

• 10 Step Final Drive Reman Process
• 6 Ways to Sabotage Your Final Drive
• 2-Phase Testing and Quality Assurance

This is a collection of images showing final drive brake systems in various stages of damage, along with a video illustrating what this type of damage can sound like. Don't let this happen to your drive motors!

Here are a few additional Shop Talk Blog posts you might find helpful:

• Autopsy: Kubota KX71-3 Final Drive
• Autopsy: Bobcat 331 Mini Excavator Final Drive (w/Video)
• Autopsy: Hy-Dash Final Drive Motor