Category: engine work

I agreed a $75 fee with the towing company and next day, probably because it was early morning and they were not yet busy (or because bobcats are fun) a big tow truck and a couple guys in a pickup came out. They winched the bobcat onto the back of the truck using ingenious pulleys located at varying places on the bed to bring it in at an angle.

Getting it off was more difficult – they raised the bed up and jiggled it and the bobcat slowly slipped down, but slowly is the word. So they hooked a pulley to the end of the bed where it met the ground and winched the bobcat down the deck. Clever.

Cost was the quoted $75 and I topped it to $100. And now I had the bobcat away from the curious and possibly mischievous and all to myself. I was sure the starter had jammed but how to remove it. The engine is surrounded by plate metal underneath and to the side. A starter has 2 bolts. I could reach the top bolt by raising the cab.

But the bottom bolt was inaccessible from the front. I dismantled some components on the top of the engine but couldn’t reach the bottom bolt. Then I tried from the rear – no success. Time to watch utube. And there I found a video of how the owner of a Takeuchi excavator (same manufacturer, different kind of machine) removed his starter.  In his case he could access the bottom bolt of the starter but not the top bolt.  So he pulled out the engine! Wow, definitely not for me. But unfortunately for him he did not get a new starter, he had his repaired, and 6 months later when it failed (again) he went a different route.  He cut through thick plate metal to access the top bolt and succeeded. I was beginning to think this was all too much for me and then the penny dropped.  How did he access the bottom bolt (which was my problem)?  He mentioned there was an inspection hole in the plate metal which covers the underbelly. So I dived under my bobcat to look again and under the caked mud and dirt I discovered two bolts and a plate (19″ by 21″, pretty heavy) which I removed, and there a short way up was the bottom bolt of the starter.

After first disconnecting the battery cables, I was able to remove the starter without trouble. A very encouraging event was as it came away from the engine I heard a metallic zing, which I knew must be the stuck gear disengaging, so proof that the starter was the culprit.

I ordered a new starter on the internet for $260 and when it arrived I connected the various cables and bolted the starter motor to the engine. The process actually took some time since I had to figure which way to push the starter up to the engine (space around the engine is limited) and how to attach the cables (cables had to be secured before the starter was bolted to the engine because once the starter was in place it was not possible to reach the nuts securing the cables). And then I reconnected the battery cables turned the key, the bobcat started immediately and I drove it to under the cover of the carport.

I wish I could proclaim success and say I switched off the engine, dismounted from the cab and cracked a celebratory beer. But no such luck – when I turned off the key the engine kept running. I siphoned off about 5 gals of diesel and had to leave the engine idling until it used up the remaining diesel and stopped. So now I have another project – to figure out which wires or whatever I must have knocked loose while working on the starter and then make the repairs so I can have a normal functioning bobcat.

This is a long discourse on engine repair- so if you aren’t interested in this subject you should skip or you will find it incredibly boring.

It began a few weeks ago.  My Takeuchi TL26 track bobcat has always had an iffy battery.  Even with a new alternator it often struggled to start the engine and the last few occasions I had to charge it before it would start the engine.  I bit the bullet and bought a new tractor size battery from the local Tractor Supply Store.  The next couple days were flawless (in terms of starting the bobcat), and I cleared an area of brush and privet in preparation for a planting of chestnut and hazelnut – yes I know chestnut is plagued by blight and Georgia is probably too hot for hazelnut but what the heck, so I bought 15 of each from Badgersett Research Corporation and will take my chances.

Now I digress again – I remove small trees, roots and all,  by winding a chain round the trunk at the bottom and securing with a clevis slip hook – it’s a hook which allows the chain to slip through as you pull on the other end of the chain, thus tightening the grip. I secure the other end of the chain to the bobcat loader about 4 ft off the ground and I then drag the tree out.  I keep the loader high off the ground so that if the chain snaps it will go over the bobcat not at me.  I was using a lighter chain than usual and it did snap (first time for me) but it did not whiplash.  My buddy, who was an engineer with the army in Germany, told me of men being killed when cables used for dragging heavy equipment snapped.  Both a cable and a chain stretch however when a cable snaps it shrinks like an elastic band and that creates the whiplash.  When a chain snaps the links which are stretched retain their shape so it appearsthere is little or less whiplash.  I tried this theory on my buddy and he understood the argument but said stretched chains can be very dangerous, so be careful.

Anyhow, my bobcat was performing so well I decided to switch it off while I did some cleanup before heading back to base.  Big mistake, I should just have left it idling.  When I tried to start it for the ride back to the house nothing happened, zilch.  Absolutely dead.  Even the gas gauge did not move.

Over the next 3 days I tried everything.  First thoughts were the wires to the ignition switch had come loose.  I unbolted the control panel and inspected the wiring, all screwed tight.  Then I thought a fuse had blown, so I pulled out all the individual fuses and tested them for continuity and they were fine.  Then I thought the battery cables might be loose, but they were fine.  So I visited the local Kobota distributor and discussed the problem with an obliging workshop foreman, Jeff.  He said it was obviously electrical and I should recheck the battery cables for cleanliness and the functioning of the ignition switch.  He also gave the ‘phone number of Steve, a local mechanic experienced with Takeuchi.  I disconnected the battery cables and checked the functioning of the ignition switch with a continuity tester – it was fine.  I thought I might have a bad earth so I connected a jump start cable from the negative terminal of the battery to the chassis – nothing.  Next day I brought out with me a battery tester which applies a load across the battery, thinking the battery may have suddenly failed.  The battery was fine.

So time to call Steve,  First thing he said was he had a 2 week backlog.  But he was prepared to listen.  When I told him the battery was fine he said check the fusible link in the wire which leads to the starter solenoid and if this was ok then apply a hot wire (wire direct from the positive battery terminal) to the starter solenoid.  I couldn’t find the fusible link but I tried and retried various ideas to no avail.  To get smart I decided I needed a workshop manual.  There are typically 3 types of manuals – operator’s manual, parts manual and workshop manual.  Parts manuals are easy to come by and have a wealth of information and are provided free by several online parts sellers.  The operator’s manual is usually available free from the manufacturer.  I had both of those.  I mulled signing up with a website in Asia which offered the workshop manual under a bonus points plan.  But I fortuitously discovered, before I went down that road that 3 years ago I had purchased a workshop manual which had been gathering dust for some time.  (Memory, memory?) So I pored over the workshop manual for advice.  Unlike the Chilton/Haynes auto manuals this one did not provide procedures on how to do things.  It had a perfunctory troubleshooting section on electrics and a lot more on hydraulics, which was not the problem.  So that was Friday, Saturday and Sunday gone.

Monday, my buddy Mike was between jobs and came out to visit.  I dug around the wiring near the starter and found the fusible link, hooray – it looked fine and I tested it with the continuity tester and it was fine.  This was a setback since I had hoped I had a bad fuse which had deteriorated with age.  No such luck. I did not want the engine to suddenly start while I was perched above the engine compartment below the raised cab so I devised two long wires with alligator clips at the ends connected via a 15 amp fuse to a press switch.   Then I connected one of the wires to the battery positive terminal and the other to the wire to the starter solenoid.  I stood back and pressed the switch and expected it to start – zilch.  Then Mike and I thought the wire might not be thick enough and we used a lower gauge (thicker wire) – nothing.  I retested the battery with the battery tester – it was now a bit weak.  I had noticed that when I turned the ignition key occasionally the gas gauge needle would move and once I heard a click.  So I was now coming to the conclusion that I had a bad solenoid or starter.  The solenoid is attached to the starter and its main function is to take the current from a small wire from the ignition switch and use that to connect the big wire from the positive terminal of the battery to the main terminal of the starter.  The problem could be the solenoid was not working or it was working but the teeth of the starter were jammed or the brushes of the starter were faulty.  What intrigued me was that I had never had a problem with the starter and when they start to fail there is usually good warning, so this seemed unusual.  Anyhow – what to do next.

I thought extra current might help so I drove my truck up and tried jump starting the bobcat.  I heard a click and that was all.  My neighbor across the road, Greg,  is an automobile bodywork specialist and he said tapping the starter with a hammer might loosen a jammed part and get the starter to work so I could drive it back to the house.  I used a steel hammer to hit a 2 by 6″ piece of wood onto the starter – nothing happened.  Greg later that afternoon said it had to be steel on steel not wood on steel, and not too hard.  But I had  had enough for the day.

Greg suggested I contact a wrecking service and have them lift the bobcat onto the back of a truck and move it to my house where I could work on it at my leisure.  So I called Steve, the local mechanic expert, and he still had a 2 week backlog but, on questioning said that the starter could be replaced in the field and it did not have to be done in a workshop.  He also said that if/when he came out he would have the starter repaired rather than buy a new one.  I asked him about towing and he said that the tracks do not move if the engine is not running and while it could be winched onto the back of a truck, getting it off could be difficult.   I contacted a wrecking service and they initially declined thinking the bobcat was out in a field but agreed when told it was easily accessible from a gravel road.  They said they had lots of experience loading and unloading track bobcats.

(continued in part 2)

I have spent time with 3 organic growers in the area and hope to expand my circle when I am able to participate in the local Saturday morning markets.  I visit often with one grower who, tho good at growing, is less interested in repairing equipment.  His riding mower and his push mower are both out of action.  Though I use a scythe in the hilly and restricted areas, I also make frequent use of a riding mower (see my posts on various repairs) so I sympathized with him.  I tried starting his push mower with starting fluid and the engine fired and then immediately cut off.  Must be carburetion I said and suggested he could find full repair instructions on the internet.  He was not enthusiastic, so several weeks later I volunteered to fix the mower for him.

With the push mower in my basement I made a start – first thing is to find the model # and google for parts diagrams and utube videos.  But the part # related to the mower frame not the engine, so I then found the Briggs Stratton model # concealed under a shroud.  The model #  10H902 tells you a lot about the engine.  The “10” is the cubic inch displacement, the “H” is the design series, and of most interest the “9” tells you it has a vertical shaft pulsa jet carburetor.  “Pulsa jet” I thought, I wonder how it operates?  Well, with the resources of the web you can download detailed information on the pulsa jet carburetor, which is very simple but clever in operation.

The carburetor and fuel tank are removed as one unit.

And here is the carburetor separated from the fuel tank, with the tank mating surface facing the camera.

The long yellow tube is immersed in the fuel tank and when you press the primer button, gas is sucked into the carburetor.  The short silver tube interested me – what was this for?

When the engine is running, the downwstroke of the piston lowers air pressure in the carburetor and this causes a diaphragm to move which sucks gas liquid into the carburetor and also fills a little reservoir above the gas tank.  This reservoir maintains constant fuel supply to the engine because if it was not there then as the level of the gas fell in the tank, the flow of gas would be affected.  And the silver tube  sits in this reservoir and the silver color is actually a fine strainer filter for the gas.  Knowing how and where the fuel moved in the carburetor I was able to blow all the passages clean with carburetor cleaner fluid.  There are no jets to disassemble, it is a simple carburetor.  The diaphragm appeared in good condition, so, after cleaning out particles in the gas tank as well, I put everything back together again and started up the mower.  And it worked.

A couple weeks ago one of my running/walking buddies mentioned he had to replace the ignition lock of his Honda minivan.  He is handy and used to enjoy tackling projects but now, some 10 years older than me, he will have others do the work.  At a cost!  He said the bill was close to $1,000.  I was surprised but since I persist in doing things myself I am out of touch with rates.

My problems was different – I have a basic Toyota Tacoma truck and could not open the driver’s door from the inside.  When I pulled on the handle nothing happened, so the routine was to lower the window with the crank and with my hand pull on the outside handle.  And it worked.  I assumed the handle which connected to a cable which connected to the latch was defective.  I studied a couple utube videos (very helpful) on how to remove the interior panel and replace the handle.  Since removing the interior door panel is a pain and I only wanted to do so once, I ordered a replacement handle.

Now the logic for making a repair is fairly simple: 1) diagnose the problem; 2) get the parts; 3) dismantle with care so you know how to reassemble’ 4) execute the repair.  In my haste I did step (2) before step (1).  After I removed the interior panel I saw that the problem was not the handle but the cable that the handle connected to.

So I had purchased the wrong part.  A little frustrated, I went online to order a replacement cable.  When the replacement arrived I again removed the interior panel to fit the new cable and discovered, incredibly, that I had ordered the wrong cable.  I couldn’t believe it.  So a week later the correct cable arrived and I removed the interior panel and then discovered I had a new problem.  Attaching the cable to the handle is relatively easy but connecting the cable to the latch is a puzzle.  The latching mechanism is out of sight and has to be unscrewed from the door jamb and disconnected from the outside handle mechanism.  And the window guides block access as well.  And to unscrew the latch from the door required a driver I did not have handy.  I put the interior panel back in place for the third time.

When I located the driver a few days later I made a fourth attempt.  And working with the latch partly disassembled and rotated for easier access I was able to attach the cable to the latch (phew!) and also the cable to the new handle (the old one was fine but rather use the new) and I reassembled the panel and the window cranking handle.  And, finally, I was done and had learned a couple useful lessons along the way.