Anyone send oil/hydraulic samples to Lab?

[timm9]

I'm curious if anyone has sent out samples of their Oil, or Hydraulic fluid to a Lab for analysis? After a complete Hydraulic Motor(s) replacement (on two B series) I had a sample of the Hydraulic fluid sent out to a Lab and the only thing that was reported to be high was Copper. Where in the system is there Copper? I will be having the Lab analyze a sample from the second TC as well. The analysis is cheap ($30.00) and it will be interesting to see if the Copper shows up in the second one.

 

[timm9]

Update:

The lab results on hydraulic oil sample that showed copper is apparently remnants of the Comer Drive Motor sleeves that were bad. I will be getting a sample from my other TC and I知 seriously considering flush both units again. If any of you have had drive motor replacements, you may want to have a sample sent to the lab just to make sure.

 

[Spudgunner]

Tim,
Where you sending your hyd fluid to for analysis? My TC is going to the dealer this Tuesday because I've got a significant hyd leak out the rear drive motor.

I would guess that contaminants can also come from attachments...especially rentals. I guess it's the machine equivalent of sharing needles. <gack>

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[timm9]

Kevin,

Just for the "record" I have never used a rental or borrowed attachment. The copper is the result of the failing drive motors. The sleeves in the drive motors are a combination of brass and copper. Both my TC's were "flushed" three times but obviously there are still particles in the hydraulic fluid. Also I'm being told I have a hydraulic leak at my front pumkin in the drive motor area, and a quick look at my newest TC resulted in evidence of a similar leak. The kit for the repair is $400.00 not including labor.

The dealer (they have had the TC for 2 months) arranged for the sample and lab. As cheap as it is, I may just start doing annual samples on all my stuff including the larger loader. I'd rather catch a problem before it get bigger and results in big $$$$...

On a different note. Do you keep a spare motor and fan for your blower? Two winters ago one of my guys sucked a piece of firewood into the blower. It was not his fault, as the customer used it as a wheel chalk. It actually got past the auger and into the fan. Took me 2 hours with a O/A torch and lots of "grunting" to get it out. The real shock was trying to find a new fan. The change out on the fan was less than 10 minutes, but it took days to get a fan! The dealer went nuts searching all over the country trying to find one. Needless to say, I now have a standby fan and have just ordered a standby motor. I'm told the lead time for the motor is 4 weeks!

 

[stevem5215]

I've done testing with Blackstone labs on a drum of virgin oil I bought at a auction. I wanted to know what was in it and was it safe to use on any equipment I owned.
Blackstone Laboratories
Also, if you are interested in the specs of oils you might want to check out the forum called "Bob is the oil guy" lots of good info there and very, very knowledgeable people on there can answer lots of "newby" questions.
Bob Is The Oil Guy - Powered by Motor Oil

Good luck !
Steve

 

[Spudgunner]

I quickly learned last year to never trust anybody who asks me to do anything with the blower in an out-of-the-way location. Last year I tried ingesting several pieces of firewood, one of those log splitter's that goes on a 3-pt tractor hitch, a kerosene torpedo heater, and a 6' pickup tool box. All buried in drifts. I use creep mode to proceed into previously unplowed/blown areas and it has no-doubt saved me.

I have located a barely-used Quick-Attach/Erskine snowblower that has the same Char-Lynn (Eaton) fan motor as my Bobcat blower so I'm in the process of buying the whole Q-A blower as a spare. Actually, I like the Q-A chute better, so I may see if I can fit that onto my BC blower. Q-A/Erskine would appear to be a second source of fan motors.

I think I will start doing the oil samples as well. Just seems like a good, preventative measure to take. I think I'll do lube oil and hyd fluid. With regard to front pumpkin leaks, make sure it's not your main boom cylinder. Mine leaked like crazy and it could have been mistaken for the front drive motor. (I admit this is probably wishful thinking.)

Kevin

Kevin,

Just for the "record" I have never used a rental or borrowed attachment. The copper is the result of the failing drive motors. The sleeves in the drive motors are a combination of brass and copper. Both my TC's were "flushed" three times but obviously there are still particles in the hydraulic fluid. Also I'm being told I have a hydraulic leak at my front pumkin in the drive motor area, and a quick look at my newest TC resulted in evidence of a similar leak. The kit for the repair is $400.00 not including labor.

The dealer (they have had the TC for 2 months) arranged for the sample and lab. As cheap as it is, I may just start doing annual samples on all my stuff including the larger loader. I'd rather catch a problem before it get bigger and results in big $$$$...

On a different note. Do you keep a spare motor and fan for your blower? Two winters ago one of my guys sucked a piece of firewood into the blower. It was not his fault, as the customer used it as a wheel chalk. It actually got past the auger and into the fan. Took me 2 hours with a O/A torch and lots of "grunting" to get it out. The real shock was trying to find a new fan. The change out on the fan was less than 10 minutes, but it took days to get a fan! The dealer went nuts searching all over the country trying to find one. Needless to say, I now have a standby fan and have just ordered a standby motor. I'm told the lead time for the motor is 4 weeks!

 

[timm9]

Kevin,

I know what you mean about plowing "virgin" territory. The firewood incident was acutally in a driveway that was under contract and had been plowed 12 hours previously.

As for the quick attach blower, that's a smart move. I might suggest you check the motor/part numbers on the SB200 versus the Quick Attach/Erskine. When I first searched the net for the SB blower motor part number, no one advertised/listed the part number on their site. I ended up calling Eaton (Char-Lynn) to even confirm that the number existed. I was referred to a retailer (authorized Eaton) who first told me it was not available due to it being an OEM item. Actually, they first told me there was no such Eaton/Char-Lynn number. After few days, the retailer was able to confirm it's existance and that they could actually order it but it would be 4 to 5 weeks. Can you see waiting 4 to 5 weeks in the middle of the season? I'd be very curious to know the part number(s) on both (Erskine/Quick Attach & SB200) are. At one point several years ago I was having issues with my blowers (turned out to be mismatched motors) and had very lengthy discussions with Erskine/Quick Attach and when comparing motor numbers was told that Erskine/Quick Attach did not use that motor number.

I know what you mean about the shute. I have been considering adding the poly/neo shield in the shute to my blowers. The other thing we did to our SB's was to remove the 3 nuts that hold the bolts that allow the shute to rotate, and replaced them with nylocks because they kept coming loose.

 

[Spudgunner]

Yep. Same Char-Lynn p/n. The p/n is of the form 105-1464-rrr where rrr is the revision # IIRC. I could not find this p/n ANYWHERE on the web...which reflects your experience exactly. Also, IIRC, the motor is a "Series 20" and you can download a PDF from the Char-Lynn site describing this line of motors. And nope...no 1464 listed in that PDF. The good news is that engineering drawings of the motors are provided and you could potentially find the non-OEM version of the motor and go from there.

The nylocks are good advice. I also "temporarily" removed that semi-triangular piece of heavy sheet steel that shields part of the cavity that the fan rotates within. Saw a performance increase but it was also apparent that the "shield" performs a sacrificial function in protecting the blower housing. The shield will be going back on here shortly despite it's short-term negative performance impact. Of course, that's after I flatten it back out.

 

[timm9]

Kevin,

Interesting My motor number is not the same. Mine starts with 105-1463-xxx on both blowers. Your TC is high flow correct?

As for the triangular shield, "been there, done that...LOL". I have run the blower without it after bending it until I get back to the barn and straighten it out. Your right, it does protect the fan against items that get past the auger. The first year we ran the blowers I "got" one of those hard plastic garbage cans someone had left in the driveway on it's side. That thing collapsed and got all the way into the fan. It took a torch and sawsall to get it out!

 

[Spudgunner]

Yes on the high flow. That's odd. My blower is a SB-200...is your's a 240? Also, I'm going to be doing test runs on both blowers later this week or early next. I'll reconfirm the motor p/n's then just to make sure. In any event it seems weird that the motors are so hard to get.

Last year I did send one of those foam sleds through the blower. Came out at high velocity in about a 100 pieces. I admit I did have a few moments of, "Serves 'em right".