Jared F
Member
I own a scat trak 545 mini ex. with 1300 hrs on it. It sat for a year in a field and was neglected by me due to economical reasons (i had another job and no work for the machine). I performed the usual maintenance (greasing, oil/filter change, coolant change, etc) before putting it back to work. I used it for about 10 hrs of some digging and concrete removal on the first job in a year and 3/4 way through the job she started to leak hydraulic fluid from the bottom plate. Upon inspection i found that the check valve (#4 in pic2) was leaking about a cup of fluid every 5 minutes. To get the job finished (a crew of workers was waiting on my completion) i got a plug and plugged screwed it into the check valve hole (i know...i know what was i thinking?) After buttoning up the plates I cranked it up to hurriedly finish and it still leaked. This time i noticed it was leaking from the pinion gear around where the shaft meets the body, so i assume its the shaft seal or something similar. I am not sure if it was leaking prior to putting a plug in the relief/check valve but it sure leaks now about the same amount of fluid. the fluid that leaks is only barely warm. I am mechanically inclined, but by no means a mechanic and i do have a basic understanding of hydraulics. I have two questions (well more than two but lets get the basics):
1- The obvious problem of fixing the leak but more importantly:
2- What caused it in the first place?
I have yet to take the Slew track drive assembly out to inspect it because i want to figure out the cause of the leak first. I was lifting and "slewing" some heavy pieces of concrete and trying to use the bucket to break concrete and the biggest no-no was i was slewing the bucket to push dirt and concrete chunks around. I was pushing the machine to its limits. I know slewing is not the preferred method of pushing dirt. Might i have tripped the check valve then by plugging it blew out the shaft seal?
ointhead
One other thing that may have contributed to these issues was that as it sat for a year, some rats made house in the undercarriage and it was full of sticks and stuff, i mean FULL. Maybe a stick punctured the seal?
As a man of limited resources ($$$) i am trying to troubleshoot this problem myself but have no qualms with taking the slew unit and having someone rebuild it. There are two seal kits available: one is the "motor seal kit" and the other is a "seal kit" as explained by the parts manual that i have. The company that sells the parts said that the motor seal kit has to be ordered from Europe with a 35 day lead time. The other "seal kit" is $342 and the check valve (if it is stuck/broken) is $735
I will attach a pic of the schematics in hopes that someone might have some advice as to where to start. Any help is appreciated. These forums are a God-send. Thanks in advance, Jared F
1- The obvious problem of fixing the leak but more importantly:
2- What caused it in the first place?
I have yet to take the Slew track drive assembly out to inspect it because i want to figure out the cause of the leak first. I was lifting and "slewing" some heavy pieces of concrete and trying to use the bucket to break concrete and the biggest no-no was i was slewing the bucket to push dirt and concrete chunks around. I was pushing the machine to its limits. I know slewing is not the preferred method of pushing dirt. Might i have tripped the check valve then by plugging it blew out the shaft seal?
ointhead One other thing that may have contributed to these issues was that as it sat for a year, some rats made house in the undercarriage and it was full of sticks and stuff, i mean FULL. Maybe a stick punctured the seal?
As a man of limited resources ($$$) i am trying to troubleshoot this problem myself but have no qualms with taking the slew unit and having someone rebuild it. There are two seal kits available: one is the "motor seal kit" and the other is a "seal kit" as explained by the parts manual that i have. The company that sells the parts said that the motor seal kit has to be ordered from Europe with a 35 day lead time. The other "seal kit" is $342
and the check valve (if it is stuck/broken) is $735 I will attach a pic of the schematics in hopes that someone might have some advice as to where to start. Any help is appreciated. These forums are a God-send. Thanks in advance, Jared F
