I bought an old Schaeff HR12 with 7000 hours on it. It has its quirks, none of which have yet (in 10 hours) stopped me using it on my farm. Its a 1.6 tonne mini excavator made in 1998 and has rubber tracks. I bought it to dig ditches, swales, mini ponds, shovel sheep sh*t, do some work for friends and friends of friends. I also have a dream of making a log crapple for it and attaching a trailer hitch on the blade to haul an ATV log trailer.
I'm asking for feedback for the following quirks to try to identify what needs fixing and how critical it is. I dont want the machine to break down when I'm helping out a friend, far away from my tools and workshop.
1. Tracking:
The biggest quirk is that when I try to track forwards, it veers off to one side. Both tracking levers have a lot of play in them, but one has a lot more play than the other.
Also a track in one side slips/skips when moving under load or turning around in one spot.
The tracks are old, but the previous owner assured me that if treated very tenderly, they will have max 1000 hours left in them.
I am afraid of even taking tight turns and turning in one spot. They havent come off, but it feels like the drive sprocket will just cut through them if I load them too much.
Should I replace the tracks or do they just need tensioning?
2. Rotating:
The joystick rotating the house stops working sometimes (happens more in low revs), the other joystick functions still work. The house can be rotated right after I engage the blade fully up and down, sometimes when I slightly touch another hydraulic lever. When this quirk is happening, the house will move where gravity takes it, but only a little bit (maybe 5 degrees max). The house brakes normally when I can rotate it.
When I rotate with a load, the rotary joint makes a slight rattling sound.
Are the bearings busted?
3. A Hydraulic line on the boom is dripping a bit when the engine is running. Its leaking more when under load in certain conditions.
I should probably replace the line? :)
I just hope to get atleast 1000-2000 hours out of it (1-3 years of farmwork and friends), before anything very expensive breaks (like the engine). Is that realistic?
I'm asking for feedback for the following quirks to try to identify what needs fixing and how critical it is. I dont want the machine to break down when I'm helping out a friend, far away from my tools and workshop.
1. Tracking:
The biggest quirk is that when I try to track forwards, it veers off to one side. Both tracking levers have a lot of play in them, but one has a lot more play than the other.
Also a track in one side slips/skips when moving under load or turning around in one spot.
The tracks are old, but the previous owner assured me that if treated very tenderly, they will have max 1000 hours left in them.
I am afraid of even taking tight turns and turning in one spot. They havent come off, but it feels like the drive sprocket will just cut through them if I load them too much.
Should I replace the tracks or do they just need tensioning?
2. Rotating:
The joystick rotating the house stops working sometimes (happens more in low revs), the other joystick functions still work. The house can be rotated right after I engage the blade fully up and down, sometimes when I slightly touch another hydraulic lever. When this quirk is happening, the house will move where gravity takes it, but only a little bit (maybe 5 degrees max). The house brakes normally when I can rotate it.
When I rotate with a load, the rotary joint makes a slight rattling sound.
Are the bearings busted?
3. A Hydraulic line on the boom is dripping a bit when the engine is running. Its leaking more when under load in certain conditions.
I should probably replace the line? :)
I just hope to get atleast 1000-2000 hours out of it (1-3 years of farmwork and friends), before anything very expensive breaks (like the engine). Is that realistic?
