Ford sid steer CL30

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steamin10
Posts: 6712
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:52 pm
Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip

Ford sid steer CL30

Post by steamin10 »

My lovely neighbor ran into a problem with his skid steer. Junior as we call him is in his 70's and it seems the fuel pump died on his machine. IE: it runs when you spray some ether to the carb, but dies when it is removed. The real question is, how do you tow this thing if its dead? Is there a relief valve or what?

He had his old Ford 8N chained up to it and could not get it to roll.

I came upon him after he had just pulled the concrete slug for his flagpole that got taken out this spring due to abnormal high wind. Upon some discussion, I told him to hold on, and we would get it to run back to his garage. So I went to the house and got one of my clean 'bean' cans, an artificial sponge for finishing drywall, and my pair of tin snips. I snagged my samll gas can on the way back over to his next door front yard. While he watched, I snipped about an 1 1/4 window out of the rim of the can, and snipped a piece of sponge, that got stuffed into the very bottom of the can, about 1/3 full. A test fit and the window let the can down around the throttle links, so it rode lower over the exposed carb. I dumped a few tablespoons worth of gas in the can, and inverted it over the carb. A few drops came out, and I told him to start it. He made a bad face, and did not even get in the seat. He turned the key, and it started right off and sat at idle for a bit. His eyebrows were up top his head, while he looked at me, and I reached in and removed the can. BLAaaah...It died right away. So he got in, I added a splash of gas, and replaced the can, he fired up, and carefully drove about a third of the way to the garage. Two more dips to the can, and he had it parked in its normal space.

If you study mechanical history, you might run across a wick carberator, that almost all early cars used. (model T). It simply made a vapor out of the gas, that was sucked into the engine, and kicked off with the plugs spark. While this seems rudementary, I saved myself a $160 tow bill from 20 miles out, when the Ford truck I was driving lost the tank pump. The guys at the SheepDip Garage wanted their money from the stranded country guy, that smelled like honest work. So they had gas pumps, but no gas cans. A Hardware a street away had a 2.5 gallon job, that I bought, and got a handful of synthetic towels from the cashier. Back at SheepDip, I bought 2 gallons of gas for the trip home, I told them, and the Bossy guy told me I couldnt get the 20 miles home, NO WAY! The truck had injectors, and it didnt work that way. $150 he would take me home, but dont call him if I dont make it. OK, I said, fair enough. So, I took the air cleaner lid off, and 4 guys from the garage watched me twist the synthetic cleaning towels into the space around the air filter, and dump a pint of gas into the cup ring of the air cleaner. I put the lid back without the wing nut, and climbed in. It started immediatly, and I waived, and they all looked and a guy laughed. I pullled out, put on my flashers, and headed for the expressway, the most direct route home. About 18 miles, took nearly and hour, as I ran as far as the engine would carry me, at limit speed and then coast as far as possible on the shoulder, and recharge my Rag Carb, and take off again. It took a while, but I figured I saved the cost of the dead pump, we changed a few days later. I pulled this trick on several cars with failed pumps, Including a Ford Mark, that was intermittent. Strange how some facts can work into what you do.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
redneckalbertan
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:39 am
Location: South Central Alberta

Re: Ford sid steer CL30

Post by redneckalbertan »

We have, I think, a CL30 at the club in Airdrie. It looks very similar but has gone through a few paint jobs and there isn't much decaling that I've seen, but looks like the pictures I've included. As long as what your neighbour has is the same as our club, it has a chain drive from the hydraulic motor to wheels. The chains run inside the box frame in an oil bath. There are two access panels, one on each side that can be seen in the second picture. I don't know if you can safely tow it with the drive system connected, but a person could remove the master links from the chain to tow it. It was a fair amount of work and cussing to replace the master link when it broke. Small tight confined area slippery with oil.
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Access holes are on top of the box frame and appear as black rectangles on the yellow frame.
Access holes are on top of the box frame and appear as black rectangles on the yellow frame.
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steamin10
Posts: 6712
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 11:52 pm
Location: NW Indiana. Close to Lake Michigan S. tip

Re: Ford sid steer CL30

Post by steamin10 »

Yep! That is the beastie. He bought it some years ago form a local nursery, after it was rebuilt. Stripped over a winter to renew chains and sprockets, and all the worn stuff. The 4 cylinder V engine with Fords name on it runs well enough but is uneven, like the cam is really worn.

I dont know of any way to release the drive, and let the hydromotors become free flowing. I cant find but parts suppliers, and not the information that I require.
Big Dave, former Millwright, Electrician, Environmental conditioning, and back yard Fixxit guy. Now retired, persuing boats, trains, and broken relics.
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart. My computer beat me at chess, but not kickboxing
It is not getting caught in the rain, its learning to dance in it. People saying good morning, should have to prove it.
redneckalbertan
Posts: 1274
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:39 am
Location: South Central Alberta

Re: Ford sid steer CL30

Post by redneckalbertan »

The skid steer at the Airdrie club ran really rough as well. A VERRY lumpy sound to it with the occasional miss stutter and cough thrown in for good measure. Easily overloaded and bogged down. A local gentleman who worked at a mechanic shop was kind enough to spend a couple days working on it for us and we ended up with a couple hundred dollar bill for parts, all his labour was donated! Now I t almost sounds like new. I can't remember from our club meeting what all was done to it but amazing difference.
hammermill
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Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:43 pm
Location: pendleton or

Re: Ford sid steer CL30

Post by hammermill »

I see a couple of forums on the machine during a search. Mite bear asking???
TomB
Posts: 495
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:49 pm
Location: Southern VT

Re: Ford sid steer CL30

Post by TomB »

I have an ancient Mooroka Tracked dump truck on the mountain that we cannot live without. It is hydraulic drive with two end to end pumps on the flywheel and two motors in the track hubs. The towing procedure from the user manual is 'disconnect the oil hoses from the pumps, cross connect them to hub motors on the opposite side, insert a bolt (on each side) and tighten thus pulling the brake pads back' It was really pretty simple, worked well except that it was a bit messy to do while machine was sitting in very cold water up to the middle of the hubs. Before we actually laid in the water and disconnected things we thought through the directions very carefully and realized the directions lacked a bit of useful explanation but if you figured it all out you could do the re-plumbing without getting water in the motors or hoses. It is now running again with a used motor but I do have a piston and cylinder that shows just how bad a rod can puncture things. I also have 3 not punctured cylinder sets if anyone even knows what a blown Mooroka engine looks like.
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