Why Should You Clean Final Drive Motors Before Disassembling them for Repair

Final drive motors for Bobcats give the power, which turns tracks in heavy equipment such as excavators and mini excavators. The final drive motor consists of a gearbox and a hydraulic motor. When final drive motors get faulty, their internal parts get damaged, and the need to disassemble and repair them becomes necessary.

But before repairing your bobcat or caterpillar final drive motor, you’ll need to give it some thorough cleaning before disassembling and repair process. This post reviews the final drive motor cleaning and disassembling process, and why it’s necessary before the repair of the unit.

Why Is The Cleaning of a Final Drive Motor Essential?

When your used final drive motor unit arrives at the repair garage or shops, it’s often received while encrusted with mud and dirt from its field operations. The final drive motor often seems like a piece of metal with mud and debris baked on to it. As such, you have to clean the final drive motor before it can get disassembled for inspection and Repair.

Cleaning before disassembling the final drive motor prevents the dirt layers on the exterior of the final drive motor from getting into the inner compartments of the final drive motor. Cleaning the unit also makes it easy to see and remove the bolts that hold its hubs together.

Here is a step-by-step cleaning process of the final drive motors for Bobcats.

Caked-On Debris and Rust Removal

Your first cleaning step should entail the removal of the exterior rust and caked-on debris. You’ll need to blast off cement, rust, scale, mud, and any other debris by using an air needle scaler. This cleaning process removes the cl outer loose dirt and prepares your final drive motors for sandblasting and washing.

This initial process eliminates most of the bulk of the material that covers the outer surface of the final drive motors for Bobcats.

Washing of the Final Drive Motor in a Wash Cabinet

In your second step of cleaning the final drive motors, you’ll need a washer cabinet. After the removal of the outer scales of dirt, you should put your final drive motor in a parts washer cabinet. You should place the unit on the rotating turntable within the washer cabinet.

You should then close the washer’s door and set the timer before initiating the cleaning process. You should ensure that the time you give the cleaning equipment is enough for a thorough washing of the unit. The washer unit will spray detergent on the final drive.

The high-pressure detergent mix hits the final drive unit from all sides and loosens dirt, grease, and other forms of grime. This cleaning process is superior to hand cleaning because it’s effective in eliminating dirt.

Sandblasting Of the Final Drive Motors for Bobcats

After proper external cleaning, you have to sandblast the outer surface of your final drive motor. You’ll place the final drive unit in a sandblasting cabinet for abrasive cleaning. After sandblasting, your final drive motor regains a look that is akin to that of a new final drive motor. At this point, the unit is clean and ready for inspection and Repair.

Final Thoughts:

The approximate greatest digging depth of excavators is 32 feet. For the final drive motors for Bobcats to allow such digging capacities to get reached they have to be in good working condition. As such, you should repair your final drive motors whenever any slight faults get detected.

But you have to ensure that the final drive motor unit is well-cleaned before it’s disassembled for Repair. Otherwise, dirt may get into the final drive motor and speed up damage and wear of the parts. Such wear diminishes the reliability and accuracy of your mini final drive motors.

Contamination from dirt often causes valve stem jam, abrasion, oil leakage at the seals, and oil pressure loss control. So, clean the unit and be cautious when opening the hubs of your final drive motor when starting your repairs. If you lack cleaning equipment, you can contact Mini Final Drives for proper final drive motor cleaning services that are of excellent quality.