Bandit 2250xp Stump Grinder Leaking

[Royalrooter77]

So I am the second owner of a 2014 Bandit 2250xp with only 155 hours on it. Since owning it I have babied it and greased it and garaged it and all that good stuff. Anyways this past Saturday I was grinding a oak stump and nicked a rock a few times which ended up breaking a tooth. The wheel seemed to go out of balance and started chattering so I shut it down and loaded it up for the day. After returning home I was out of new teeth so the grinder sat in the garage for a few days till my shipment from treestuff arrived.

During this time I noticed a small hydraulic fluid form on the hydraulic side of the swing arm near the cutting wheel. It seems to drip intermittently but definitely noticeable from the marks on the floor. I checked the hose connections and they are dry and other obvious seals seem ok. The fluid seems to be originating from the bottom near the cutting wheel and dripping onto an angled pocket below. I realize its hard to diagnose without seeing it. I also realize I could take it to my Bandit dealer and have em check it out since it may be under warranty. I just don't want to down it yet since I still have jobs scheduled and a few more weeks in the season before snow flies here.

Wondering you guys thoughts on it. Think its a dreaded bearing or simple seal?

Steve

 

[OLD MAN GRINDER]

So I am the second owner of a 2014 Bandit 2250xp with only 155 hours on it. Since owning it I have babied it and greased it and garaged it and all that good stuff. Anyways this past Saturday I was grinding a oak stump and nicked a rock a few times which ended up breaking a tooth. The wheel seemed to go out of balance and started chattering so I shut it down and loaded it up for the day. After returning home I was out of new teeth so the grinder sat in the garage for a few days till my shipment from treestuff arrived.

During this time I noticed a small hydraulic fluid form on the hydraulic side of the swing arm near the cutting wheel. It seems to drip intermittently but definitely noticeable from the marks on the floor. I checked the hose connections and they are dry and other obvious seals seem ok. The fluid seems to be originating from the bottom near the cutting wheel and dripping onto an angled pocket below. I realize its hard to diagnose without seeing it. I also realize I could take it to my Bandit dealer and have em check it out since it may be under warranty. I just don't want to down it yet since I still have jobs scheduled and a few more weeks in the season before snow flies here.

Wondering you guys thoughts on it. Think its a dreaded bearing or simple seal?

Steve

If some pockets came loose when u broke the tooth, that could cause a vibration in the wheel, a broken tooth alone would
not do it,,,,also be sure to clean out debris around the swing cylinders ever day, if they build up and harden it will break
the shafts on swing cylinders and also cause leaks, found this out the hard way, bandit has fixed the problem on the new
ones by opening up the area around front of swing cylinders, don't know whether yours is new model or old, also bandit
had a problem with grinder wheel shafts breaking and causing wheel to come off, they corrected it by putting a bracket
in place to catch wheel if it should come loose, see if yours has the bracket, have not heard of this problem lately....

Shake the wheel to see if any play which would indicate shaft problem...

With only 155 hrs u should be under warranty, local dealer and bandit have always been fair with me...

Hope this helps...

Bob......

 

[Royalrooter77]

If some pockets came loose when u broke the tooth, that could cause a vibration in the wheel, a broken tooth alone would
not do it,,,,also be sure to clean out debris around the swing cylinders ever day, if they build up and harden it will break
the shafts on swing cylinders and also cause leaks, found this out the hard way, bandit has fixed the problem on the new
ones by opening up the area around front of swing cylinders, don't know whether yours is new model or old, also bandit
had a problem with grinder wheel shafts breaking and causing wheel to come off, they corrected it by putting a bracket
in place to catch wheel if it should come loose, see if yours has the bracket, have not heard of this problem lately....

Shake the wheel to see if any play which would indicate shaft problem...

With only 155 hrs u should be under warranty, local dealer and bandit have always been fair with me...

Hope this helps...

Bob......

Thanks for the response Bob, I did check into it a little bit yesterday afternoon. There is zero play in my wheel which leads me to believe its a seal of some kind. It continues to slowly drip even when the machine has been off for several days. I ran it for a few moments with the wheel going and did not see any spray or drips while the wheel is turning. It didn't look like the wheel lost an y speed etc. either.

If it was a month from now I'd just bring it to the dealer, but I am hoping to get some more jobs in.

Steve

 

[Creeker]

G'day Steve, I've never seen one of these machines so no expert. Once hydraulic fluid is leaking ANYWHERE then I reckon the time
to act is ASAP/immediately. I still wouldn't continue to work the machine even if the fittings and hoses seem OK.
The apparent, to me, problem is the seal in the hydraulic motor driving the wheel, can't really be coming from anywhere else can it ?
It could be that the shaft from hyd. motor is about to let go as has been mentioned by O.M.G. and this out of true has caused damage to the seal
and probably a bearing somewhere to cause the vibration.

Talk to the dealer, see what they think.

I wouldn't keep working it.

 

[jblawnguy]

I agree with Creeker, get it fixed. I will be covered. It is the shaft seal on the motor leaking. Most likely you'll have the larger motor shaft so I wouldn't worry about that but your dealer can confirm. If it does have the smaller shaft prone to breaking your dealer can swap it for the new larger shaft motor with Bandit. The seal leaks are caused from debris getting packed in behind the coupler that holds the wheel on the motor shaft. This has been re-designed too making it harder for debris to get in that area. But again, get it fixed soon or you'll end up with a mess.