Bobcat 313 rebuild

[Warmsteel]

I happened upon this site when looking for a manual for my Bobcat 313 which has been waiting restoration. As work has started on the Bobcat I thought I would post the process so that others can follow and hopefully help someone else in the future.

I plan to rebuild and or repair this 313 to as it was when it left the factory or with upgrades that may have been performed previously.

To start with, the following photos are of the recovery.

[Warmsteel]

With the 313 dropped off at a friend’s yard it was transported via a trailer to my even smaller yard, it was off loaded and placed on a pallet for easier “moving about”.

[Jeremy Rowland]

Hi John and welcome nice project that you have on the go.

Jeremy

[Warmsteel]

Unfortunately my workshop is extremely small so anything bigger than the 313 will not fit through the door so I had to try and get the Kubota ZB600 engine running so that I could drive it into the workshop.

No matter what I did I could not get the ZB to run, it did pop off using a sniff of either. The seller did tell me that it was parked because the engine had low compression and I hopped that it would run in a “fashion” so that I could move it into the workshop.

Whilst attempting to get the ZB running and especially when it would pop, I noticed that smoke was emanating out of the radiator cap and to me this is a head gasket problem. So, the search was on for a head gasket but in the mean time I had 2 Honda GX160 engines that I “eventually” planned to turn into one, and that time had come.
So, with one running Honda (and fortunately rotating the correct way) I removed the ZB and installed that Honda and I was able to drive the 313 into the workshop to begin the strip down.

But before that happened I had to remove the hitch as it was catching on the ground and found an old bearing used as a spacer, is this a hint of what is to come?

[Jeremy Rowland]

You certainly have a challenge on your hands, good luck with it.

Jeremy

[essexpete]

Grafting on the Honda must have been a feat in itself. How did you make the pump drive?

[Warmsteel]

Fortunately the Honda rotated in the same direction as the Kubota so I fashioned a tensioner so that the belt was tight enough to drive the clutch and chain drive within the hull. The main pulley is a double pulley with then drove a pulley on the hydraulic pump and I simply left the belt off both pulleys so I was only driving the chain drive.

[Warmsteel]

The first items to be removed were the hydraulics, the tank, cylinders and all pipe work.

[Warmsteel]

Next was removing the wheels and the side covers (if you call them that) and to dig out all of the soil and rocks from the axial. I eventually got to the rear left and had to dig out concrete, note the jubilee clip (hose clip) holding something in on the rear left axial. Additionally something has happened to the rear left as the studs have been changed but welded in. Also the rim is different from the other 3, the stud holes are much larger than the other 3?

[Warmsteel]

With the hydraulic stuff out of the way I turned my attention to the chain case and I was expecting to see a pile of rust considering the rust damage to the chain case cover. I had to “weld” out some bolts as the heads had corroded away so welding another bolt/nut worked a treat.