Pisten Bully 400 service and operations

ArlyA · Feb 19, 2020

Well guys, I warmed up the bully this morning and thought it sounded funny. I called by boss and gave him all the details and he said "go out and give it a shot anyway". I went less than a mile and it sounded terrible, the engine vibrated to much and it stunk. I called him back and said I think the head gasket is gone so he said to turn around. I'd been adding lots of antifreeze to it the past two times I was out. The other operator is a lose cannon and I can't figure out what he does to it, maintenance wise. The boss came and we looked at it, listened to it and came to the conclusion that HG was gone. Might be out of work from now on.... Said they'll need to get a quote from the Cummings mechanic.

Kyle_in_Tex · Feb 20, 2020

ArlyA said:
Well guys, I warmed up the bully this morning and thought it sounded funny. I called by boss and gave him all the details and he said "go out and give it a shot anyway". I went less than a mile and it sounded terrible, the engine vibrated to much and it stunk. I called him back and said I think the head gasket is gone so he said to turn around. I'd been adding lots of antifreeze to it the past two times I was out. The other operator is a lose cannon and I can't figure out what he does to it, maintenance wise. The boss came and we looked at it, listened to it and came to the conclusion that HG was gone. Might be out of work from now on.... Said they'll need to get a quote from the Cummings mechanic.

Your woes are over.

ArlyA · Feb 21, 2020

OK, I was in the bully barn for a visit with the Cummings mechanic. Yes, he works for that engine manufacturer. He said we dropped a valve in the last cylinder for an unknown reason. May have got stuck in the open position or some other reason. He wasn't yet sure what had happened but its got serious problems.

civilian · Feb 21, 2020

ArlyA said:
OK, I was in the bully barn for a visit with the Cummings mechanic. Yes, he works for that engine manufacturer. He said we dropped a valve in the last cylinder for an unknown reason. May have got stuck in the open position or some other reason. He wasn't yet sure what had happened but its got serious problems.

How many hours are on it? Jon

ArlyA · Feb 21, 2020

civilian said:
How many hours are on it? Jon

Nearly 9000. The mechanic thought he'd done some head work on it some 5 years + ago.

civilian · Feb 21, 2020

ArlyA said:
Nearly 9000. The mechanic thought he'd done some head work on it some 5 years + ago.

Any idea what the life of that engine should be? I know some semi truck engines going for 1 million miles, but I don't know how that would relate to the Bully. Just trying to put it into prospective. Jon

LouNY · Feb 21, 2020

civilian said:
Any idea what the life of that engine should be? I know some semi truck engines going for 1 million miles, but I don't know how that would relate to the Bully. Just trying to put it into prospective. Jon

If you use 30 mph as an average times the 9000 hours it would be under 300,000 miles,
but with a hydraulic drive system it would have seen more work then that.
Then add in multiple operators and hit or miss maintenance.
It would be a hard life for any engine.

ArlyA · Feb 21, 2020

LouNY said:
If you use 30 mph as an average times the 9000 hours it would be under 300,000 miles,
but with a hydraulic drive system it would have seen more work then that.
Then add in multiple operators and hit or miss maintenance.
It would be a hard life for any engine.

The operational speed is closer to 15-+mph... The 2 main drive pump's are seriously worn,, so she is getting tired.

LouNY · Feb 21, 2020

The 30 mph would be a normal pickup or cars average mph under so called average conditions.
I would expect that the engine in your unit was near peak torque rpm most of the time to run 15 mph.
We have a couple of 8.3 cummins in tractors with over 9000 hours that are still running quite well.

using the 30 mph x 9000 hrs = miles similar to what a pickup would see.