JLG LJ500 Little John stand-on mini skid steer

[GeeVee]

Thats a cool little machine for a few pennies.... very handy for small stuff and like you said, low ground pressure

 

[shaeff]

Thats a cool little machine for a few pennies.... very handy for small stuff and like you said, low ground pressure

Thanks! Right on, I've got hardly anything into it right now except some time. Kind of feeling out if it's worth it for me to keep or flip it. Each time I use it, I find something that it's quite good at, and the four wheel drive is pretty nice, too. It will probably have a permanent place in my stable. Besides, I would love to build a small trencher attachment for it or modify one to fit, as well as a post hole auger.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Me?
I would not let it off the place. That little guy would earn his keep, especially since you have very little in it. We rented a MT80? Bobcat to spread rock under decks in established yards in town. They could've tripled the rental fee after the first deck and we would've gladly paid it! Awesome tiny machine.
I too had issues with the wrong oil in hydraulics. I drained and flushed it, filled with ISO #32 and they are now much, much faster in all weather conditions. Just my experience.
Good luck.

 

[shaeff]

Me?
I would not let it off the place. That little guy would earn his keep, especially since you have very little in it. We rented a MT80? Bobcat to spread rock under decks in established yards in town. They could've tripled the rental fee after the first deck and we would've gladly paid it! Awesome tiny machine.
I too had issues with the wrong oil in hydraulics. I drained and flushed it, filled with ISO #32 and they are now much, much faster in all weather conditions. Just my experience.
Good luck.

I'm finding it to be more and more useful, as stated earlier simply due to the lower ground pressure and four wheel drive. I can fit it right in my basement doors with ease. I was originally put off by the speed, but after having it sit in the sun for a while the speed drastically increased. I'm sure a good fluid flush will help a ton! Once I replace that seized loader pin I'll really start putting it to work, probably even rebuild the curl cylinder, as it's a bit floppy. I can move the bucket up and down and the cylinder moves in and out over and inch by hand. That needs attention.

But yes, I'm 99% sure I'm keeping it. Every time I find something it's good at, it gets more points in it's favor. The tiny size of it makes it quite versatile. It' even has hydraulic remotes on it and if I put a hydraulic auger on it, I can even reverse the flow with the lever on the right side of it. Pretty neat!

 

[shaeff]

Finally got that cylinder pin out. Had to cut it, then beat it. Glad I made the effort, as mentioned above it was seized half in the rod end and damaging the structure of the machine as the lift was used.

 

[shaeff]

In order to get that upper pin out, I had to remove one of the hydraulic spool valves. Not terribly difficult, but tight spaces to work in. I've been thinking: once I find my mic and measure the pin diameter, I may try to find a pin like the one attached. I don't like how the current pin has nothing that stops it from rotating in the frame supports that the pin passes through. If that wears out, that's a whole lot more work. I'd rather be sure the pin is stationary and the cylinder end rotates on the pin.

Also planning to drill and tap the rod/cylinder ends for zerk fittings if it doesn't have any already. The old pins have no way to grease them. Unless I find grease-able pins.

Anyway, I think this pin is what I'll go with, should be easy enough. I'll still have to pull a spool to get it out if I ever need to, but with grease fittings and regular maintenance I doubt I'll have to.

 

[shaeff]

Minor update, I was able to search original part numbers from the .pdf manual that Gordoninvt sent me, I just received new packings for the lift and tilt cylinders, along with new bronze "thrust bearings" which are really just washers to prevent the cylinder end from wearing down the mount.

Still on the hunt for a good greasable .99" (25ish mm) 10.25" pin.

 

[shaeff]

New pin is on the way. Not greaseable, but I think I’ll drill the rod ends for grease zerks. Maybe...

Good news is I found packings for the lift and tilt cylinders and they’re actually correct. Not many pics because of time constraints and being covered in oil, but here are a few pics of the lift cylinder repack. This cylinder seemed to work fine and I *almost* skipped rebuilding it. But considering this poor machine’s past I figured I’d give it a good life. Some of the seals and o-rings were SHOT:

 

[shaeff]

Got the cylinder mounted, used a 10.25” long x 1” pin to secure the top of the cylinder. Made a neat little captured setup out of it. It’s not 100% square but I *needed* the machine today so it is what it is. First time I’ve fired up my plasma in a while. Hand cut and smoothed with a flap wheel.




Welded to the pin, the original had a circlip on each side, but that method failed and caused damage. This way prevents the pin from wearing out the mounting flanges on the machine because it’s captured.


I installed grease fittings so I can keep the pins lubed easily instead of removing them to grease:


Aaaand didn’t pay close enough attention to the clearance I had between this cylinder end and a hydraulic fitting. Sheared it off five minutes after I installed the cylinder. D’oh! I’ll back it out and put a plug in or lower profile fitting. If plug, at least I can unscrew it to grease...


The test, I just wanted to see what it would lift with the newly rebuilt lift cylinder. My father (in the pic) had heel injections for plantar fasciitis on Friday, his feet hurt. I can’t lift the radiators myself, they’re probably 150-200lb/ea. Very heavy.


It lifted them, but I needed a younger cousin to help me balance the machine haha. I won’t push it that hard again, just wanted to know it’s limits. Me and my cousin total 300lbs and the rear tires were still bouncing a bit, so with a tipping load of 650lbs w/ a 175lb operator, I had to have nearly 1000lbs on the forks. Struggled a touch but lifted no problem on a medium idle!

This sucker paid for itself today!

 

[shaeff]

Haven't fixed the broken zerk yet, nor have I rebuilt the curl cylinder (though the more I use this the more it's very obvious I have to get on that!!) I did, however, use it to move a dead deer found in my back yard. It was nasty, I'll spare you the details. Scooped it up, covered it in lime, laid it to rest in the back corner of the field laying on a bed of lime and covered in more, then dirt. I'll let it do it's thing for a year before I scoop it all out of the way, unless I decide to fill that section as it's low anyhow. No pics of that because, gross. Had to wear a respirator the stench was so bad.

In other news, a few weeks ago I noticed that I actually had a 40' or so tall maple tree that was mostly covered in vines and obscured by some other tree species that's more of a pest than anything. I cut down the other tree, but my MF35 with the loader is currently disassembled for me to repair some things on it. (splitting it to replace rear main seal) So I used the LJ500 to pull the tree from where I cut it down.