2006 NH L180 left wheels locked up?

[Bessie]

Hello,

I'm out here in the Colorado Rockies still trying to dig out from our last storm, the skidsteer with blower is broken down and I'm hoping that someone can help me figure this out. Had this machine for two winters and it has run great, never any problems. Until 4 days ago when we got dumped with snow and it is stuck in the shop with the left wheels locked.

It worked fine two weeks ago and it was parked in the shop, when fired up to blow snow, the left wheels are locked and wont turn at all. The right wheels rotate fine and the steering is fine.

I live on a small ranch and hoping it is something simple so I don't have to hire for it to be towed to town.

Checked the hydraulic level and its ok, though maybe something was frozen after frigid weather, so it was tented with a heater running under front axle to 30 hours with no change, still wont budge.

Any ideas what could cause this, your help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Bessie]

Did I post this in the wrong forum, I wasn't sure if it should be repairs or NH operation?

Thanks again for any help,
Bessie

 

[Bessie]

Well, looks like I either smell bad, or it's a puzzler....but I thought I'd write the progress if you can call it that.....

So we took the floor plate off, and after disengaging the safeties, we could see a small lever that is working on the right, but not the left side, I think it must be the safety break lever.....at least now we know where to start taking apart next. wish us luck! so far no new snow, yet and hopefully we can get it running before the next load dumps on us.

 

[RickB]

L180 has the electric over hydraulic park brake. Not many folks (here) know much about them because it is a fairly new system. Your problem is one side is not releasing properly. But I can't help you troubleshoot the system because I don't have service info at home, and am not familiar enough with it to shoot from the hip. Spring applied, hydraulically released, electrically controlled. That's about all the help I can give.

 

[Bessie]

Thanks Rick.....hey guess what. We got it! Just a little wd40 in the right spot. haha...who'd a thunk it! Just kidding. It ended up being a failed break cylinder. So we disconnected the electric connection and voila. The wheels are turning, we'll still need to take it off and take it to town, but we're back in the saddle for now.

Happy Trails!