Hydraulic Motor Rebuild in Ames, Iowa
A hydraulic motor rebuild is what stands between you and a $3,000+ new motor when a wheel motor, swing motor, or final drive motor on your machine starts losing power, leaking past the shaft seal, or grinding when it turns. We’ve had that exact call come in more times than we can count — equipment sitting dead in a field or a shop yard because a motor that used to spin a wheel or swing a boom just quit pulling its weight. Most of the time, a hydraulic motor rebuild at our bench gets it back to spec for a fraction of new-unit cost.
How We Do a Hydraulic Motor Rebuild
Every hydraulic motor rebuild we run starts the same way: the motor comes off the machine and onto our bench, not because we’re precious about it, but because you can’t properly inspect a gerotor set, piston kit, or vane pack while it’s still bolted to a skid steer axle. Once it’s apart, we’re looking at the same failure signs we see on cylinder work — scoring on the bore or shaft, chewed-up seals, worn bearings, and case drain passages packed with metal fines that tell us something upstream already let go.
- Full teardown and inspection of the motor housing, shaft, and rotating group
- Measure bore and shaft wear against OEM tolerance — not guesswork
- Replace shaft seals, O-rings, and wear plates with correct-spec parts, not universal kits that leak in six months
- Pressure-test and cycle the rebuilt motor on our bench before it goes back on your machine
- Reinstall, bleed the circuit, and run it under load to confirm it holds pressure
If you’re outside our shop and need us on-site, we run mileage the same way we do for cylinder work — a flat trip charge for jobs within 40 miles, no trailer needed for most motor pulls. We’ve got the same process whether it’s a compact excavator swing motor or a skid steer wheel motor; a hydraulic motor rebuild isn’t a one-size job, so we measure and match parts to your specific motor, not a generic catalog number.
Signs You Need a Hydraulic Motor Rebuild
Motors don’t usually fail all at once — they tell you first. Here’s what we hear most often before a hydraulic motor rebuild lands on our bench:
Loss of Power Under Load
The wheel or track spins fine empty but bogs down or stalls the second you put a load on it. That’s almost always internal bypass — worn pistons, vanes, or gerotor lobes letting oil slip past instead of turning the shaft.
External Leak at the Shaft Seal
A weeping or steady drip at the output shaft usually means the seal’s gone, but it’s also a warning sign of a scored shaft underneath. We check both before we quote a hydraulic motor rebuild — replacing just the seal on a scored shaft is a callback waiting to happen.
Metal in the Case Drain Oil
If you pull the case drain line and find metal fines or a burnt smell, the internals are already grinding themselves apart. This is the clearest sign a hydraulic motor rebuild — not a quick seal swap — is what you actually need.
Noise Changes
Whining, growling, or a new knock when the motor’s under load points to bearing wear or a damaged rotating group. Left alone, it turns a $600 rebuild into a $1,500 one.
It’s also worth noting what we see constantly on cylinder rebuilds: when one motor or cylinder on a machine has scored badly enough to need work, its twin often isn’t far behind. If you’ve got dual wheel motors or two lift cylinders running the same duty cycle, expect the second to show up on our bench within a season or two. We cover the same rebuild-vs-replace math on our cylinder rebuild cost guide, and the logic carries straight over to motors.
How Much Does a Hydraulic Motor Rebuild Cost
Pricing on a hydraulic motor rebuild depends on the motor’s size, how bad the bore or shaft scoring is, and whether we can source a seal kit versus needing individual wear components. Rough ranges we see on real jobs:
- Small wheel motors and simple gerotor units: $300–$650 for a full hydraulic motor rebuild with seals, bearings, and labor
- Mid-size piston motors (skid steer, small excavator swing motors): $650–$1,200
- Larger final drive or track motors: $1,200–$2,200, depending on housing condition and parts availability
- If scoring is bad enough that the housing or shaft can’t be reused, we’ll tell you up front — at that point a new motor may run several hundred to over $1,000 more than the rebuild, and we’d rather you know that before we start than after
We also handle mileage the same across the board — a set trip charge covers a lift-out and on-site pull within 40 miles of our Ames shop, no trailer needed for most motor sizes. If your final drive is the actual problem and not just the motor, we’ve got a separate writeup on that at final drive rebuild near me — worth a look before you commit to just a motor rebuild if the whole drive unit is worn.
For anyone outside Ames proper, we run the same hydraulic motor rebuild process across central Iowa — see our Iowa service area page for coverage, and if it turns out you’re dealing with a cylinder instead of a motor, our Winterset cylinder repair page covers that side of things.
If your equipment is losing power, leaking at a shaft, or making noise it didn’t used to make, don’t wait for it to seize on you mid-job. Call us at 515-292-2599 and tell us what the machine’s doing — we’ll walk you through whether a hydraulic motor rebuild makes sense or if you’re better off with a new unit, and we’ll give it to you straight either way.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my hydraulic motor needs a rebuild instead of a replacement?
We pull it, tear it down, and measure the bore, shaft, and rotating group against OEM tolerance. If the housing and shaft are still within spec, a hydraulic motor rebuild with new seals, bearings, and wear parts gets it back to work. If the case is scored too deep or cracked, we’ll tell you a new motor makes more sense before we start charging you for parts that won’t hold.
How much does a hydraulic motor rebuild cost in Ames?
Most small wheel and gerotor motors run $300–$650 for a full rebuild. Mid-size piston motors run $650–$1,200, and larger final drive or track motors run $1,200–$2,200 depending on condition. Call 515-292-2599 with your motor’s make and model and we can get you a closer number.
Can you rebuild wheel motors and final drive motors on-site?
We can pull most wheel motors and final drive motors on-site within 40 miles of our Ames shop for a flat mileage charge, then bring the motor back to our bench for the actual hydraulic motor rebuild. Larger or more involved jobs sometimes need to come to the shop, and we’ll tell you which applies before we start.
What causes a hydraulic motor to lose power under load?
Almost always internal bypass — worn pistons, vanes, or gerotor lobes letting oil slip past instead of doing work turning the shaft. That’s the single most common reason a hydraulic motor rebuild lands on our bench, and it usually shows up as fine performance empty but bogging down the second a real load hits it.
Do you have parts in stock for hydraulic motor rebuilds or do you order them?
We keep common seal kits and wear parts on hand for the motor brands we see most often around Ames. For less common motors, we order the correct-spec parts rather than force a universal kit that’ll leak again in a few months — it can add a few days to the job, but it’s the difference between a hydraulic motor rebuild that lasts and one that doesn’t.
Written by Josiah Ragsdale, Ames Hydraulics