problems with 10" wheel asemblies on ASV RC-100 rubber track skid steer

[Rock Springs]

I am having persistent problems with bearings going out on the 10" wheel assemblies on my ASV RC-100 skid steer rubber track loader. It seems as though the seal (part #0307-801) that keeps the grease in and the dirt out of the bearing gets eaten away, and then all my grease comes out, resulting in a shot wheel assembly. I have replaced 6 of the 10 10" wheel assemblies on my machine because of this, and the machine only has 1,000 hour on it. It's proving to be very costly and difficult to manage. Can anyone give advice on what the root problem is and what I can do to prevent the bearing from going bad?

 

[bcp]

Not familiar with your machine, but I would look at different brands that aren't having the problem and see what is different.

I've seen double seals and shielded bearings used in dirty situations, but that was 50 years ago. Maybe there is something better now.
Do they make shielded seals?

Bruce

 

[some zilch]

there is a reason they have gone to a different style undercarriage, and a reason why cat no longer uses the asv undercarriage. i have spent countless hours replacing rollers/idlers on those asv machines, and have another one in the yard waiting to be worked on. while they do ride nice, they are not very durable, and having to take out ALL those 1/2 carriage bolts is such a pain

 

[McCaskey]

Suggest re-posting in the Construction forum section. That's where the ASV guys hang out.

 

[cili]

I have had same problem. What happens is the oil leaves by some means even though seal pretty much in tact. What I did was put the shaft/bearing assy. in, then pump wheel bearing grease(put pipe bushing with grease fitting in the filler hole) in it till it comes out through bearing. I then install the seal on that end and continue pumping grease till it comes out the other end. I then put that seal in, it will build pressure in housing as you push in seal but when you take grease fitting out to put back plug it'll be good. The wheels dont move fast enough to cause bearings to heat up from all the grease so it works fine and it helps keep out contaminates.Have had no problems since doing this 2 years ago. Good luck

 

[Rock Springs]

Ok, I think I follow you. Do you find you have to remove the tracks in order to pull out the wheel assemblies and lubricate them? I haven't figured out a way to get in there to the filler hole without pulling the tracks off and the wheel assembly out of the undercarriage. If that's the case, and lubricating the wheel assemblies is a periodic maintenance item, it seems like a poor design. Do you get the impression that the ASV 10" wheel assembly design is supposed to be maintenance free?

Per the above suggestion I'll go ahead and post this in the Construction forum section as well, thanks for the advice!

 

[cili]

Yes you have to remove tracks, hope you have tool for putting them back on. I had problems with my front rollers(not bearings) on both sides Wednesday. I removed tracks off the front of both sides one at a time to replace center roller on one and weld flanges on other. Did them both in 5 hrs. by myself. Once you "pack" the housing with grease and the seals installed, then you take grease adapter out and put plug back in. Dont think youll have problems for a very long time unless you do have an enviroment that would destroy seals. NOTE You cannot pack grease in the housing with seals installed, must follow the steps before mentioned. If you buy a whole assy. you might can pump grease in hard as to force one seal out but be sure the flange caps aren't bolted on to keep the seal from coming out if you try this. I build mine so havent tried this. If I did then I would definitely remove seal even if I had to destroy it because by packing grease in it last so much longer. Good Luck!

 

[PISTONRINGS]

I own a rc50. imediately i removed all the wheels 10in and 14in front idlers.. alot of the bearings had no grease in just rust as result of water getting in through the seals. i have pictures of the mod i did to all the idlers.. recessed 1/4 pipe grease fittings on outside of the wheels...drilled from between the bearing spacers. changed all outer micky mouse retainers to snaprings thinner wall. this required grinding bit of the bottom of the eye ends to fit the outer dust caps.. THIS IS THE BEST FIX REALLY HAPPY WITH THE TIME I PUT INTO IT.. cool runnings now. SELKIRK MB.