Case Dozer LH Track not responding, Please Advise

[EddieWalker]

I have a 1989 Case 1550 Dozer with an 8 way blade.

It's hydrostatic drive with the Case engine. I know, Case only used Cummins engines after 86. But that's not one hundred percent accurate.

My problem is with the LH drive. It wont respond anymore and when I go from reverse to forward, the RH track will keep going and the LH one is dead. Forward is my biggest problem. I had to back up all the way to my barn to park with only minimal control of the LH track.

My LH Drive Idiot light is on, but its always been on without any trouble. I have a leak at the back of the light and figured that was the reason for light being on.

Any thoughts or advice will be most apreciated.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Taylortractornut]

Eddie make sure the fluid is full, I had a deere owner comby with an older 750 Deere and the fluid level had gotten low and it was only pumping to one track. Also check the filters and if thats not it try the linkages and do a pressure check on that side hydraulic circiut. Id also jack it up off the grand to see if that track would try to pull and have a helper there to operate it and listen for any noises comming from a pinion gear or pinion shaft. I had a customer baffle some dealers with his 850. The fluid and motors all put out good pressure they didnt thing about the gear reduction being broken.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the advise.

I forgot to mention that the fluid leve is full while I'm running it, and I check it at the end of the day, but over night it will drop a fair amount while sitting. I keep looking for a puddle or where the oil is going, but cant find it.


Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Here's the latest. The guys at Case said I need to do a preasure test of the pumps and that it might be a good idea to cut open my filter. I did that today, and found metal shavings in it. This is very bad. I don't know how bad, but I'm thinking something in there is going to cost me allot of money.

I need to decide to continue with testing the presure or just get a truck to haul it to the dealer, or maybe pull the pump and get it rebuilt.

The mechanincs at Case said costs could hit $15,000 for a new pump!!!!!!!!

 

[markct]

i have always wondered why some pumps were so outrageously priced? 1500 for a pump is understandable, still hurts, but 15,000 is reduculous

 

[EddieWalker]

I really hope that wasn't a real world price. I only paid $23,000 for the dozer, two pumps would be more than the whole thing is worth.

I forgot to mention that the mechanics at Case also said the same pumps that are in my 1550 dozer are also found in a John Deere 850C.

Does anybody have any experience with those pumps in the Deere?

The mechanics also said they don't work on the pumps, but farm it out to a shop in Conroe TX.


Thanks,
Eddie

 

[Taylortractornut]

Eddie I hate to hear of these troubles, Im not a strong beliver in hydrostatic dozers and havent had any luck with the Deere line. If the pump isnt salvagable Id call around those used parts dealers in and around Texas. They may have what you need or a rebuildable core. I have had to do this in some situations where my part was badly damaged and it saved me some cash. One thing on a hydrostatic is thares no way that 100 percent of the metal can be purged from the system.
On the price of the pumps they are so high because they have built in gearing and valves that control the speed and direction of flow. Thats a hydrostatic pump its all self contained in one unit. Id try to farm out a rebuild and get an estimate first then look for alternatives. I think 15000 would be a bit high.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the advise.

I spent the day yesterday calling around and trying to educate myself on these things. It seems the more questions I ask, the less I learn.

After several recomendations, I decided to drop the pump and motor off and Sartain Fluid Power in Lone Star TX.

They said all the right things, seemed to have a well run shop and plenty of major clients. Only time will tell if I made the right decision.

The price to rebuild it is still unknown.

 

[EddieWalker]

They wanted the drive motor also because of the metal shavings that were in the filter, so I took it out and brought both.

They found some paper product in the motor that was in the valves, but otherwise the motor is fine.

The pump unit is several pumps. The very expesive, piston pump is made my Sundstrand and luckily it's fine.

The problem is the gears are worn in the Charge Pump, which is made my Eaton.

The shop is calling around to find the parts, but the age of the pump is making them hard to find. It's a 1989 Case Dozer, so I guess that's old for pump manufacturers. Hmmm.

Hopefully this week I'll get a price on what it will cost to fix.

 

[jinman]

Good luck, Eddie. It seems that old dozers have the same problems as old tractors. They just take bigger jacks and bigger bank accounts. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Hopefully that charge pump will get you going. Did you figure out where your fluid was going?

 

[mcherry]

Your comment about "paper products" caught my eye.

On a website devoted to Dodge pickups with the Cummins diesel engine, I have seen several posts about engine damage caused by paper particles that came loose from the guts of the oil filter. Apparently the pressure and/or flow rate of the oil pump can be more than the filter can stand.

I don't have any idea about the pressure and flow rate in your hydraulic system, but it that seems at least possible. The filters that caused the problem were Fram units, which I have always considered good quality.

The lesson seems to be to use high quality filters, even thought they cost more. The extra cost will be nothing compared to the repairs you are having to make right now.

I now use only Fleetguard filters, as a precaution, since they are listed as approved by Cummins (actually, I think Fleetguard is or was part of Cummins engine company.)

For what it's worth.....

 

[EddieWalker]

The filters on the dozer were made by Car Quest, and I'm putting new Case ones on. Price is $45 each!!!!!!!!! And I need three!!!!!!!

I cut the filter open to see about metal shavings, which I found, but no evedence of the filter elements coming apart. The guys at the shop couldn't identify it either.

They did get a line on parts and a price. The Charge pump will be $1,900 for parts and labor. The drive motor will run $900. Mostly in new gaskets and labor. Freight for parts will be added to this, and since it's farm use, no tax. So for a little under $3,000 I'll have it fixed.

Installing it should be easier than pulling it out since I have an idea of what I'm doing. Not that I KNOW what I'm doing, just not as clueless. hahaha

Wish me luck,
Eddie

 

[ScottAR]

Glad to hear the price was lower than originally quoted!

FYI, Carquest filters are made by Wix.

 

[EddieWalker]

It's time to put this thing back together. I took some reference photos and marked hoses to help figuring out the plumbing.

This is what it looked like before doing anything.

 

[EddieWalker]

Access was fairly easy with the rear panel and floor plating removed. The bottom plate was a little tougher to remove due to its weight, but when it was out of the way, everything was faily easy to get to.

The pump is on the piece of plywood on the ground.

The blocks of wood are to get the tracks off the ground during start up. They mechanics at Case told me they didn't do this the first time they replaced one of these pumps and burned it out. OOPS!!!

The Chain is to help stabalize everything.

 

[EddieWalker]

Every shop I talked to said they wouldn't warantee their work without also haveing the motor.

It's on a closed system, so anything that goes through the pump also goes through the motor. Rebuilding the motor was $900 and the Pump was $2,000.

They said I stopped operating it soon enough to not have done any major damage. It could have been much worse.

The pump was made by Vovlo for Sundstrand along with Eaton putting in the charge pump. It's kind of confusing, but aparently fairly common in these things. It's also the same pump used in some John Deere dozers.

Now all I got to do is put them back in.

 

[EddieWalker]

I cleaned things up a bit and can see where everything goes.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Keep posting Eddie, I'm curiously watching from the sidelines. I have zero experience with what you're doing but it looks kind of fun and greasy. Probably funner when you get it going again and go knock stuff over.

Kyle

 

[EddieWalker]

Working alone and heavy things make for creative methods.

I used a piece of 2 inch angle iron at a boom pole to pick up and manuver my pump into position.

 

[EddieWalker]

Another view of the pump.

It's only around 100 pounds, but it needs to slide in about 6 feet and then I need to line it up and bolt it in.