Long road to home.

[ENG18LT]

This may help Lee.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYrkqKjFEE

Chris makes it look easy. Thanks for the link!

 

[ENG18LT]

Well after helping with sheetrock today I did manage to get a little further with the excavator. I power washed the idler assembly and tensioner. I was then able to pull out the idler and spring assembly. This allowed me to see the ram portion of the tensioner. It looks ok. So then I backed out the nipple that has the grease zerk. I put the grease gun on that and was able to confirm that there is no blockage, that's not the problem. Using a 2x4 and sledgehammer I tapped then ram portion of the tensioner back and it moved with relative ease. In doing so grease came out the hole for the nipple, a good sign. I cleaned up the grease and noticed a small rectangular opening at the base of the tensioner assembly. It can be seen to the left of the nipple hole in the picture.

Well the pictures won't load again from my phone. I will try again later.

I was going to say that when I screwed the grease nipple back in by hand it displaced enough grease to force it out that small rectangular opening.

My question to you all is could I have a bad seal in there and if so how the **** do I get to it?

 

[cycle_gator]

Seal or welding flaw? It appears a piece of weld came loose from the tensioner body to idler housing joint. Bearing in mind I have never worked on one of those things, but it sure looks like a failed joint.

 

[firemanmike69]

That hole looks like the means to release tension on the idler assembly, with out having to remove the grease fitting. The fitting can be under a lot of pressure with the track on the machine so it would be dangerous to remove the fitting all the way under pressure. Will it now take great and expand? How far out was it extended? If the undercarriage is worn you may be out of adjustment on the idler

 

[ENG18LT]

After removing the tensioner from the undercarriage I was able to see how that slot was designed. As firemanmike pointed out above it is to release the pressure when loosening the tracks. You loosen the grease nipple a couple turns and the grease will come out the slot after traveling through a hole into the threads. This is a safer design than having to take out the zerk or the nipple completely. With the tensioner out I pushed it in an inch or so then tried adding grease. I was able to do so and determined that the tensioner not only works as designed but also that it had been maxed out. That explains why it wouldn't take any grease.




So.... The chain on the track is tired. Could use replacing.

As a temporary solution while I check around for a decent used one I came up with a short extension for the tensioner ram. All I did was take a piece of pipe slightly larger then the ram and weld a solid piece about an inch and a half long to the end of it.




That slips over the ram, which has been pushed in, and then is held in place by the pressure applied by adding grease to the tensioner. The tensioner and spring/idler assembly went back in easily. Only thing left was to remount the track. I have seen it done but never actually done it myself. A short piece of chain with a snatch hook and about thirty minutes later the track was on.








Several shots of grease and the track was ready to go. I ran it around in each direction while still up on the blocking to make sure I had it right. After driving a few feet I checked the tension and added a couple more shots of grease. Now it has the proper tension and will be usable until I find new chains.




Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Beltman60]

ta-da :cool2:
now whatcha going to dig?

 

[ENG18LT]

ta-da :cool2:
now whatcha going to dig?

Well, since you asked......









These are some of the larger stumps around the property. I also popped out some smaller ones that wreak havoc on the lawn mower. Which coincidentally needs repairs from hitting one two days ago. Ugh.

I also need to redevelop the spring well. It is only 6' deep. It never runs dry but being laid up stone and shallow we get a small amount of sediment and it is not anything we drink. Plan is to dig down,and put in a 1000 gallon leech tank with fabric around it. In the basement I will put a UV light to make it potable. There's also a fair amount of ditch work to do as the old farm ditches have all filled in over the years. And the list goes on. As the title implies, it is going to be a long road home.

 

[firemanmike69]

You can try ITR for replacement chains or often CAT. Has aftermarket chains to fit lots of different machines. Or if you want to take the cheap way you can remove one link from the chain

 

[ultrarunner]

My track experience is limited to my D3 Dozer...

A mechanic friend told me too much tension on the tracks accelerates wear... just tight enough to keep the track on is perfect...

 

[firemanmike69]

My track experience is limited to my D3 Dozer... A mechanic friend told me too much tension on the tracks accelerates wear... just tight enough to keep the track on is perfect...

It's also important to note on track tension is that if you are in a material that will pack into the chains it will increase the tension. On that machine without looking at the book I would say the tracks should have about 1-2" of sag when measures with a straight edge from the carrier roller to the idler