Track Spring Repair

[Tmec]

A friend on mine bought a dozer to do some brush cleaning and right away work on his place. The tension springs that maintain the slack in the tracks are broken. Has anybody replaced these? Any pointers? Here is pic of the dozer.

 

[PILOON]

That is going to be a muscle job!
Both sides broken?
Tracks need remouving, uncouple and lay them flat.
Torches, big spanners/sockets etc.
Most simply cut/burn bolts off and replace.
Good come-a-long to re-install tracks.

Are you shure they are broken? not just in need of tension?
Tension can be a screw shaft affair or a hydraulic like cylinder that you pump out with grease to expand.

Good luck, I don't envy you that job.

 

[Dirthog]

The springs will be held together with a large bolt if you can get it loose you will need a press to compress the spring be very carefull they will fly out of the press the best thing is to get a whole new unit and not dissamble the old ones most of the time we would just cut the spring in pieces to relieve the pressure I believe on that machine you have to over tighten the bolt to install the spring assy and the back it off once it is in place

 

[Tmec]

They are both broken. The guy he bought it from said they had been broken for several years. You can tighten the tracks by pumping it with grease which works fine in soft dirt but in rocky country where it is now the tracks loosen quickly. We were mainly concerned about having to compress the spring in order to reinstall. If that is not required then we may try to do it. I guess we have work to do.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never replaced the springs on mine, but I have rebuilt the cylinders. If you are loosing tension on the tracks, I would think the cylinders need rebuilding. When I did this, the spring was loose and just resting there after all the tension had been taken off of the front idler. I don't think you will have to compress the new spring or the broken ones to get them off.

Can you show a close up picture of the actual broken spring?

Do you know if the cylinders are leaking or not? For sure?

Eddie

PS, It's not a dozer, but a track loader.

 

[Tmec]

OK we got a hold of a guy who has worked on these machines for about 20 years and he says we have a big job to change these springs. He suggested we try and operate it as is and see how the tracks work. So we will see. Thanks for the input guys. If we do dig into this we will get some professional mechanic help. I will post some picks if we tear into it.
Oh and my bad calling is a Dozer I should have called it a Track Loader.

 

[Dirthog]

With out the spring in the system you will have a lot more shock load on the finals that's why the springs are in there in case you hit something with the front idler or get something stuck between the sprocket and track. Then there is a good chance you could tear out a final drive

 

[Tmec]

Thanks Dirthog I will forward your comments to my friend.

 

[Dcara]

With out the spring in the system you will have a lot more shock load on the finals that's why the springs are in there in case you hit something with the front idler or get something stuck between the sprocket and track. Then there is a good chance you could tear out a final drive

I have wondered what the springs real purpose was since the tension on mine is hydrolic. Thanks.

Does anyone have a link to explainations/ tutorials on the various drive trains used. I'd like/need to get alot smarter on this subject

 

[Dcara]

Never mind. I just found this


Types of Final drives