I've got a 160M2, R9L prefix, about 9600hrs which has a vibration only in 4th gear high rev range and under load. It's got a very slight vibration in 3rd gear but could be unrelated. SOS sample for the transmission is clear. Going to check filters and screens on the transmission Monday. It runs fine on the road through all the gears and runs fine loaded in all other gears. Just wondering if anyone has come across this before, the problem seems very specific. Thanks
Do you take samples from the tandems as well.? They might be interesting. Reading your description the problem sounds speed-specific but I could be wrong.
Does that model use any propel shafts? I have no clue
A very short one between the transmission output flange and differential input.
Wonder if tires of different size could cause some problem as they get spinning faster. Always a possibility. Those short drive lines are suspect sometimes of brinneling of caps the needles sit against , if the angle is too straight and the needles wear in. Had that a lot on Komatsu D65 bulldozer, looked exact same, looked like it was not greased, but was from no oscillation. Simon C
Learned a new word, brinneling. Brinelling Brinelling is the permanent indentation of a hard surface. It is named after the Brinell scale of hardness, in which a small ball is pushed against a hard surface at a preset level of force, and the depth and diameter of the mark indicates the Brinell hardness of the surface. Wikipedia Joe H
From memory the two flanges have a very small amount of misalignment on them, only a degree or so. The u-joints are sealed and not greasable. To the OP. How about some photos of the rear of the machine from both sides.?
Rh tandem had elevated iron and aluminium, unsure when the oil was last changed.Was going to have a look at that too. LH tandem ok The universal joints had slight play so I changed them and it didn't make a difference. We've gone the same speed and load in 5th gear and there was no vibration. Same as 3rd. Tyres are the same and all worn the same, I had thought about the tyres but thought that should in theory cause vibration in all gears at certain speeds. It drives fine on the road in 4th and you only get the vibration under load while pushing with the blade
Interesting that the phenomenon only shows up when the machine is under load. I think if it was me I'd be taking a good look at both tandems, including an oil change and a close-up inspection of the oil that was drained. it might also pay you to check the tandem sag. The early M-Series were quite prone to wearing out the fibre thrust washers on the tandem pivot. With almost 10k hours on the machine I'm willing to bet it will have a fair bit of slop in the pivots. Do you have access to a shop manual.?
Does that trans use the same set of clutches for 3rd and 4th? For example, a set for 1st/2nd, a set for 3rd/4th, a set for 5th/6th, a set for 7th/8th.
No it doesn't. It's a countershaft transmission in which to engage any speed requires three clutches; Low/High, Low Range/High Range, and Speed.
Good idea about Tandem sag, I know the RH side is also weeping at the pivot so will check it out. Yes I've got access to SIS.
I think a look at the oil from that RH tandem might just give you a clue. TBH I don't recall being able to get tandem pivots to anywhere near 10k hours. From memory I think 5-6k was about our limit. While you're looking at SIS, check out M0100635. i don't know if your machine was updated ex-factory bvut if not I'd do it while you are in there. From what I recall the former Part Number of thrust wahser is still used in other applications so unless you were aware of the update you could potentially still get the old parts. Also M0076358. I don't know if your operating conditions qualify but in your shoes I would do it.
Thanks for that, this machine falls in the serial break for M0100635 so I'll look into. I've heard about the new oil level before. This machine was an import and spent a previous life as a snow clearing machine, I see there's also M0168516 service brake bearings failing with extended road use too
Drained both tandems and the trans/diff, RH tandem clear, no debris in diff or trans screens. Found a couple of larger bits of bearing material in the LH tandem. My money was on wheel bearings but turns out it ate the bearing for the drive sprocket/outer diff bearing. Pulling the LH tandem to inspect bearing and reseal pivot. Anyone seen this before? Im thinking there could be a chance the bearing on the other side of the axle in the final drive might be damaged, though there was no steel on any magnets in the screens. The failed bearing picked up on the shaft a bit, will mic it tomorrow and hopefully just polish the high spots off.
At least you found something which always gives a warm fuzzy feeling. To quote Dirty Harry - "Do you feel lucky, punk.?" Amazing that the RH tandem oil analysis was the dodgy one showing elevated iron/aluminium where the LH one where you found the bad bearing was allegedly OK. Even more reason to go into the RH side IMHO. With 10k on the machine I'd be doing both sides, just because. It's also a good reason to do all the updates mentioned in Service Magazines and discussed above. Also check out M0083889/M0100841/M0172793 if any/all are applicable.