Hello all, I have been searching this forum for usefull infomation for a awhile I guess its time to join and ask a few questions. There is alot of good info on this site. Thank you. I purchased a 1969 Case 850 Crawler with a loader and a ripper on the back. I plan to use it to dig a small pond and clear some storm damage on some land I own in NW WI. Before I put it to work it has a few issues that need repair as most older equipment does. Can anyone tell me alittle bit about these Case 850 machines (reliabitity, what to watch for. Maintenace tips, where to find parts, etc.). This is my first piece of heavy equipment. I am use to running skidsteers and tractor. I am fairly mechanically inclined. The tracks, sprockets and under carriage seem to be in ok shape. I would like to keep the cost down on it as I did not pay much for it and really plan on using it for what I need to do and I plan on reselling it. Does anyone know what the weight of these machine is? What would a good selling price be if it was decent running order? It appears as one track is out of adjustment. I am considering removing one track link to fix this problem. I know some people say not to do that but I would just like to run it for awhile. Does anyone have any tips on removing a track link or is there a better way? I do not have a track press. I would like to do this on the machine. I have a porta power and a large hammer... The brakes do not work. I have seen a few threads on this. I believe I can get them working again but any advice is always welcome. The diesel engine runs good but it appears it has low oil pressure(2-10psi). The previous owner (20+ years on a small hoppy farm) stated it had been running like that since he got it. I am going to try a new guage and sending unit. Hopefully that it it. Otherwise I may be pulling the oil pan to inspect the pick up screen and oil pump. Any advice on this? It has a few hydraulic leak. One appears to be a line under the radiator. I should be able to fix that. The other is dripping out of main lift cylinder. It is just dripping but I do not want to buy a new one. How hard is it to replace the outer seal on these big cylinders? Thank you
Welcome to the forum STX123! That's quite an impressive first post, & congratulations on getting up the pictures :thumbsup First thing to do is check all your fluid levels, including the final drives, as these are often neglected on these older models. A full service may be a good idea, depending if it has been loved or not. Did you get any manuals with it? Parts, Service, Operation? Look on ebay & see if you can get some. Case have an online parts catalog, & you can print off pages to guide you as you need them. Google part numbers when you are looking for spares, you will find aftermarket / used suppliers. Some aftermarket parts are OK, some are rubbish. Same goes for resale, use the internet as a guide, different locations do vary the prices a little. Biggest concern on your post is the oil pressure. Is that 2-10psi, just at idle? or at full RPM? The original gauges on 850's were full mechanical - no sender. The hydraulic cylinders need to be striped to replace that outer seal ..... lots of threads here discuss how to deal with them. Re-removal of a track link, you will need to split the track, & if you are handy with an oxy torch, you will be able to cut the link off & blow a hole through the pin ends. PS - Good luck with the ol' girl - She looks like a beauty!
I put a new oil pressure gauge in. I found no oil coming out of the line that goes to the gauge. It appears plugged and I can not get in unplugged. I have a service manual. I have the machine in my shop. Im getting ready to start the track repair and other issues listed above. Any advice is always welcome.
The oil pressure line comes off the engine block, behind the starter motor, via a 'T piece' behind the dash. Not having any oil at the gauge is a big concern. Hopefully, you have a bad rubber hose. But I would be checking the pressure at that fitting on the block ASAP. That 2-10psi is not the best even at an idle, it would need to be alot more at full RPM. You could have problems with oil pump; relief valve; or worn bearings.
I would try to re-tension the rails before cutting any links out, On my old machine one link even on a stretched chain is too much removed to get the rail back together with the adjuster fully collapsed. By appearance the idlers look to have a lot of slide area left before run out of room for adjustment. As to no oil at the gauge, few gauge fittings or block galleries gum up, take the previous advice and pull the line at the block, put a test gauge of some sort on a new line there and check, no oil pressure and you have a real issue. Could be a spun or absolutely worn out cam bearing oweing to the old Case style engines and where they took the oil pressure line off the block. Back to the rails, you will need to add some teeth either re-rod or some other hard steel to those shoes to get it to dig very hard. Get the oil pressure figured out then move to the hydraulics then rails/shoes. At long last unless you were to buy tools for it, shed the ripper tool carrier as the extra extended dimension could get hung up.
The machine runs good. I will dig into the oil pressure issue. I believe the oil line going to the gauge is completely plugged. I will get some photos of the rails and tracks. Thank you.
Below are some photos off the loose track. The other side is tight and has room for more adjustment. What is your opinion of the track? This is my first track machine. Can you explain what you mean by re-tension the rails.
Sprocket looks great, ragged rolled over metal on the rail segments is a bad indication, verify all the lower rollers are rolling. Early 850 used 6.25" pitch rails, later used 6.75", measure the length from the leading edge of one segment pin to the 5th pin away, this covers 4 full rail segments, divide that number by 4 and you get the average measure for pin/bushing wear on your machine. A distance exceeding .160" per pin/bushing is usually considered greater than 80% used up. There is a web site called crawler heaven, the site has bushing wear limits and rail segment wear dimensions. https://sites.google.com/site/crawlerheaven/wear-limitpinsandbushings In the bottom photo there is a greasy spot under a small hood projection on the idler yoke, the grease fitting there is for the hydraulic track tensioner, it jacks with grease to extend a piston and tighten the rail. Older units(as my Allis) leak off or just don't hold and have to be 'adjusted' a few times a day. Appears someone has already welded and worn back down the grouser bars on the shoes, will work for awhile.
Thank you for the infomation. I will measure for wear. Thr hydraulic track tensioner does not leak but is out of adjusment. I am considering removing a track link to use the machine for awhile. I am not sure what you meant by re-tesnioning the rails. Can you explain. Any other suggetions are always welcome.
He just meant tightening them with the hydraulic adjusters. (in case you hadn't caught it, rails is the correct term for track chains). If you are sure the adjuster is out of travel, and there isn't something loose, you can take a link out to get more time before you buy rails.
I understand now. Thank you. First track machine for me and I am always learning.
I have not had much time to work on this machine. I still have to check on the oil pressure issue. I will be removing a link in the track. It appears as some of the bottom rollers are not moving. Do I have to replace these or can I try to lube them up and see if they move. Any ideas? Thanks
Welcome to HEF. Nice post for a new member. Keep it up! Anyway, those machines are good.
Most times they are throw away, have they worn flat spots on them from working against the chains?
The machine looks like it sat outside for awhile. The bottoms rollers have a little wear to them and might just be rusted up a little bit. I'm on a budget. Can these old roller be serviced or is it best just to buy new. I found refurbished rollers for $140 each.
They may be able to work loose, I would take the rock rails off first so you can get a good look, take a few swings at them with a 20lb sledge, and maybe weld a bar on them to jack against to start them turning if possible. I would also loosen the track and remove the four half inch bolts that hold the yoke to the idler. Push the idler forward, make a spacer block 1" thick for each side with the bolt holes drilled in it. Use grade 8 longer bolts to reattach and try to pump your track out again. This may help some for now, the recoil spring also could be failing causing it to not push the idler out. I would not take a link out until you have a good idea of your pin and bushing wear and the recoil spring. You can use a can of paint and a sheet of paper to make a pattern for your spacer block. Like alrman said the rollers are throw away, At around $100.00 per hour shop rate it's cheaper to pitch, on the budget it's just your time to try. Could use some more pics of the idlers and closer pics of the rails, and between the rails at the bushings, your gap is wide on the sprockets but still has lots of meat on the tips. Just thinking out loud.
Here are some more photos. I will try and get some more but this is what I have for now. Thank you
I want to thank everyone for the infomation you have provided. It is very helpful. I bought this track machine to clear some trails and storm damge on some land my brother and I own in NW WI. I have all winter to get the machine in good running order as I do not need it until spring. Getting time to work on this machine is tough but I will try and keep this post updated as the repairs happen through out the winter. I bought the land with a old cabin on it. Below are some photos of the work. The machines below are my brothers as he own the other half of the land. Enjoy.
Just went through some of your issues on this thread HeavyEquipmentForums . Lots of good applicable advice from the many experts here on that thread. Have you pumped grease into the track adjuster zerk that you think is a little loose? I changed my 855D sprockets when the machine first arrived in 1998, and busting the tracks is NO picnic. Pushing the adjuster out is a LOT easier.....
I got a some time to work on the machine over the weekend. Thank you all for your replies, it has help alot. I was able to adjust the loose track. I could not get grease into the hydraulic tensioner. I thought it was at it max. Upon further inspection I found the grease zerk was blocked or broken. I replaced the grease zerk and was able to get the track tight. It is now close to its max but the track is tight. I got 8 of the 12 bottom rollers to move. The ends one would not move. I soaked them with pentrating oil and will try again another day. The machine has a case 301 diesel engine in it. I have a low oil pressure issue. I changed the oil and filter. I put a new oil line and new gauge on it. I fired it up. The engine needs a small shot of starting fluid on its first start of the day. No glow plugs or heater intake on it. The engine runs great and sounds good when running. I put 15/40W oil in it as it will only be ran in the summer. I had the shop to about 50F degress. Not bad considering its been below 0 recently. The new line plugged with sludge right away. I shut it down and clean the line out and fired it again. Same thing plugged. I tapped the oil line and gauge into the oil filter hosuing and tried again. I fired it up and was getting 2 psi Damn i thought. I let it warm up. When it warmed up I opened the throttle all the way up and got 18 PSI. Still to low as the service manual calls for 40-45 PSI at full throttle. Warm at a idle was still getting 2 PSI. I am going to remove the oil pan and see if the pickup screen is plugged and clean everything I can. I am hoping I have a sludge problem. The shop manual say to check the relief valve on the oil pump. It could have a broken spring. The relief valve can be adjusted to gain more oil pressure. I may turn it up. Any advice on this issue is welcome.
If your pressure gauge line is plugging that quickly, its very likely your problem is sludge related. I doubt the engine would stay together with that little oil pressure in those temps. Flush the engine out (maybe drop the belly & oil pans; think you can use diesl fuel). I actually repaired the oil pan on my Case 855D 12-14 years ago (it was rusted through and leaking; JB weld still holding after all this time), and it had a LOT of sludge in there....
Got more time to work on the machine. I pulled the oil pan. Not to dirty in there. I inspected and cleaned all I could see. Everything looks good in there. I turned the relief valve up a little. I put it all back together and fired it up. It runs good. After it warmed up I got 20 PSI. It seemd to drop at an idle. I got the bad hydraulic hose off and am having a new one made. I have the lift cylinder at the shop being rebuilt (It leaked pretty bad). I was able to get all bottom rollers working. The machine is ready to go to work. I am going to sell it. I am building a new house and need some cash. It is a nice machine and and good shape. If you are interested let me know. Thank you all for your input.
what should the pitch on tracks of 850 c dozer
6.25 and specific to Case, closest if no longer available is Deere 450/550/555.
Curious why you kept running it with only 2 psi oil pressure? I don't think you know the machine enough to state it's in good shape. You haven't even used it yet.
Bruce should have started a new thread to prevent confusion. Namely, this thread is 7 years old and the OP hasn't logged in in over four years.
I have a 850 track loader with the 301 motor in it as well that i just picked up in a trade and it blew the head gasket while trying to get it started to load it onto my trailer to get it home so i went and bought a new head gasket and got it installed and can not find any info on what to set the valve lash to when its cold any help with proper valve lash adjustment would be very appreciated as its the only thing keeping me from starting it and using it
You should start a new thread with a title specific to your question, something like Case 850 valve lash.
I know its ben a while from the last time i was on here and i did get the right info shortly after i posted my question got it all adjusted and started back up and found that the crack that was seen in the cylinder head between the valves was in deed where the coolant was going threw into the combustion cylinder so have ben looking for a replacement cylinder head with no luck so now looking for a newer diesel motor to r&r it with to get it up and going agin as it needs a compleat overhaul along with the head replacement Just not sure what size or make or size would be equivalent in size shape and power as the original motor/ret up
Your cylinder head may be able to be fixed. There are some specialty shops that can weld cylinder heads and machine them.
Every one that i have found around me wont even try i know its doable and can be fixed