Hello everyone! I am new here and have already read a lot of useful things for mantaining our bulldozer. I do have one question. We have a Cat D4C Series 3 serial prefix 6YL. I have drained the transmission and filter assembly. The book says to clean the screen and filter. The picture shows roughly a 5" round stock cover that is supposedly where the screen is. I removed the 4 volts and was surprised to just see 4-5 more bolts. I did not see any screen or breather. Is the book referring to the big square top cover? If anyone had photos of what I'm looking for that would be awesome! Thanks for everything!
The cover for the transmisison suction screen is located on the bottom of the transmission case right next to the drain plug. The plug is #16 on this illustration. Remove the 4 bolts #17 and the cover #18, under it you will find the screen and the magnetic filter.
Thanks for the reply Nige! Ok, I found the plate underneath and found everything you were talking about. Here it is for future reference incase someone needs it. Our bulldozer had/has problems moving when it first starts up. A "pump buzzing" sound came from near the transmission. The dozer never moved when it would do this, it was like oil was cold or the wrong consistency. It would do that for about 30 mins then would take off and drive just fine with no issues. I just put the screen back in and filled it with TDT0 oil($88/gal). Started it and it just took off without any noise or problems. Haven't run it that much yet so not saying the problems are over with it quite yet. Had any experience with something like this?
Here is what the screen looks like on our 6YL prefix.
TBH the traces of fluid left on the screen/magnetic filter (I hesitate to call it oil) are most likely, at least in part, the root of your problem. It really is dire. Did it fall out of the drain plug on its own or did you need a shovel to dig it out..? You may find that to get 100% proper performance you have to run the machine for a couple of weeks then drain the oil again and change the oil & filter a 2nd time.
Sounds expensive, mistake maybe. If you buy a filter and oil on the same invoice, our Cat dealer calls it a service kit and gives a 15% discount on both. A$85 will buy 20 litres or 5 US gal. of TDTO , more than competitive with other oils on the market. Cheers, Greg
Thanks both of you for your replies. I made a mistake, it was $88/5 gallons, I typed that wrong. Anyways, dozer is running fine with no "warmup" needed. Pump whining went away as well. Will change fluid again here in a week. As I said, we just bought this dozer and we have been less then impressed with our neighbors "good" maintenance. Is there anything else that is commonly missed with long term maintenance?
If you don't already have an Operation & Maintenance Manual (O&MM) for the machine that would likely be a good place to start. It details all the necessary periodic maintenance for the machine and gives you a brief description about how each task is carried out. The Cat publication reference is SEBU6731 and it'll likely be the best $100 you've ever spent. They occasionally pop up on Amazon or eBay. Here's a link - http://www.amazon.com/Caterpillar-D3C-D4C-OwnersManual-SEBU6731-01/dp/B006ZF4X7A - failing that a Cat dealer would supply one at a suitably eye-watering price Thw whining noise at cold startup was most likely the pump starving of oil because the fluid in the transmission system was in such a bad state. A couple of oil changes should fix that, although you need to keep an eye open in the long term for the fluid being milky which might indicate a leaking cooler. When you pull the dipstick to measure the oil level the fluid on it should be clear and bright.
We have ordered the Service manual and parts manual($350 for CD of both). I have a maintenance manual that I have found on safety/cat.com for free it gives partial information that is decently helpful. Tried dozer again this morning and still takes right off without issue. Will keep an eye out for damage since I know this has been an issue on the machine for close to 500 hours. Thanks for all your help!
One more question, do you happen to know if its possible to stick a turbo on these dozers? It has a 6 cyl 3046 just like the d5C. MY understanding is that the only difference in a D4C and D5C is the turbo on the motor? Is their a place to buy these turbos if it is possible?
The screen you cleaned is not the transmission filter, it is the breather. The filter is just left of the fill tube and is under the floor plate. It is of a disposable canister type and has a drain plug on the bottom side of the canister. The breather gets cleaned when the oil is changed, but the filter is changed more frequently.