Trying to tighten this thing up a little. This bushing was loose in its hole: I hired out the welding and line boring. Next I am installing some Nord-lock expander pins.
Problem is, once the top one is installed, I can't get the bolt for the lower one in: I have an email in to the company to see what they can do. Seems like it should have been designed with a stud and nut instead of a bolt. If I could cut the bolt 20mm shorter I think it would work...
They redesigned the lower kingpin for me with a through bolt from the bottom. I think that will be a good solution. Meanwhile, new radiator. The original started leaking a few years ago and my JB weld patch has held up fairly well but I figured it was a good time to install the new one.
New bushings and seals in the boom.
Boom expander pin installed: Found a suspicious cut in a hydraulic hose right near where the line boring happened... Then installed the thumb fittings etc today
Looks like a real nice setup.
Nice rig, nice work!
Thanks
materthegreater, how many hours on that machine?
5100+
Next I need to change the hydraulic fluid. Does anyone know the procedure for bleeding the pump? The bleeder location is obvious, but I'm not sure of the proper process. Thanks
Nice looking rig! Where did you buy the expanding pins from? I may have to try those on a joint thats got a little play. Also where did you get the plumbing for the diverter valve for the thumb and quick connect? Im no help on the bleeding of the pump but I would have guessed that its self bleeding. Keep posting your progress, I am enjoying watching it.
I got them from Expander Americas Inc. The shutoff valves for the thumb came with the thumb. I bought it as a used take off.
PM me if you want the contact info for the area rep for the expander pins
Found it. Easier than I thought it would be. How important is it to remove all the hydraulic fluid from the system? Is it ok to just drain and refill the tank? The fluid is in good condition, just past the hour interval.
When you don't have a pin press but need to replace the idlers: Hopefully these cheap idlers last as long as the originals!
Time for cylinder seals: Hard to believe these kits were only $52 each. Next I need to track down torque specs for these cylinders. Is a dealer my only source?
If you line bored and installed new bushings, why the need for the expensive expander pins?
Only had one hole welded and bored, because it had worn to where the new bushing was loose. The expander pins eliminate any movement and wear of the pin in the stationary lugs.
We're the original pins left to turn in the lugs? Seems stupid if they were but wouldn't be too hard to modify. Would be a lot less than expander pins.
The only rotational movement is between the pin and bushing. The expander pins eliminate wear from the pins moving slightly in the slip fit clearance of the lugs.
A lot of pins have an ear welded on and a bolt to hold the pin in and prevent it from turning. I know someone with a farm loader on their tractor that the pins just have a circlip or hair pin on each end of the pin. They don't grease it enough but even if the did the pin is free to rotate. The holes in the stationary lugs are badly worn because of such a terrible design. I've seen pins held stationary badly grooved and worn out in the section where something turns on them but like new on the ends in the stationary lugs. The lugs had no wear either. I think proper pin retention, thick enough mounting ears and proper greasing should last for thousands of hours and the life of the machine in a lot of cases. The torque arm on the rotary cylinder of my backhoe uses a type of expander pins. I think just to keep everything as solid as possible. Nothing turns. The torque arm is about a 2" thick square solid steel bar with holes in each end. I think the holes are about 1 1/4". The mounting lugs have the holes tapered to fit tapered end caps of the pin. The end caps are also tapered on the inside to fit the end taper of the pins. When both sides of the pins are tightened everything is wedged solid. It took a while to figure out how to get the pins out. You have to remove the nuts on each end and take the end caps off in order to get the pin out.
Most of these had a retaining sleeve with through bolt. There's still a small amount of movement that can happen and after 5000 hours lugs get worn. The stationary lugs do not have a provision for greasing since they aren't a rotating joint. Wear is just what happens when you have slip fit clearances. Expander pins eliminate the need to have the lugs welded and bored, and provide a completely tight fit. At some point I'm going to do the cylinder pin joints also. Especially the arm cylinder, it sees the most load cycles of all. Just the 4 expander pins that I installed last year made a big difference in how tight the machine is.
What did the expander pins cost? Nord Lock is good stuff but a little pricey. I bought 40 1" Nord Lock washers for my grader wheel adapters and they cost $250. The 5/8" were much more reasonable.
Less than it would have cost to have them all welded and bored. And the end result is tighter.
Too much to post?
More like too much to remember off the top of my head.
I think the the 90mm ones were $8-900 each, and the smaller ones were somewhere around $4-500. But that was quite a while ago so I could be off by a hundred or so.
Pretty pricey for most people but I guess if they eliminate wear are worth considering.
Well this cylinder is a bit different than others I've done. Hoping to finish it up this afternoon.
Looks like someone beat on the piston in the last pic.
Most of the cylinders that I have rebuilt for electric utility work (diggers and bucket trucks) had nuts. It seems that most backhoes have bolts. Not sure how much it matters, mut I have seen more than one nut with a set screw in it. Most of the nuts I have seen were regular hex elastic stop nuts that we replaced upon rebuild.
There's a dent at the very base end of the barrel from it's days as a rental machine before I got it. What you are seeing is a slight deformation from being retracted to the dent. I filed and polished the deformation so it doesn't affect the new seals. In all the years I've had this machine, I've not encountered a situation where the boom goes low enough for the piston to get to the dent, so I'm confident it won't cause any issues.
Most others I've done have had a bolt or just a nylock nut. I've never seen one before where the piston threaded onto the rod. This is the first cushioned cylinder I've had apart also. Neat to see how that works.
I got the arm cylinder apart last night. This one is cushioned on both ends of the stroke. The piston was loose on the rod and the lock nut was loose also, with the set screw being the only thing keeping it from coming all the way off. I find it odd that the service manual doesn't give a torque spec for the piston or the lock nut.
I am thinking thread locker.
I torqued the pistons to 300+ and the lock nuts to two grunts with the pipe wrench. There was no evidence of thread locker on them originally so I didn't think that was a good idea. It's just odd how silent the service manual is about tightening.
I wish dental insurance would cover this... I should at least get dentist assistant wage for this.
Electric shock treatment?
Finally got a chance to use my skid steer adapter
Did some "designer landscaping" this week. Built a berm and set some rocks in odd places. Then built a staircase out of rocks that were on site. I don't mind hourly jobs like this - the customer is good to work for because she brings me lunch and ice cream every day.
Apparently I've been doing too much stone work this week... Or maybe it was the stumps I pulled yesterday that started it.
That's a really odd place for a crack. It looks like the weld contributed to the crack. Slight undercut is all it would take. Possibly the steel is higher strength and required additional procedures for welding such as preheat or different filler metal. I'd grind a double bevel to ensure 100% penetration and preheat it to 300 deg's. Weld in from each end so you don't leave a crater at the end of a weld. I think it says Geith on the nameplate. Contact them and ask what type of steel it is. Might be beneficial to use 8018(C3) to weld it or even 11018 but only use 11018 if it's T1 steel. I had a crack follow the edge of a weld on my backhoe swing mount partly because of slight undercut.
Thanks Dave, I think you're losing your touch- I already had it done by the time you replied! But thanks for the input. What you recommended is similar to what I did. After pulling it back into place I ground the outer side almost through, preheated, welded, peened, and then flipped it over and repeated. I thought I had some 0.045" dual shield wire but all I had was 0.035" so that's what I used. About 24.5 volts, wire speed around 340 I'm guessing. I considered using metal core but I only have that in 0.035" at the moment also. I guess I need to stock up on bigger wire. The only 0.045" I have right now is solid so didn't want to use it.
It's 15 years old with several thousand hours. I'm guessing it was caused by operator abuse
Nice repair! It still shouldn't have cracked along the edge of the weld. That indicates there was a flaw or poor welding procedures. Dual-shield should hold.
The OE right side idler lasted almost 1000 hours longer than the left one. Same process but I also added some shims to reduce the up/down and left/right wiggle of the idler in it's slot.
Trusty little Bobcat (Doosan) is middle aged now
Wow, OEM filter is much smaller than the Wix equivalent.
Replacing a "stone culvert" with a bridge Before: 1st abutment:
That has to be some pretty tedious work! Looks good. What's the little yellow diamond, a danger bridge out sign?
Looks like a VAST (snowmobile) trail?
Thanks Dave, I appreciate the compliment. The sign is a trail number sign with an arrow.
Yes, though this portion is a class 4 town highway, which means technically the town is responsible for culverts and bridges. But we're not forcing them to do it.
Looks great! I’m sure the club and riders will be very appreciative!
Mostly me, so I can drive the groomer across snow instead of water and rocks!
Make sure you post an update and show off the bridge with the groomer once we get some snow!
Well they say there's a possibility for snow tonight but I doubt it will fill the gaps between the beams! (No decking on yet)
This isn't the groomer but if the bridge can hold it I'm sure it'll hold a 15k groomer also
Nice work!
I finished the dirt work for a small greenhouse foundation that I dug out in October. Tight quarters with the garage on one side and apple trees on the other. I definitely would have used the Mecalac if I had a tilt bucket for it. The Bobcat does have a little more reach though, which was nice for adding material on the far side of the foundation.
Well sometimes you get what you pay for. This boom cylinder started leaking again when the weather got cold. Not sure why, I used OEM seals and it was fine for 9 months. I'm certainly no expert but I don't think I put the seals in wrong. It's leaking at the rod, same as before I replaced the seals.
I'm revisiting the aux hydraulic controls on this machine again. The abrupt on/off is really frustrating at times. I found this diagram when searching for slider/rocker controls for the joystick grips. I currently have an unused spool section in the main valve that is controlled by a foot pedal. Seems like I could replace the foot pedal valve with a proportional pilot valve (or install in series with the foot pedal valve). The handle and driver board are available from Sure Grip, so it seems like a fairly simple way to go if I can find a compatible pilot valve. What I'm having trouble understanding is the PWM output specs: Does Vmax=Vs mean that the maximum PWM output voltage is the same as the input voltage, and therefore if I use a 12v supply voltage, I can use this with any 12v solenoid valve? Looking at the Bailey Hydraulics website gives some options: motor center, tandem center, open, closed, series, parallel, I understand some of these terms (I think), but what do I want for this setup? Many of these valves seem much larger than needed for a pilot circuit, maybe I'm searching with the wrong terms. Is something like this what I need? Chief D03 Solenoid Control Valve, 12VDC, 4 Way 3 Pos, Open, Series This 4480 PSI, 16 GPM, 12VDC solenoid valves offer better flow charactersistcs and boost efficiency of your hydraulic system. Explore now! www.baileyhydraulics.com
What's wrong with using the foot pedal? It should vary the speed the more it's pushed.
The foot valve only controls one aux circuit. If this works, I will either duplicate or move it to the other aux, which does not have a foot valve.
Gription addition prototype.
Gription without sliption...good stuff!
Don't think you need the piece going length wise. Ice lugs are just welded on top of the grousers even on D11's. Just put a good weld on each side with 7018 or equivalent. I'd use 3/16" rods but 5/32" or 3 passes with 1/8" would work. Putting the lugs on a bit of an angle would be a good idea. It would help prevent slipping sideways. Were the holes already in the pads?
Sideways slippage is part of the reason I put one piece going lengthwise, as well as to tie the other pieces together. I used 0.035" metal core wire at 23-24 volts. Yes there are holes in the pads. I plan to remove these cleats when not needed.
Clever idea! Make up a jig and bang out a couple dozen when the weather is crappy outside?
So, how are the idler you bought holding up? are they eBay idlers or local dealer? Asking because I'll be doing those idlers on my 50ZTS here pretty soon.
I suppose if someone wanted a super simple solution for ice lugs they could just put long bolts in the holes maybe tapering the ends.
I pulled a pad off to use as a jig. Doesn't take too long once the pieces are cut. Unfortunately I don't have an inside to work on them. The auto darkening hood is slow to respond when it's cold...
They seem to be holding up well. They don't have a ton of hours on them yet though. I bought them from Midwest Equipment.
How would you keep the bolts from bending?
Grade 8 or higher bolts break before bending. Wouldn't want them too long though. If someone had a lathe they could make a larger diameter pin with either external or internal threads to bolt them on. A mini-ex isn't putting as much stress on the pads as a dozer would and has lower ground pressure.
Exposed threads on a regular bolt would get mangled within minutes of first use and would make them very difficult to remove, let alone reuse. Turning studs on a lathe would be very time consuming.
Making your lugs is time consuming too. Could use studs or cut the heads off of bolts and have a nut on both sides of the pad. Just thinking if someone wanted something simple and didn't have a welder. Could taper the pins easy enough with a grinder if desired.
Enough napping in a blanket of snow. Time to get to work!
Did the lugs make any difference in deep snow?
Not sure yet, I'll let you know when we get some deep snow. They do help on frozen ground for sure. I'm planning to make 10 more which will give me 10 on each track. Currently there are 5 on each track.
I think putting them on every 3rd or maybe 4th pad alternating sides would work good. Maybe a little taller. You need enough on the ground to be effective. Look at some pics. of ice lugs on dozers. They are often on every 2nd pad. Common to have 2 on both sides of 1 pad and 1 in the center of the next pad or pad after that.
There is not enough clearance to make them taller. And this is not a dozer so they don't need to be as aggressive.
Just thinking if the pads pack with snow they won't be very effective.
Finally!
I think snow groomers have nicer cabs than luxury cars and would be fun to operate. Excellent visibility too.
Bridge looks great! And trail conditions aren’t too bad either! More snow on the way
Larry White had dozens of small JD350 dozers used for logging. At one point he bought ten new ones in one purchase. All his dozers got "corked" new before they went into the woods. This big purchase they went to work before going in to be corked. The men using them said they rolled over so often they actually did use seat belts. One guy claimed he had ruined several pair of pants, If you don't fill your pants, you get battery acid on them going over. Their pattern was a small size grouser stock cut 2-1/2" long. One shoe got two, each 3/4" from the end of the grouser, next shoe got them in the middle.
Two then one is very popular. If money is no object they'll put two on every pad.
I'm replacing the tracks on my little 50zts. Not because the shoes themselves are bad, but because the track chain seems really sloppy. They ran it in muddy sand a lot, and in 3k hours it wore out 3 bottom rollers, both top rollers, and seemed to ruin the track chain. the sprockets were OK, but the idlers are really sloppy side-2-side. Anyway, what my plan is - I'm going to take all the shoes off the old tracks and make snow/ice cleats with them and some decent steel as a nightly project for a few months in the summer. then I can unbolt and replace shoes as needed for winter use... this might be a noob idea, but looking at waht you are doing, I don't have those extra holes in the shoes, but i'll have a whole extra set of them to work with, so why not.
Keeping the bolts tight will be an issue. Bolt torque is critical for pads. They are made to go on and stay on for the duration. If the rails wear out the pads can be reused but taking them on and off will make it harder to keep them tight. It's also time consuming. You don't just put an impact wrench on them. The rails and pads have to be sanded perfectly flat and then put on using the torque turn method. You may have to use new nuts and bolts as well because they are already stretched. There's a reason you don't see anyone changing pads. Ice lugs on a small mini-ex aren't likely to cause damage on hard surfaces anyway. Some LGP dozer operators will have a second set of complete rails with narrower pads for working on harder surfaces. Making bolt on ice lugs like materthegreater did is a much better idea.
huh, ok. glad I asked. I was thinking about getting rubber tracks here, and rented a couple 10k to 20k lb excavators. One of them nearly ruined it's track with a cut that made it to the middle. Could have been a combination of issues, track wasn't any newer than the machine, and it was a rental... but seeing the results of rubber tracks get mangled on some of the glacier deposit rock I have here, well... yeah. So, I bought more metal tracks. Could have bought those rubber pads, but wow are they expensive. so, my new tracks have only about 1/4 to 1/2" taller edges than my old ones. according to the book, the shoes are to be replaced, but i've seen some tracks SO much worse... So, I think keeping this set of tracks as a spare set might be good. knock out the main pin, and roll them up as tight as possible, see if they'll fit in a 50 gallon drum, and just pour my used oil on that till they are coverd. then seal it up and mark it as spare tracks, do not puncture. anyway, I'll just leave them be after reading that comment about torque-stretching the bolts. Makes sense, don't want those walking out on soft ground, that's for sure.
You don't have to soak tracks in a barrel of oil. That's just crazy. Keep them dry and out of the weather. Loose bolts cause the pads to wear so they aren't flat. If they aren't flat they won't stay tight.
have to do something with the used oil - I don't have one of those waste-oil furnaces yet!
Using it to soak tracks isn't a good idea.
Getting a little work done between snow storms and grooming trails.
I brought the ripper home and modified it a little on Tuesday. I added a kickstand/tree pusher.
The ripper sure makes it a lot easier to dig over trees and clean the dirt out of the stumps.
The addition of the tree pusher is really clever!
Did you come up with that on your own, or have some inspiration?
I bet he started with a kickstand because it's a pain trying to get that thing to attach when it's laying over. And then they idea of v-shaping it to make it easier to 'grab' or position on a tree just came naturally during a quick break. Sometimes you take a drink of water look up at something and think ... 'Oh! right...'
Either way, it’s a great idea. looks like a good bead breaker, if you reverse it.
Sounds like you deal with aggravating tires too!
Ever since I first built the ripper a few years ago I've wanted some way to keep it upright when not in use. I thought about making a stand I could set it into, like a hammer might have, but never did anything about it. Then the first day I was using it on this job for digging trees over I thought it sure would be handy to have a way to push on a tree without it slipping to one side or the other. So I brought it home with me and cut that piece out of the old cutting edge of the bucket I originally made the ripper from. For breaking beads I usually use the blade.
hey, do they make any odd noises when they are old and egg-shaped like that? mine pop once in a while when turning, so I'd like to know if it's time or not. they 'look' ok, but not terribly far from your old ones. So, are you replacing your sprockets because they are truly worn, or because of some poor behavior?
Most of the time I find odd noises to be caused by the track chains partially jumping off the bottom rollers. Lifting the track off the ground will allow it to realign and then it's good to go. I replaced these because they are getting quite thin and the corners have broken off a few of the teeth. I had ordered these new ones in March but just now getting around to installing them.
There's never enough time to fix things when you want. Something else comes up that is a bigger priority.
yeah.. I just took my mini in because I can't stand it feeling like a busted office chair anymore. not only that but the popping noise when I rotate right with a heavy bucket is kind of startling. so... new carriage bearing coming up. going to be spendy to pay for it like this.. but I can't find independent operators up here.
Finally got enough rain in the past few days to burn today. Fire in the hole
I’d have to check but still believe we in a fire ban for the whole state. We did just get 2 days of rain.
Over 4 inches in the last 3 days here.
We had about 3 1/2” of rain but Southern NH is still on a fire ban, checked yesterday. No permits at all. Even after that rain, in my food plot, if you kick up the ground, it’s still dusty underneath.
I probably got the only day allowed to burn within several months here.
Local fire wardens will recognize it's raining. The State VIPs & USFS officials will need a week or more to lift the burn ban. By then it might be dry again.
A year and a half later, the left side of the bucket started to crack. First pass 7018: Ground smooth after second pass: One pass inside:
Gotta love a nice, well laid burn pile. We usually invite friends and neighbors, pull out chairs and make a night of it. Did one a month ago and have one more ready, brothers old pool covers, getting repurposed.
I've made 3 piles that size on this job. The customer wants to burn them himself.
So long, old friend. Dropped off at his new home.
and so goes the end of an era.
Is there something else replacing it.? Simon C
I'm pleased it went well.
Hopefully soon. Haven't found it yet. I plan to go shopping in the next week or two. HeavyEquipmentForums
doing a better job of it than bobcat