Good morning to you all, A buddy of mine is having problems with a CAT 259 skid steer, he told me that the right side track will not spin. I have yet to go check it out but he sent me a video where it looks like it spins maybe an inch and then locks up. Im heading over there tomorrow to remove the track and do a more thorough inspection on the rollers and idler, but is there anything besides a bad motor that can cause this? Any input is much appreciated! P.S in the video it also shows that the sprocket is pretty worn out aswell. Not sure if im able to post the video here?
Most likely something in the planetary assembly. Drain the oil first and check the condition. If you want a parts illustration post a Serial Number.
You have to host it elsewhere and then put a link to it.
please, if you don't mind. serial number is CW906514.
i will try and get an oil sample tomorrow after i take the track off, i'll make sure to keep you posted. as for the video, i will try and see if i can host here in a bit.
See attached. I wouldn't bother with a sample. There is only about 1 quart of oil in that final drive. You may as well drain it all out. The oil change interval specified in the O&M Manual (500 hours IIRC) is too long IMHO, normally I would recommend that the final drive oil be changed every time the engine oil is changed. It takes a full synthetic 85W/140 BTW. If you drain the oil out and it has any trace of metal then the next step is to pull the cover and take a look at the planetary gears.
Oil in those will normally come out black, it gets cooked. You will normally see some glitter in the oil when draining. If it looks like silver antiseize or chunks fall out then there's problems inside the final drive.
the oil came out surprisingly clean with very little metal particles, means nothing now that I opened the cover up and found the big chunks jaja
well I just got around to opening the drive motor up and was pleasantly surprised to find chunks of metal in there, although it’s not from the planetary. Next step is removing the drive motor. Does anybody happen to have a link to a service manual for a 259d3 or where I can purchase one for cheap?
That final drive looks way too dry inside to have had the correct amount of oil in it. IIRC the motor side has next to no serviceable parts inside so unfortunately if you determine there's a failure in there you'll most likely have to replace the entire unit.
With how dry that planetary setup is I would question the condition of the main final drive bearings because there is no way they would be seeing lubrication. I bet if you removed the drive sprocket and pulled the sun gear/shaft out that you wouldn't be able to freely spin the hub.
I did blow some air into it to get some of the oil out and the metal chunks, which is why I think it looks so dry. Would I be able to pull the out from the front/cap?
That planetary carrier looks bone dry. Not even oily residue film on it, which you'd still see even if you blew it out. It should have been roughly half full of oil in there. The gear in the middle of the planetaries should be your input gear. If you pull it out that should disconnect the motor from the final drive. That also means no park brake so don't let it roll away on you.
I just pulled out the input gear and found a complete mess haha.im about to pull the filters and check for metal in the system. Is the drive motor still serviceable at this point or should I just call it and order a new one?
Put it all back together and use the old unit as a Core against a the purchase of a Reman component. Just hope they don’t check the core too closely because theoretically to qualify as a core it’s not supposed to be disassembled before being presented for Core Credit. I’m with @92U 3406 - that planetary has been desperately under-lubricated, probably hasn’t had the oil changed anywhere near as often as it should have been. With only a quart of of oil in that compartment it is under major stress all the time.
Ask him when the oil was last changed in the final drives.
As usual on post like thos ill say it change the 20 dollar quart of oil every 200 or so....
Just got around to asking him and he told me that he used to have someone who did it for him every 500hrs but did he actually do it he’s not sure.
That’s probably what I’ll end up doing, he was wanting me to try and rebuild it but I told him what user @92U 3406 told me and told him that what he’ll be ‘saving’ with not getting a rebuilt he’ll end up losing with machine downtime for waiting on parts and finding the parts themselves.
There are no repair parts available for the planetary, so you can’t get bits to replace what’s broken.
Reman drive motor it is haha. I’m on call with CAT right now to figure out pricing
Make sure you clean it up well before you take it in otherwise the dealer will reject it for Core Credit - then you pay the same price as a new motor. Tell him that he should be changing the oil at the same time that the engine oil is being changed, between 200-250 hours. Also don’t skimp on the oil, it HAS to be an 85W/140 full synthetic gear oil.