I backed out the valve and relaxed the track , when there was no more grease coming out I tried to back the valve out the rest of the way to replace it. It came out so far and got tight. I quit at this point so I wouldn't break anything. Can someone enlighten me as to how these come out?
Dickjr, clean the top of the cylinder flange off good and look for an obstruction to the removal of the valve. There is one to prevent you from taking it out under pressure and getting it shot into your body. The old machines had a guard holding it in but I forget what your machine has. You will see and figure it out when it's clean. Later Bob
Well Bob , I'm perplexed which don't take much these days. I had assumed there would be a plate with a couple bolts or such to remove to allow the valve out. You can feel under the plate where it let the grease out , nothing I can feel. As you can see the zerk is well worn , but 28 years would do that. Figured a few pics might explain my situation. Thanks for the input.
DickJR my 953 has a plate that holds the grease zerk as Bob stated. It's not the same as the one in your pics but it also wasn't easy to figure out the first time I had to change it out either. The part is expensive be prepared if you haven't priced it yet. On a side note you may want to try a different tip on your grease gun first and see if it works. Yeah that happened to me and I have a new replacement zerk for our 953 in the service truck..
CM , I tried other guns with no luck. The lower part of the fitting has lost its shoulder and is rounded. I got both the adjusters valves for 80$ which is fine , but I got the feeling I'm going to have to remove the cab , track frames etc etc to put these little rascals in. Its an older machine , but if it pans out it really suits my needs. It may see 300 hrs a year. I sure do like the size. Its so close to a 53 when you see it from the road its confusing. For its age , someone has cared for it somewhat , But small things like track adjuster valves , broke gauges , I'd rather have fixed in order than a new paint job. Well a paint job would be ok as well.
CM , I thought about your reply and tried another grease gun. It bit and held to the fitting of course its a Cat grease gun.
Good deal!:thumbsup I looked up the part for my 953 and for some reason I thought it was more than what it is, only $50. Had in my mind it was just shy of $200.:beatsme Guess I'm getting old and ornery.
At another crossroad with adjusting the tracks on this 943. The adjusters will not take any more grease , so I figure they are all the way to the end of adjustment. Looked in my owners manual it says if they are out 2" then move the idler forward. I looked it over , I believe the idler is all the way forward as it is. Are there any measurements that are used to determine if I am at my limit. I will get a pic and a few measurements in the meantime.
Try measuring from the centre of one track pin to the centre of a pin 3 track links away. Do this a number of times in different places and post the results. It could well be that the pins & bushes are at their wear limit internally.
I checked 3 places and the measurement seemed to be 20 1/2". I have some pics if the will upload.
There is about 6" of the chrome rod out from the bulk head to the yoke. I don't think there is room to move the idler forward and don't see how the adjuster could reach out that far.
This adjuster is completely different from what's in the book. It actually looks to be backwards. Both sides are the same. I'm beginning to believe I know what has to be done. The tracks are pretty loose and I hate to think of rolling one off on a job and having to deal with that. One thing , the rollers look to be in near new condition , tops and bottoms.
IIRC the track pitch on your machine is 6.75". 20.5" would be about 0.25" of extension above nominal. Multiply that by the number of links in the tracks and that could be where all your adjustment has gone.
I believe the bottom mounts have several bolt holes so it can move forward under the track frame, somebody correct me if I'm wrong?
That's right , but I believe my idler has been moved ahead already. If what Nige says is right , and usually is , my rails are stretched 9 1/2 inches. When I looked at it I thought about moving the idler ahead , then with the adjuster seems to be maxed out. This all seems to make sense .
Okay, got it... couldn't remember if it was one or two notches on those... More like 3 inches, .25 on three pins....
Your right Lantraxco , .25 on 3 pins, I miss read Niges post. I know your a u/c guy , would a 3" stretch take all the adjustment out of it? I really like the machine , but I hate to think I have to spend 10 to 15 k on it , might just send it on down the road. I really don't know , the size just fits my needs. I put about 15 hours on it and brought it to the shop for minor repairs , found this and a pretty serious rear main leak.
Kind of hard to tell from this picture, but it looks like the links are getting wore down also. As in the shoulder that rides on front idler and rollers. what is the measurement from backside of pad to edge of chain? The shorter, the more adjuster needed. Maybe the stretch plus wear of the link surface has used up all of the tightener travel. It may be possible to take a link out. I ran a old d7 that way for 3-4 summers till it finally wore through the bushings. Maybe not the "right" way to do it but if it works you can get a little more use out of it.
The link height is well worn. I had hoped to be able to adjust it a time or two and then put a set of rails and pads on. One thing to note , the rollers are in near new condition , so the rails must be pretty well shot. Its not a bad machine , but I think I need to decide on whether to invest more in it or send it on down the road.
3"+ stretch and some link wear, still the idler takes up top and bottom so it only moves half as much, more or less. I would think there was more adjustment than that, but I'm not a track loader guy.
Remember the 20.5" measurement given was only an approximation. The truth is that maybe there is more internal wear that we're not seeing. As someone else mentioned the stopgap measure would be to take a link out of it. Doing that means you've effectively taken the decision to run the complete undercarriage system to destruction and replace it all at some point. Whether you or a subsequent purchaser undertakes that work is immaterial.