Hi guys.. Again, thanks to all who helped me work through my starter issue....I decided to change all of the fluids and filters in my machine and I ran into an issue. My 955l (13x0971) is supposed to have 17.5 gallons in the steering clutch assembly according to the people at cat. Problem is, I drained out 22 gallons and that was with the dipstick indicating 4 gallons low before i started. The oil that came out looked like light chocolate milk. It had never been changed while I owned the machine. I put 20 gallons of fresh sae 30w, and it doesn't show on the dipstick. The other issue is that while checking the final drive oil, I removed the fill plug (not the drain plug) and 5 gallons of the same color oil came pouring out of the left side plug. The right side was better in that only 1 gallon of oil came out but at least it was black oil and did not appear contaminated as the left side. My question..... Can steering clutch oil work its way into the final drives? (when I cleaned the strainer, I did find a piece of rubber that resembled a piece of a fan belt or a chunk of a biased ply tire. could that be a seal between the two systems?). Also, if the seal is bad, is there any downside to operating the machine this way? Apparently, I had been operating the machine for years in this condition. Although, recently the machine has been sitting for the last several years.
Your upper pinion bearing and seals are bad this will transfer oil to the finals. Need to pull steering clutch and ring gear press off steering clutch flanges pull upper pinions and replace bearing and seal
Thanks Dave, That sounds like a HUGE job! I don't think that I have the talent or inclination for a job that size. What is your opinion on using it the way it is? As I posted earlier, this may have happened years ago and so far the machine drives and operates ok. I only use it for perhaps 10 hours a year around the farm. I do like to keep my equipment in good shape though.
It will run for a wile like that
mpirate and Dave I'm puzzled. I think its 30W in the clutch and finials, so yes on the about running it that way it shouldn't be a problem. How can you put 20 gallons in a 17.5 gal. tank and still be low? Shouldn't you drain off the excess every now and then at the finials? mpirate be sure to change the oil in the finals.
cat 977, Actually I had to put another 5 gallons into the steering clutch assembly. Now the dipstick only reads 1 gallon low. Thats a total of 25 gallons in a 17.5 gallon system... go figure. The guys at cat tell me that 17.5 gallons is just an estimate. But really, 7.5 gallons off???? All of my other fluids are topped off. None are higher than they are supposed to be. except the final drive on the left side. it was about a gallon over again. I am planning to change the oil in both of the final drives... If I can find somewhere around here that sells 50wt. I'm not sure why, as it will keep getting diluted with the 30wt oil from the steering clutches, but might as well have fresh oil everywhere... I'm just now finishing up lubricating everything and painting... here are a couple of pics
My 977's take 50W in the finials I thought yours was 30W. Also I thought your trans. and clutches ran on the same sump. The milky oil sounds like water. The only oil that normally would be black would be engine oil from the diesel soot. Try looking for Philips P66 POWERDRIVE FLUID 50W 5GAL PAIL. Last time I payed $53 up to $59 in 6 mo. at the farers coop. Its a Cat TO-4 spec. oil. If your not in a hurry leave the final empty wait and see how fast it leaks in. Nice looking Machine
If you wanted to delay the dilution factor of the 30 oil in the 50 you could put SAE 60 in the finals. As 977 posted above, Conoco Phillips make a good one. Whatever oil you use should be labelled "meets Cat TO-4 specification".
Thanks cat977 and Nige. I'll try and find someone around here that sells 50 or 60 wt. oil. The local tractor supply and farm stores dont seem to carry it.
Otherwise known as Joe Blow's Gas & Groceries. If you think anything at all about your machine I would suggest to try to find something a bit better quality.