Wish I could post a picture of the pebble our operator ran over this morning, might be able to get a copy from the working group leader! Just to give an idea of the size it was on more or less level ground in the quarry where they were doing stripping of overburden. From where the stone was sitting while we were working on the dozer it was just sitting out in the open where the dirt was already stripped. Well this pebble was big enough to dent the front most belly pan under the radiator in enough to bust the adapter attached to the lower radiator tank! With out measuring it I would say it was close to five feet around and tall! Needless to say the 45 gallons of coolant exited the system pretty fast. Checked with dealer and was told this part was on the "Build as needed" list! Well that was not going to help! That's when that D9H that ventilated the crankcase with #1 rod came in handy! So we had to drop two belly pans and remove the bottom radiator pipes from both and then reassemble one also using the "donor" machine's belly pan as it was not as dented. Also had the good luck to finish the job about one hour before the rain started. This was good as machine was sitting in the low laying area of the quarry. Did find that a local aftermarket parts dealer can locate a new after market adapter for $125.00 Now we just need to find the engine for that one!
Well did get a picture of this pebble, might have exaggerated the size a little but it's still not that small! And another of our fine team: You mean a 769D can't drive on un-compacted mud?
Tell that bloke if he's trying to stop it from tipping he's on the wrong side.
He must be fatter than he looks if he can lift the opposite wheel by standing on the step. Any jobs going?
Did you happen to mention to the D-9 "operator" that the rocks are supposed to be kept in front of the big pushy thing in the front? How do you miss that? I know visibility is not great on a D-9H, but that was no small rock.
What kind of bothered me is after killing the D9 they put him in that WA600 that you see behind the Cat! It now has a small pile of material on top of the rear counter weight! And anyone familiar with the design of the WA600 knows the fuel tank is under the engine and radiator, much lower than the counter weight! Well as I have 15 working days left before the big "R" day I'm just hoping the equipment can put up with the abuse for a few more weeks!
I read that post to my wife, she said she loves it when guys use those fancy technical terms! (big pushy thing)
Well as I have 15 working days left before the big "R" day I'm just hoping the equipment can put up with the abuse for a few more weeks![/QUOTE] Hi Ken, I hope you make the big R day without any great hardships. Maybe if you get an ugly one, make sure the parts are shipped to the wrong plant. They will lose them for sure while you patiently wait for them to show up, hopeful after you are retired. I can tell you, this retirement gig does beat working so far.
kshansen, your D9H dramas are making me come over faint, the big pebble thing would be some drama for me to recover from, it is total careless vandal damage by someone who should not be any place near me, so firstly I would have the skates popped on the pilots feet out of the front gate with him, then after I have calmed down some I would set to sorting the damage, I like to pop a tune from my Wireless to help me cope with dummies so Harry Star's "Step in to my Life" would do to start, the sudden loss of coolant on a D353 motor can crack the heads easy, even running out of fuel can manage this task, for those that don't know the blade should always be low to the ground going forward, to run with the blade high enough to clear that rock going forward is un-printable, you can run backwards with the blade hoisted like pushing Scrapers etc, the first D9 engine with the hole kicked out was repairable at a cost I know but the block would patch, the second D9 with the transmission rattling about on its bolts again is fixable but its a bit of work to tear out the transmission and cross-shaft, it would be easier to fix with a good adapter plate fitted to the transmission, this is the back plate that locates the pinion bearings, but with only a few days left to work I would have pulled both D9's into heaps of nuts and bolts "Co's Its What I Do" I hope things work out well for you next month, it looks like you need a new Sand Pit to play in Sir. tctractors
Bugger!!!!.
Enjoy your time off, I can just imagine your sleep-loss worrying about this someones problem
Kshanshen, I can't add anymore than Tony.He said all that needed saying. I'm sticking by my comment about one of those 9's being broken up for spares.I would take the engine out of the one with the loose tranny and drop it into the one with the leg out of bed.Swap the trackframes if needed as the one with the loose tranny is going to be the one for scrap in my opinion. Ofcourse they are both repairable,but your accountants won't stand the costs of repairs on both tractors.They do seem a tad short sighted to me.
Well a little more on the advance planing done by this company. Last Monday I was told Bill was going to be working with me to learn the ropes of equipment maintenance be for my retirement April 23. Lots of time huh? Well today I happened to mention to my boss it might be a good idea to see about getting Bill set up with a company E-mail address and such. Well his reply was that will be done "IF" he gets the job He went on to say he was going to have to post the job to see if anyone else in our plant or another plant in the company wants to "bid" on the job. As of tonight I have a grand total of 141 working hours left and now they are just starting to think about stating the process to replace the only mobile equipment mechanic at a plant with close to 1,000,000 ton production per year!:beatsme
CAN'T FIX STUPID... the boss ALWAYS know best..lol
Hey, 2 or 3 hours should be plenty of time to get the new guy up to speed Don't worry, after you are gone, it will become your fault that the new guy does not know what is going on. Just accept that fact now, and don't let it worry you any as you are kicking back enjoying the fruits of your years of labor.:drinkup
What you mean they won't be blaming things on Fred any more? He moved away back in the late 70's I've been telling people the problems were caused by him ever since!
To the management people who don't know a hydraulic pump from a starter , its all just nuts and bolts so anybody with a pliers can fix it ... right!
Mobiltech, I think you are forgetting we are high tech here would also need a screwdriver and big hammer to hit it with
Don't forget the torch and welder.
I like the "should buff right out" phrase that you hear once in a while.Ron G
A little more D9H fun. Start up time is 6:00Am here. Well Tuesday at 8:45 working group leader get call c=from operator. He has a "smell in cab" and also mentions that the dozer cranked over very slow in the morning.( Note here that dozer is parked at night within 100 feet of the shop and all my tools. When working it is about 1/2mile down a very rutted and muddy road and up on top of the overburden they are stripping that is very muddy this time of year. ) Well when working group leader gets to the dozer he recognizes the smell as battery acid and see it leaking out of the battery box. After fiting to get the cover off battery box due to latch point on the hold downs being bent finds one battery literally split apart at the seams I really need to get a picture of that one. So this was a quick fix to get it going again, pull a battery out of the dead Cat and slip it in the one doing acid! Current plans are to use this D9H for one more day then hopefully clean enough to do a major service and then ship it out to some other deserving location! Why an operator would take a machine that smelled bad and was hard to start out in the back lot then decide he had a problem is one I think many here would love to be able to understand. Then again with out these "good"operators all us mechanics would be doing is drinking coffee and eating doughnuts all day
Rarely is there a dull moment, is there.
That's for sure! Attaching picture of the battery that exploded:
How many days left until retirement kshansen?
Working 4--10 hours days a week so 12 working days or 120 hours, or 21 calendar days, but who's counting?
I am No expert, but when the Hydrogen Gas in a casing lets fly it makes HELL of a bang, it seems odd that the smell of Dilute S-Acid was the first warning when the battery box is right near the master switch and the pilot??? 12 days might seem like 12 months tctractors
We think we actually heard it go bang. Right at quitting time as some of us were in the shop and boss was just outside there was a "bang" thought someone had slammed a door and boss was thinking some truck or loader had had a blow out on a tire. He drove around the equipment and could not see any tires flat. More or less forgot about it till the next day when working group leader went to see what the problem was with the D9. The dozer would have been parked with disconnect switch off as is our standard procedure. I can only guess that something caused a short between a couple plates in the battery causing a spark that ignited the hydrogen. We will be starting the service on it come monday and I plan on checking the charging voltage on the chance the alternator is over charging leading to this problem.
kshansen, I hope you continue to post now and then after your retirement. Maybe you need an old yellow knacker to fiddle with so you don't forget how to repair old iron and loose your excuse to come out with a bit of bad language now and then. After my retirement, I don't know how I ever found time to work a job.
Don't worry I won't disappear too fast, already planning on trying to talk the Cat dealer into letting me keep my SIS access, I'll tell they it's so I can help my soon to be former boss when he has a problem Well if anyone has a 966C they want to donate to the cause I might be able to find a place to park it. Or maybe a D4 Dozer to expand my skills working on tracked machines?:cool2 As for needing excuses to come out with bad language, well have a pair of Harley Sportsters a few old Yamahas and even an old Farmall BN tractor among other things. Not to mention around a half dozen old snow blowers. My wife can't understand why I won't just buy some new things. Well I try to tell her that she can play some computer games matching pieces of candy for hours, well these old machines are my games. $50.00 and some time in the shop and I have something that will do the same job as what a new one for $1,000 would do.
What year are the sportsters?
A 1988 I bought new in Nov. 1987 now has over 100,000 miles on it. The other is a 1992 with about 35,000 miles on it. And besides the 3 XS650 Yamahas, a couple XS400's there is also a 1966 Triumph 500. The Sportsters are the only ones in good condition, despite one of the 650's being my ride to work every work day for the last 12-15 years! Amazing the mistreatment a machine can take when it only has a 2 mile round trip a day!
Had a 1973 XLCH for about 20 years and it would keep me fairly busy keeping it running in top form.