So today when I got to work I found out that another guy and I had to split a Volvo A35D in half, the reason was that the cust wanted to have a greased center hitch rather then oil, which is a kit offerd, here are some pics I took, Not that bad of a job a little iver 8 hhrs to do the whole job.
What would be the advantage of grease instead of oil in the hitch?
well the real reason was that the seals were leaking oil so we had to split it anyways and they figured while we had it apart we could do the kit, but this way here it is always lubricated and you don't need to change the oil
I did not know of the oil filled ones, only greased like on the "C" models. No problems with them.
Yea they went to oiled hitch in the A35D and A40D, I don't know about the E yet as I have not seen one yet
so thats what they look like on the inside!
Yeah Ive replaced the Oil seal on a few A35D's. One filled with a super fine slurry type mud that actually had good LUBE Properties. The Seal is on the Big ring that preload's the Whole Hitch, If this come's loose (if the Lock's break off) or Bed's in then they leak. It's a Pain to fill them with oil ... We where going to change them to grease but the machine's went out making money. Another Idea was to mount a remote Oil tank behind the cab so the operator can see if the oil is still in the Hitch. Grease is by far the best for this application, The Terex TA40 have a Oil filled tube that runs through the hitch to lube the drive shaft .. They leaked like mad and was converted to Grease... We also Converted all 16H front Hub's to grease as well.
Yeah we had to replace both seals and both bushings yeah torquing the large nut is fun, 1100 ft lbs, no way to get a torque wrench on it, we had to mount the grease pump behind the cab, it really wasn't that bad of a job.
Yeah .. If I remeber the A35D pre-load ring just has notches. We had No special tool's or even a Service Manual, We found that using jack's to balance the tractor and trailer so no weight was on the hitch. Then Pound the ring round with a 1ft drift (1" stock and a 28lb'er) Until it stopped then recheck after a few hundred hour's. A35C have flag's. You can jack it round with a Jack or lower the box down on an adaptor Thoses Dam CAT 350E's needed a silly tool to preload the hitch ... But that's another story. ointhead If you have any pictures of the ring and the tightening job ide love to see them thanks.
I like the special stand the driveshaft is resting on in the last pic, kinda looks like a truck brake shoe!
What we used was a porta power from the frame to the ring and tightened it up until the old marks lined up, the book says to use a 2' "jimmy bar" and tighten. What that is a block that goes around a shieve on a JLG man lift extension cable/ They even come in handy for setting cyls. on them because they are just plastic
Ahh, I see. One of those left over gizmo's from some previous machine repair when you said "hmm, I'll hang onto this", and you keep finding various ways to use this handy gadget. And hope some meat head doesn't "clean the shop" one day and throw it away!
yeah, soon I will need and extra tool box for just things that i have kept form job to job but they all have there purpose, if it look handy then it probably is handy
We're all like that. Mechanics are notorious for being pack rats!