Ok so i own a 1972 akerman h16. I have a problem with one of the tracks. It seems that the front idler wheel or the "main idler wheel" Is rubbing against a steel plate that sits right behind it. The plate appears to be more of a debris guard from what i can see. Now on the other side of the machine there is about a quarter of an inch of space. That track operates fine. The one that appears to be rubbing is much slower and seems to struggle more. I have put a little more tension on the track yet it appears to not improve the rubbing. Looking for some imput. Thanks
Sounds like your bushings/bearings of the idler shaft have gone south allowing the idler to shift close to the plate. Just a thought.
A pictures worth a thousand words . I'm with ACTO
I'll snap a picture over the next day or so. Oddly enough before i put more tension on the track the movement was much worse. Now it seems like night and day but still not as good as the opposite side. Appreciate all the help and suggestions though.
I have this bad feeling that if it is what you guys say it is, i'm in for a world of difficulty to replace the bushings and bearings aren't I?
Well, it's not a 5 minute job, but most repairs on a machine aren't. You'd have to loosen the track adjuster and relax the track, then pull the track off of the idler, then pull the idler out of the track frame with your bucket. Many time you can get a re-man idler from someone like HeavyQuip, not sure about an Akerman.
I just ran across a pic of an H16. Wow, that's not a small excavator! What is that...40 - 50 ton?
Search for a swedish site and akermann, and post your questions there. mas kinisten.net You will get all your questions answered there. Even bet you'll find a workshop manual for downloading at the site. Old Akermann people run the site. Its a must site for akermann owners. Only problem is many of the posts is in swedish.
They do read english as well.
:lmao :lmao the problem is that they reply in something else Seriously it sounds like an idler replacement to me. If its anything like the Hanix idler we just replaced its a lot cheaper to get the seperate parts and rebuild it yourself.............BUT................... if using a 20t press wont get it apart ( 4.5t machine ) and you havent got access to a BIGGER press then go the easy route and buy the whole assembly its cheaper in the long run .