Hey all, i know this might be a bit long winded, but bear with me if you may. having been offlne a while, i figured after a weekend like the one i just had, i needed to share a bit. We have a CONSTANT battle betwwen maintenance and production. and this weekend is the perfect example. i recently moved sites where, with one other mechanic, we look after 2 x 374D's, 6 x 740B's, and some auxilliary equipment. the one 374D had generic tracks fitted not so long ago (they both use generic), and for whatever reason the sprocket came loose, which i found when i arrived. instead of splitting the track it was decided to just tighten the bolts in place.. yay. this does not work for the following reasons; 1. the sprocket will come loose again, whether it be from dirt behind or from burring. anything that gets in behind the sprocket will ensure you dont succeed. 2. you cannot fish out the bolts that are already broken. 3. it is the long way to do it. (i know,you'll do it again, repeatedly.) 4. more bolts will break and more things will get stuffed. The other problem was that, on the other side of the frame where the idler is, there is a stud that holds the recoil spring to a certain length. this too is broken. this is also bad. the track is under constant tension and it will reduce your component life considerably (imho) So i got just cause to finally stop the machine when it finally broke a half dozen bolts over night shift and was left with just 4 bolts! (there are 21 that hold the sprocket on) this left me with having the nice job of splitting the track alone. as the other guy was off. now it wasnt easy and it definitly needed some grey matter. mostly due to the tension in the track. i must say splitting it wasnt hard. all we had to work with was a chain block and a wire sling. i got it off, by myself. ( no press needed, the track has a sliding fit master pin) got the sprocket off, and extracted the broken bolts. cleaned up all the holes and set an angle grinder to even out the face of the sprocket. i managed to tighten up all but 5 of the bolts whose threads were too far gone. putting the track back together was more fun. eventually figured out a way to line it all up and stick it back together with just the excavator itslef. here i did have a bit more help as my mate and the w/s manager were back from their off. they lined it as i operated the machine. its a week and my hack has held. we've a few more weeks to go till our contract is over. production continues and the only thing they spent money on for that fix was on a bottle of lock-tite. its not the ideal way of fixing it, but its what should have happened two months back when it was first noticed. now they need a new final drive housing. if it doesnt hold. if it does it will likely just carry on as is. i managed to take a few pictures, hopefully it will give you an idea of what was involved. i couldnt take apart the idler, but the stud definitly was broken lol. anyways, i hope i didn't bore you. cheers! View attachment 159758 View attachment 159759 View attachment 159760 View attachment 159761
Battlefield expedients, you are preaching to the choir brother! :Banghead I can't recall the number of times I had an experience like yours, to be followed some weeks or months later with the owner cussing me because "Didn't we just rebuild that?????" I finally got to where my response was "Nope, somebody told me we couldn't afford parts and couldn't wait, had to make it run for just three more days, so I glued it back together with bubble gum and baling wire!" Hang in there, it gets to be more fun as you get older and wiser :drinkup
Thanks lantrxco. I love this job. There is always something new to learn. And there is somebody who will break it for you in ways that you didn't think possible. I think that drink is in order. My shift is over and I'm home for the next few days. Enjoy your weekend.
Seems these kind of "management" people are everywhere in the world. Like where I worked and guys were telling area manager that the plant needed some repairs and updating to improve production. This guy then makes some comment about the "big" money he spent having the plant painted! Like a nice heavy coat of paint applied over a half a$$ed cleaned piece of rusty steel on a conveyor is going to make the old leaky speed reducer work better or stop the spillage through the worn out liners in the bins and chutes to them? This is also the kind of guy who if you or the dealer put new king pins in the steering axle of a truck crane and a week later the winch hyd. motor starts leaking will say "Why's that happening? You just had it in the shop!" mrappels, we all feel you pain! Go easy on the drink but have a good few days off. Wish I could say it will get better.