So I just bought an old Case 850C to do some work on an 80 acre property. The undercarriage was rebuilt fairly recently by the previous owners, a pipe laying company, and they definitely put the tracks on backwards. I believe they did the work about 5 years ago, but hardly ran the machine. A couple of the links seem to be really stiff to pivot between the pin and bushing. They stay at an angle after the joint comes off the sprocket instead of straightening out. Anyhow, the chain and the pads are backwards, so the whole track assembly should be flipped around. Do I want to break the master link to do this, or retract the idler all the way and try and take the track off without breaking it? Or do nothing if I plan to run it only a few hundred hours per year for the next few years? I have a case 570MXT loader with pallet forks, a 6 ton excavator with thumb and a compact tractor loader with forks to use for manipulating the track if I want to attempt to flip them around. The dozer has a ripper bar, so I think I can jack the whole thing up with the ripper and blade and put it on blocks. Thanks for any advice!
If you are capable of getting them apart. Which will take removing the master pin, not enough travel in the idler to just slack it off and remove the tracks. They should really be turned, they will wear the bushings and the sprockets prematurely if on backwards.
Any tips on the master pin removal, other than a punch and big hammer? From the parts diagram there is a pair of belville washers that act as seals between the links around the pins. It looks like it would really be hard to get those washers in there to put it back together if I make it that far.
They don't go together that bad. They will stay in place with some sticky grease when you slide the two ends together. Hardest part will be getting the old masters out. I would recommend getting new ones when you put it back together.
for a 850c case is it just case chains and pads that fit that dozer
Take a long hard look for a split master link, you just have to remove four bolts and the track shoe. Hardly anybody cheap enough to install master pin tracks anymore. If you find it, buy new master bolts, don't reuse the old ones.