Hi guys, I have a TB145 mini digging in pretty hard material. The teeth I have(Black cat X156L) on it are holding up fairly well but the roll pins have been snapping. The holes aren't worn and I've tried smaller and larger pins but got the same result. This is the first time I've seen the roll pin snap and not the tooth or shank. Do you guys know if there are any stronger pins? I saw stainless ones on graingers site but I'm betting they'd snap right off the bat.
I would hazard a guess that the combination of teeth and adapters is the problem, not the pins. The load from the tooth when you're digging should be taken by the adapter, not the pin. The pin is only there to stop the tooth falling off when you curl the bucket right out with the teeth pointing towards the ground. So if you're breaking roll pins, that's telling me your teeth don't fit right on the adapters.
That'S where I was leaning but the teeth are snug and the pins are too. Maybe I got tariff Guatemalan steel that came in.
Nige beat me to it. Something isn't jiving with between the tooth and shank. The only problem I have ever had with roll pin tooth connectors is not being able to drive them out when it came time to change the tooth.
I have seen pins break when the operator puts backpressure on the teeth it takes a lot of effort to do so but it pulls the tooth off the shank The style you have are Hensley top pins they are usually pretty good until the shank gets a little to much wear or is caked with dirt to were the tooth fits to tight and the hole doesn't line up good
i have the same setup on two different excavators, i fight them constantly, i think when the shank gets just a little bit of wear they break the roll pins,dealer told me to blow the adaptors of and go with a different style. have had better luck with the cat style shank
With the pin installed grab the end of the tooth and rattle it up & down. You should have at least 1/2" of vertical movement at the tip of the pin, any less and there is load on the pin.
I’ve always had awful luck with that size and style tooth, on that size machine. They are hard to change and don’t wear very well either in my opinion. I have switched to Essco teeth on the smaller machines buckets and have had excellent luck with them. It may just be worth it to cut the old shanks off and install new ones just to eliminate the aggravation of a tooth breaking off. I’ve seen a lot of mini excavator buckets with those style shanks and teeth, they used to be made by Hensley but a lot of Bucket manufactures are using a cheaper made shank now...
This is one of the things that I need to get better at. I went up to the site that the machine is at(Two hours away each way)he showed me how he tested the play. He wiggled it with his hand. Then I hopped in and scraped the dirt and the teeth shifted and I told him he thinks hes way stronger than he is. I sincerely apologize for wasting your valuable time.
Do you have numbers on them? I'll be ordering shanks and teeth today and that might help out. The shanks I have on there are are for the blackcat x156l teeth and pin.
I was a turd and went off the operators word and it's definitely shank wear. Thank you for the help.
I wouldn't be sorry. Weekend warriors like me, learned something.
Man, I'm still feeling everybody out as far as experience and mechanical inclination goes. That guy is getting crossed off my good list.
Don't take anyone's word for nothing until proven otherwise especially at a 2 hour drive unfortunately with employees it's there depth of experience is 5 miles wide and an inch deep most just don't know what they don't know
I must admit I was half-way thinking it might be the GET rather than the hardware when you mentioned Black Cat as the brand. I've never had any success with any of their GET, from grader cutting edges to excavator teeth and everything in betwen.
I've switched all mini buckets over to Essco v17 SYL adapters and teeth... https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=esco+v17+syl&_sacat=0&_sop=16 and I order all my ground engaging stuff from these guys....probably not the cheapest but I've never had an issue with them. https://www.genalco.com/
I bet essco is spendy I have naoticed with aftermarket teeth that some don't always fit the shank good they get a loose fit some of them wear like garbage to
I notice the E-bay link says ESCo "Style" Seems to me, that means generic or copy of.
The eBay links are all knock-offs. You wouldn't get genuine Esco GET even at double those prices.......
I agree that they are a bit pricey...and the links were just to show what they looked like. I may go through a set of teeth a year, but I would rather spend more on better teeth that don’t fall off instead of having to chase down a pin or lose a tooth and wear a shank down. I also have used king met teeth on my larger excavator and have been very happy with them as well.