Preparing to remove the swing tower and wondering if I need to or not. It appears from the book there is a washer at the bottom and the top the serves as bearing for the swing tower, the book doesn't provide a lot of information on what is acceptable tolerance. It appears to be about a 1/16" on top, I can measure if need be. The pin is tapered and I suspect I would replace, but the load must be on the thrust washers? Do I need to replace washers?
My Cat hoe is similar and has the washers on the bottom pivot only. They have some odd grooves in them. I think they just save wear from the swing tower rotating on the swing frame. I think they're a harder material. The swing frame bushing welded in is just mild steel like the swing frame. See how easily a chain or something has gouged into the swing frame. Imagine the swing tower going back and forth thousands of times and mix in a little grease, oil and dirt. It would act like lapping or grinding compound.
Many of those machines have seen a lot of hours. If you want to do it right, take her apart. Replace the thrust washers. You might have to weld and bore the swing tower (swing pin bores and/or pivot pin bores). You won't know until you get her apart. Weld up the chain gouges in the frame. If you're lucky, new frame bushings will be all you need and she won't need a line bore.
Thanks, will check vertical play tomorrow. I did find some info in the book, says 1/16" or less. About 3000 hours on the machine and in pretty decent shape. Planning to build next season and hoping to avoid breakdowns. Overall its pretty tight, replaced the cutting edge on the bucket last weekend.
I don't think a little vertical play is a big deal. If it was tight would make putting the swing tower and hoe difficult to put back on. I clamped my drill press to the swing frame to bore the top pivot for a new bushing after building it up with weld. Welding was tricky for the first few passes at the bottom but once I had a shelf established it was much easier. I'm an hour out of the city so figured I saved at least $1000 on having it line bored.
If you go on you tub there is a very good video of a young man doing the swing tower in a 580 SE that is the same as a D. I intend on doing mine along with the stabilizer pins and bushings, this spring.
Did the bushings come out easy?
Found it, thanks. Fortunately mine is not worn that bad
Yes, they came out fairly easily. Years ago I ripped the top swing mount right off because of poor engineering by Cat. A crack started at a poorly placed grease fitting. A few weeks ago someone posted a pic. of their new Cat 931B with backhoe that had a crack in the same place. I have extensive experience repairing the swing frame unfortunately. LoL
We have about 150 thou of vertical movement and bushings on the swing cylinders at the tower end are shot. I dont see much movement at the bushings on the cylinder, they are a cup style and getting them replaced looks like it could be difficult. Thoughts?
Bushings in the rod eye of the cylinder? Might need to use heat. I had some impossible to remove bushings inside the steering clutch compartments on my track loader. I used a cutting torch with a perfectly clean tip and cut through the bushings about 80%. Then I used a chisel in the notch I created to turn the bushings and they broke after a few hits and came out. I wish I would have had dry ice or something to freeze the new bushings. They were hard to install.
We removed all the bushings that we plan to replace with a hot wrench, went well and was pretty quick. Managed to get some dry ice and so far the bushings are all going in rather easily, I did borrow a hollow porta power to pull them in and that helped. I have a question about hose and hose size, specifically the ones that come off the valve bank. Some were 5/8 and some 3/4, no doubt some have been replaced in the past. I started looking up the parts numbers and so far it seems like 3/4 is the size. There is a adapter on the fitting at the valve bank that reduces the dipper down to a 5/8 orfice? I do not see this part in the book....?, the book indicates any restrictions needed were inserted into the valve? Thoughts please?
Swing tower is back in place.
3/4" ID hose seems big for a 580D. I'd have thought they'd be 1/2" ID. The adapter might be to slow the speed slightly. Somebody sure liked wrapping a chain around the bottom of the swing post mount. The grooves look like they formed by a hard chain sliding across the plate while it's under tension. Maybe from chaining the machine on a trailer? If that's the case use some pipe or tubing to run the chain through to prevent the grooving. You should weld those grooves up so they don't come back you haunt you. I ripped the top swing mount off and bent the bottom mount on my Cat hoe. Grooves like that could certainly make it bend easier if you had a catastrophe like I did.
okay, so for what it’s worth, I just checked my 580 SE and it is reduced as well. From OD measurements though it looks as though they are all 1/2” and the dipper is reduced to 3/8”.
I looked up all the part numbers for the hoses and they are all listed as 5/8" except for the dipper extension, which is listed as 1/2". The adapter that is in the dipper reduces that port from 3/4" to 1/2". I think someone (PO) did this because that's what they had or could get easily. The book does not show this adapter. I am inclined to remove and use a 5/8" hose, unless there was some issue and this is a factory / dealer fix? The groves in a the swing tower (sigh) also from a PO apparently using a cable to secure the machine to the trailer. I may weld them up, however I dont think they have compromised anything at this point. Rest assured I will not be tieing it down that way in the future. Thanks for the help!
You should see how the hoe works. I can't see many people replacing a hose with a smaller fitting and just happening to have an adaptor sitting around. As for the gouges they do compromise the bottom swing post. Enough to be a problem is the question. They are easy to repair though.
In Alaska, people do what they have to and use what is available!