Hi everyone I have been meaning to post this thread for a while and seeing the shiny 12G in the last thread has reminded me to do it. I have a 12G with a 12ft blade (8in edges) and have been doing work building erosion control banks lately. I have been finding the 12G a bit underpowered for what I’m doing and wondered how much I could safely turn up the horse power on it… or how to know if it’s already been played with. Has anyone turned up the naturally aspirated 3306 and if so how much? Not sure if it’s possible to add a turbo easily either. I don’t know if it would need internal components as well as the obvious bits on the outside? The specs for the banks we are building are: min height: 500mm (about 20in) Aiming for min width at base: 1500mm (about 60in) The height is the most important bit. The banks are different lengths from short up to 250m long. Most of the graders being used are 16 size machines apparently. One other bloke has a 160H ii. He has been doing the work near us but is too busy and we got a chance. I have worked out how I can build a bank in the same number of passes that the 160H does but I am at the limit of the 12G. Pre ripping then 4 blade passes is the current method. A bit more power would let it do it easier but long term a bigger grader would be needed I think if we keep getting the work. Interested to hear people’s thoughts on options there too. The 16’s are too big to be useful for other work so no good for me. I had a drive of the 160 and liked it, bit hard to find though. Other options would be 143 or a 14. I haven’t driven these though so hoping people might be able to share their experiences. John Deere graders seem pretty good options too but anything other than Caterpillar the parts are harder to get. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!!
This is my grader parked next to one of the bigger banks, an extra 2 runs in this one I think.
A 140G would have more HP than the 12G and a 160G would have a little more HP than the 140G. You need a bigger rad. witb a turbo and I don't think you can just add a turbo. I think you need different pistons among other things.The 3 machines basically use the same frame. There is a very good thread in the archives on here where Randy Krieg explains most of the differences and he worked for Cat helping to develop them.
Yeah I expect there would be internal stuff like you say for the engine to add a turbo. I honestly don’t know for sure though and that’s why I was curious about it. This engine is too good to pull apart just because I am greedy as well, so I’d leave the turbo idea alone if that was the case. I did drive a 12g once for a few hours that had been fueled up a bit and it blew quite a bit of black smoke on acceleration. That’s why I don’t think mines has been turned up much if it has been played with, because it doesn’t smoke much at all. I wasn’t really ready for another grader when this one came up but it was too good to pass up and I knew the bloke. I would have preferred a 140 but this grader really is a great machine. It is only doing this heavy work it shows it limits. I thought (to my surprise) the 12G and 140G had the same radiator too but I will check that. I have seen the thread you mentioned but I might go and find it again. I know the 160H that I got a drive of had a taller and thicker blade on it too. The blade from a 14H I believe. That was why I was curious about the 143 vs 160 vs the 14 from an operating view and also portability and maintenance. I have a mate with a 140G, 140H and a 140M in their fleet now and I need to go for a visit and have a play. Anyway sorry for the long drawn out post lol!!!
No problem, more info is always better when you're looking for help.
Ok just checked the digital spec sheets I have about the radiator capacities... I think it has to be a mis-print! 12G= 45Lts 140G=40Lts Unless one is early and one is late in the series?
I am far from an expert about graders. That being said, years ago I worked for a local contractor that had a 12G that had a turbo on it. I guess I assumed that it came off the assembly line that way. I didn't run it alot but I don't recall it ever being underpowered or overheating. I don't recall anything looking altered in the engine compartment so I'm sure it had the original radiator in it. Most of my seat time on it was smoothing haul roads for articulated dump trucks on a few jobs. It wasn't very tasking on the machine. I normally ran a dozer and would just hop on the grader every couple hours when the haul roads got rough. It did smoke some when you put the fuel to it but it wasn't real bad.
Tires that are bigger can make a grader like that seem sluggish, especially if they are radials. What size tires are on it now? When tires are changed to a ‘taller’ tire, it changes the reduction ratio, so it needs more hp to turn the wheels and may seem sluggish
Yeah good point. Since I’ve swapped to the worn down matching radials it seems to spin out without bogging down as much. I had put that down mostly to lack of tread but the point you make could count for a lot more than I’d gave it credit for…. Very interesting !! I’ll find the measurements of them and post them. They were both 1400-24 radials but the bigger ones were 2ins higher I think… I’ll find out exactly.
What are the berms for?
Does your grader have air conditioning? That little cover on the roof?
I see now it’s a strobe and guard
The ones in the picture are water ponds that we survey in to hold 100mm/4in of water. They hold water on the slope to crack the top soil and get grass going again. They vary in shape based on the contour but on gentle slopes that are relatively flat they look like horseshoes going down the slope, each one overflows into the next and the idea is that it holds a sheet of water on the slope to soak in. It’s pretty neat… I’m learning about it as we go and learning how to lay them out to fit the landscape. The big one that the grader is next to is either 320m or 370m long I can’t remember which one it is. We are blocking erosion gully heads off and redirecting them too
Yeah it does have Ac, but your right!!
The bigger tyres were Triangle TB516S and 1418mm/55.8in overal dia. The ones on now are Michelins and originally should have had a dia of 1360mm/54in
The last triangle tyre that split in the sidewall and the set that is on now. They were to be a spare set with really good rims but they are now the main set. Looking at what to get as a new set to replace them now. Advance brand in similar tread pattern look like good value for money
Are you going to run the old tyres out on the front axle.?
We do similar practices here but we use dozers to build ours. Looks like our slopes are steeper. Most are built to hold anywhere between 2ft-4ft of water.
Where abouts are you located JAJ? I’ve got a set of Double Coin radials, with similar wear to those Mitchys, that you could have at the right price. We also have a 12G, along with a 140H, and do a lot of bush work as well as council road maintenance. We gave the radials away years ago for the bush work due to stakes etc. and went to a 24 ply BKT. Might seem a bit extravagant, but on the 140H, we have two sets of rims, one 17.5 with Mitch. radials for the road work and another with 14.00 BKTs for the bush. This was the first set we bought 12 years ago… just fitted our third set the other day and not a single stake in all that time.
Bam1968, that looks like an area of Iowa that we hunt. JAJ, how did you do the air conditioning on a 12G?
Yes that is my plan. I have old bias-ply ones on the front at the moment so they might stay there for the moment and keep the others in reserve. Like Queenslander said about the puncture risk I might keep the radials for road work. I feel I can get along a bit quicker with radials... less bounce?? I am not the worlds most experienced operator so I might be imagining it too. If you get everything set right there probably isn't much difference I also found some bald 28ply ex mining tyres at a shop that was selling them for $100 each (haven't seen them in person. They could be candidates for bush work on the front too, especially for my old 12E grader.
Yeah looks like the same idea just hold lots more. Here they make some bigger banks with a dozer or loader but most of those are to block off an erosion gullys and control the diverted water where there is more pressure. I asked about more depth and it has been tested but our soil didn't like it in a lot of cases apparently. We are semi-arid/ arid where we are and it wasn't used to so much water. The 100mm/4in gives the best return on investment as far as we know here. They are keen to keep testing ideas though. There are some youtube videos of the government department guy that is the main bloke that does the planning of it (near me) and has been teaching and mentoring me on the planning side of things. If your interested I could post the link? We are doing the surveying (still under guidance at this stage), construction and drone monitoring of the project. Its the first time they have had one contractor do the whole lot so we are working a lot of things out as we go, almost 2/3 of the way through the first run of projects and everyone is very happy so far.
I’m based between Wanaaring and Tibooburra in NSW. What about you? That idea with swapping tyres for bush work is a good one. Those BKT’s look like a great idea. My 12E is going to need a set of drive tyres soon too, they would be ideal for it, it only does bush work and they would be a lot better than the tractor pattern ones! I’d love that front blade you have too!!
My air con was fitted at the factory when it was ordered. Some guys here put roof mounted systems with an engine driven compressor as a retro fit. REDDot brand seem to be the most common of those setups. On my old 12E I put a fully self contained 24v roof mounted truck cooler. The compressors are run from 24v so only need to run cables to the batteries. Put one on my 966C loader first. They work ok… drop the air temp at the vent by around 10*C which is pretty awesome compared to nothing in summer. Not in the same league as engine driven compressor systems but I think it’s nice and easy on old machines.
Iam north of Chinchilla, so a fair hike from Tibooburra, but then, Tibooburra is a fair hike from anywhere. Send a PM if you’re interested in the Double Coins, I don’t want much for them. Two that were on the front would be 75%..the other four might be 50%. I can even throw in four of the old BKTs…not much tread but sound cases.
I'm just little ways east of omaha. Alot of southwest iowa looks the same.
I’ve looked at the red dot online. Either rig up a bracket for an engine/belt driven or go with hydraulic driven somehow.
I’ve been told that the deer hunting is good around there also.
We got off topic on this one also! I bet if you had a good pyrometer and exhaust and boost gauges, you could safely turbo and turn up the fuel on these. We run a couple pulling tractors and you would be surprised how much heat a diesel can take before melting things.
JAJ, the major area you're up against, is the operating weight of your 12G. If you boost the HP, you will find you'll only produce more wheelspin - or you'll find the weak parts in the drivetrain. Drive chains and axles are probably the weak points of the Cat graders - although some of the transmission gears, such as planetary ring gears would also fail with a HP boost. The 3306 can produce a lot more power, but the grader drivetrain is not built to handle a major HP increase. The only thing to do if you need more "grunt", is to trade up to a heavier, higher HP grader - you'll find the extra weight and increased HP is a real eye-opener. I ran an old knuckle-buster Cat 12E in the 1980's, and then moved up to a Cat 14E (72G series, rigid frame, powershift). The difference between 115HP and 150HP was remarkable - but the additional few tonnes of operating weight was what gave the 14E a tremendous advantage when it came to bulk dirt-shifting when throwing up big banks. I used to build a lot of "contour banks", these were steady-fall banks built on the contour to carry away excess water and to stop erosion, and they needed a heavy grader to throw them up. My 14E also ran 17.5-25 tyres, this made a huge difference in getting power to the ground.
Hi OzDozer. Thanks heaps for joining in on the discussion!! Its greatly appreciated and that goes to everyone else too that has joined in. Sorry for the slow reply. Your experience going from the 12E up to the 14E is very interesting. I totally agree with everything you said, if I had more Hp with my current set up (especially the 1400-24 tires) weight would definitely be the limiting factor. It already accounts for the majority of my challenges. What gave me the idea that I could go up a little bit more safely (non turbo) was I am sure I have seen a spec brochure some where that showed a special application/market spec 140G that was non turbo and still 150Hp. I cant find it again though. I thought the only real difference between the 12G and the 140G was the turbo engine and usually setup with a 14ft blade. I know going from 135Hp to 150Hp doesn't sound like much of a jump to most people but I think it would make a noticeable difference. I think anything over 150Hp would be mostly a waste especially in gears 1-3. I couldn't believe the 140H with skinny tires that i drove didn't feel much more powerful than my 12G while trying to move lots of dirt, I know the 14ft blade makes a difference but it sure showed that more power is useless if you cant get it to the ground. A bit more power might help me out till I find a good upgrade, but upgrading to a bigger a machine would be much better all round and probably better putting the effort into finding that instead. That brings me to the next question.... what to upgrade to? A bigger G, a bigger H or John Deere perhaps?? A cat with a version of a 3306 would be my preference (what I have in other machines and what I know) but open to any ideas. Graders are pretty expensive for the age of what I am looking for at the moment so it will be a waiting game for the right machine. Nige suggested a 140H or 143H (with wide tires). I haven't had anything to do with AWD but it sounds great. A bit more complex so more maintenance perhaps? I think i would be waiting a while for a nice 160H to come up, but they have the added benefit of being heavier again, more Hp and a taller blade (27in over 24in). As a side note the blade height advantage might be easy to fix.. on my old 12E someone got excited in its previous life and welded a 4in extension ontop of the blade. Not sure if this would work with clearance on the more modern machines. Then there is the 14G/H but i wonder if they would be too big to be useful for normal work like road maintenance ect?? Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and opinions.
12G ,140G basically same machine ,I've got a 12 with a 3306 turbo motor out to 185hp run a 14ft blade transmissions are the same all the drive line also mines done 18 thousand hours like this trans has done 27k no problems
One interesting note when you mentioned power vs traction weight the 140g with variable horsepower cut the power down in the lower gears not sure if the H does that they have always felt stronger than a G to me
Did you add the turbo? If so what else had to be changed? Or did you swap motors? Very interesting post!!! Thank you. Great to know it’s done a heap of hours and no dramas too. It is a bit wet on the job here and the clay is sticky enough in a few spots that it won’t roll properly. I got the ***** with it a couple days ago (didn’t sound like it was reving enough) and went to do some investigations. I found I didn’t have the correct tools to adjust the rack but I found there was enough play in the linkages for the governor it wasn’t going all the way to the high revs stop in the pump. Adjusted this and that small bit made a huge difference. It’ll be interesting to see the change in fuel burn now. Might help work out if it has already been turned up some?.
Yeah they have VHp as well. The mate I have with the 140G, H and M says that the H feels stronger than the others. He said the M felt like the weight of the G on his truck when he picked it up. After they added a roller on the rippers (almost 2t counterweight) the M will match the H. This is interesting because the spec sheets say the M is supposed to be heavier… must be the balance of the machine perhaps.
It would be easier to prove the existence of a god then try to understand the cat grader numbering system. In saying that I have seen a 130G turned into a 140G by removing the 3304 and shoe horning a 3306 into it. This farming operation does contracting with their earthmoving equipment and use their big Deere grader for bank shaping. They just did the transmission on it after an odd noise was heard. We have a little 670A grader and do make small banks with it, but it is a lot of work to shift dirt with a light grader.
While I think the 160 is a great all around combo, its still a lighter 12 class chassis. They work great for road maintenance because they fit on the narrow roads, where a 14 gets too big. But The 14 class machine is really your best combo for ditching and banking and heavy material moving. Ive got a pair of early 12G 61M's with 14' mb - that spent most of their life as a road / runway maintainer. Summer times will move a big bunch of dirt. We do move tons of heavy wet snow with a 12' snow wing. (I have wanted to 966C config Turbo /pump these since I was a teenager) but was a huge step up from the 12/F's we ran for decades before. Our local Govt Road agency decided they wanted to force upgrade of the contractors machinery (lots of 12E/F and 14E machines in use, until about 1995) They implemented a minimum requirement of 150hp. Put a bid incentive for higher HP and more weight, and newer year model to give a bid preference of scoring percent. The most bought 140's to get into the pack. To the best of my memory CAT came to our shop and ajusted the racks, pumps etc and certified them as 150 hp. We carried on, still running today. A couple of things to keep in mind: The 17.5-25 tires are shorter than the 14-24 - better torque. The radials grip better, but are twice the weight - and its noticable on the lower powered machines Running lower tire PSI will increase the footprint and traction. Too stiff a PLY rating will not hook up and are miserable to work in soft ground. If you're spinning them too much even with lower PSI, try some chains? If you cant justify a newer Cat, maybe look around for a 740-780 Champion in the series 3,4,5. They were about 220-250 hp and will move some dirt. I never thought I could say that but its the truth. I got an 872 Deere and wow what a big difference in power and work capability. Never had a Deere grader but this thing changed my mind about them.
Haven’t been back here for a while, so thank you to all the reply’s I may have found a 140H series 2… still looking for a 14. What do people think of the series 2 H with the 3176 engine? I have been looking for a 3306 engine if I stay cat but they are getting harder to find! If I had to go to a series 2 H, would I be better just going straight to an M series?? The computers and wires everywhere in the front end in the M scare me for where we live and work but there is no way around that if you can’t find an older H with low hours I suppose. The John Deere graders look very interesting too. A 770G or GP looks to be a big jump on paper from a 140 Cat. Even the 672G might be better suited?
We’ve got a CCA 140H, it’s been a rock solid machine. I am confident that we could get more for it now than what we paid for it ten years ago. This auction is running at the moment…the H clearly outbidding the lower hour M series. https://www.pickles.com.au/trucks/item/search/-/listing/listSaleItems/5339#!/result?q=ProductType.Earthmoving and Mobile Plant.&sort=Product_Type_Sequence
Well, I knew that the H series graders were holding their value very well but this is crazy. Auction is done and dusted but I snapped these screen shots with winning bids.
Queenslander - And there's buyers premium on top of those bid numbers! The reason is simple - there's a major shortage of quality brand name, good condition, moderate hour plant and equipment. There were bottlenecks in supply during the pandemic, and this has led to owners keeping equipment for longer, and the reduced amount of equipment coming onto the market is generally in poor condition. Add in substantially-increased prices for new equipment, and this seriously impacts used prices. Plus, it seems like there's no lack of money out there for the good gear. 4 bumper grain seasons in a row, good commodity prices, handouts to businesses during the pandemic, and general Govt largesse by way of extensive spending on projects, has all added up. You're struggling to find a decent 2 to 3 tonne brand name truck with reasonable kms, anywhere. Any that do appear, sell for huge dollars. I have a client looking for a 2-3 tonne traytop, and I'm getting depressed at the level of junk on offer, the selling prices at auction, and the private asking prices for the few reasonable-condition small trucks, that are available.
I just have trouble getting my head around the reason for a 35% premium for the older machine. Both graders were owned by the same outfit, were well maintained and had comprehensive service history. The M had new heui pump and injectors several thousand hours ago, a few minor electronic glitches but otherwise relatively trouble free life. Older grader has been similarly trouble free but nothing rebuilt, no grade control etc.
I think it's very much a case of "give a dog a bad name". The early M-Series were *****, to put it mildly. Cat was upgrading software what appeared to be a weekly basis, plus there were loads of major mechanical upgrades as well. If the upgrades were done all together an M-Series would be in the shop for a solid month. Yes there was that much work involved....... Having said all that......... I wouldn't be against a used early M-Series provided that: - 1. All the factory mechanical updates called out for the particular S/N had been performed. 2. It had the latest available everything in the electronics, including stuff like the electro-hydraulic actuator in the steering valve. 3. I had people in my maintenance crew who understood the electronics and were capable of looking after the machine.
In general, owners here are preferring to buy older equipment that has less complex and troublesome electronics, and low levels of emission equipment. They will prefer to buy this older equipment and rebuild it, because it's easier and cheaper to rebuild and has a higher level of reliability. Equipment produced in the last 8-10 years has a bad rap for higher operating costs, and lower availability. This stuff is called "big company equipment" - because the big companies buy this stuff, run it for a couple of years until it starts giving trouble, then they quit it and buy new equipment.
Thanks everyone for your input and opinions, as always greatly appreciated! Nige what is your opinion of the 140H series 2 for electronics compared to series 1 and how would a 3176 engine compare reliability wise to a 3306? I have heard mixed opinions on the engine but I have never had anything to do with them. As OzDozer said I am very much of the keep electronics to a minimum but series 1 H graders seem to be getting held onto or have lots of hours. Then as everyone has said prices are through the roof!!! This series 2 one I found only has 9500hrs and has been fitting with a new millimeter gps system 12months ago so that leads me to believe it hasn’t done lots of hard work.
There are also zero legal restriction's on engine emissions in off road vehicles/equipment in Australia. It is only registered cars and trucks that have to be compliant with emission laws. Cat could still sell any new 3306 powered piece of equipment here.
Had forgot about Pickles… there is another one coming up this morning but it’s a series 1 with 13,200 hours I think it said. Wish I’d had a chance to go look at it! Pics don’t look too bad, will be interesting to see what it makes!!!
Really!?!? That’s very interesting! I have seen a couple of new K series and also I think a I remember seeing a GC grader with the 3306 in them. The GC badged machines are all made in China so not sure how they would go?? That being said a mate was showing me his 950H loader is made in China. Everyone told him don’t buy a 950GC as it’s made in China… so he didn’t and ended up with made in China anyway haha.
Just rechecked the new spec sheets…. They both have C7 engines now, bugger!
The H series are a big step up from a G, to more modern hydraulic control but comes with a bit of complication as well. Closest you’ll get to a G series reliability. I was looking for a couple H series cats and they want too much money and no Cat dealer close by so I went with a Deere 872D and it’s a hell of a machine. It’s got 13k hours on it but you’d never know it. Def happy with it.
Cat have been in China for decades. About 20 years ago I bought a thermostat from Cat. The box said Made in USA, the thermostat said Made in China, so I guess the cardboard box was made in the USA. Maybe all Cat USA have left is a small building churning out aluminium ID plates they stick on machines with made in USA on them. The rest of the machione is made in China. As for the H series graders. No doubt it got fixed quickly, but I remember when the local council went from 12G to 12H, the H series liked to snap axles with the 17.5X25 tyres.
As another option… a 16G I have just seen . It would be probably too big for most of the run of the mill work we usually do but should be good for pushing up big banks, and a heap cheaper. I haven’t operated a grader that big so I don’t know but I suspect it would just be too big and awkward???
Two days left and no bid yet. Looks like reserve is 100K. 9.90% in this case. That makes the tier 2 machine a $261500 grader. I could probably be persuaded to part with ours for a little less than that.
So bit of an update.... I have purchased a 2012 Cat 140M. I was going to wait till I got it home and post a pic but it has been a few weeks waiting and wont be till mid next week now. I looked around at a few and this one was a bit of a last minute find, hoping it will prove its self to be good value for money. Looking forward to getting it to work and getting the hang of the joysticks!!! Fingers crossed there is not to many teething dramas to sort out with it once it goes to work, Cat tells me according to their records it has all the updates done and it was an ex government machine so hoping it is good to go. Thanks for everyone's opinions and input.
So another update…. The new grader isn’t going well so far. It came back to a mates place closer to home and I was going to pick it up from there. We reversed it off his truck (seemed sluggish engaging reverse) and was going to load it on mine. I thought I’d see what was going on with the sluggish engagement and it seemed to be sluggish in a couple of the forward gears as well. Figured it may just need a fill calibration as the dealer rebuilt some gears in the transmission. It wouldn’t get up to temp sitting in the shed so I drove it around for a while to get it up to temp so it could do the calibration…. In the process 2-3 forward started slipping and reverse stopped completely. It even started creeping forward in neutral…. With your foot on the inching pedal!! The dealer is sending out the mechanic that did the transmission repairs tomorrow to troubleshoot it, so see what he works out. I put it up on blocks to do some pressure testing to see if we could work it out over the phone and apart from slow engagement and disengagement of a few of the modulation valves it seems there wasn’t any valves with pressure that shouldn’t be. But the gauges I had access to weren’t small enough so there could be still some there. Hopefully when I go back tomorrow with the mechanic we find it’s just in the modulation valves. Would be interesting to see what the guys here that are familiar with the M series think.
First thing you should do IMHO is ask the dealer guy to hook up ET and download a Product Status Report (PSR) in Adobe pdf format, then post it here. It will be interesting to see what it shows as regards the ECM software (there are a few, 5 or 6 IIRC) being up to date. EDIT: TBH if the dealer service dept has any sort of decent protocols then first he ought to hook ET up to the machine before he touches anything else.
Yeah he is coming with laptop to plug in and see what it says. Also with some other clutch modulation valves if needed to swap and check if that is the problem. We are hoping the drama is in the valves and a calibration. I will check in regards to the ECM software. I spoke to Caterpillar about that re any updates and they said that it was all up-to date as per their records, just via the serial number (not plugging in). I’m piecing the story back together from multiple sources and I have a hunch this might have been the cause for the trans needing a rebuild in the first place. Or at the very least similar symptoms. Starting to sound like they fixed the damage and the cause they found for it wasn’t perhaps the cause. Anyway that is probably jumping the gun, but it will be very interesting to see what we find tomorrow!! @Nige at the very least I’ll get some pictures of the screen if I can’t get a pdf version.
Won't be much good mate. The full version will be about 20 pages....... Apart from that you are the customer - you are 100% entitled to a copy. It's not a document that is confidential to the dealer. If he jibs at giving you a copy call his boss and dob him in.
Yeah ok, I’m new to how ET works… got a quick demo and got to have a play with it for a few hours the other day but still working it all out. Yep I will make sure I get it then! I think he will be ok about it… he is personally responsible for this one and he’s making stuff happen to get it sorted out quickly. I just hope it doesn’t have to go back and get pulled down again. But they are saying they will fix it no matter what, so just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. As soon as I get the PDF I’ll put it up.
Acksherley if he does it by the book he should download a PSR before he starts to do anything and another one when he finishes, so there is a “before” & “after” record of how the machine was set up electronically.
Yeah ok. Well I will make sure of that too then!! Makes sense to me. I think he worked for Cat before he went out on his own as a contractor so he should be up to speed…. He will be after this anyway. The dealer is a secondhand dealer and routinely gets the Cat dealer guys in to do updates on all machines if they need any before they are sold I am told. So will be interesting when I upload it and check.
Long overdue update for anyone interested. So the new grader is home and now done some work as well. It ended up going back to the secondhand dealer for another pull down of the transmission and got fixed properly the second time. It’s a very long story to get to here and I don’t want to bore everyone with it, but all now seems to be working as it should in regards to the transmission. It won’t surprise people to know that Nige was a massive help behind the scenes, helping me make sure it was getting fixed correctly the second time around. I can’t really express my gratitude to Nige for all your help on this!!! I hope I get to shake your hand in person one day, but in the mean time all I can do is say thank you.
My grader was going for scrap. 2 years was not working and i had pay all the mechanics from my country to fix it. I had to take a loan for paying them to not doing nothing. At last i find Nige and he fixed that
I would suggest that you do a filter change and cut the old one for inspection within the first 100 operating hours or so.
Please do.
Thanks Nige yeah ok that’s a good point, I’ll do that. I think it would only have about 60hrs so far due to more wet weather hold ups so I’ll drop the filter when I get over to it again and post a pic. So far I have found I need to re bush the pins for the articulation cylinders very soon and there is a bit of play in one of the king pins but otherwise just needs a couple of shims taken out to tighten a couple things up a bit tighter. It looks like it could be fun getting the artic cylinders out of the machine?
See attached. See this LINK for a good video on cutting & inspecting a filter element. Maybe at the same time pull an oil sample and have it analyzed, especially for the ISO Contamination Code. That will give you a good idea of the levels of particles in the powertrain oil system.
Yeah ok the oil sample is a good idea as well. The Adept Ape on YouTube seems to be pretty good, I’ve seen a few of his videos now. I found this video of line boring the 140m artic cylinders done by a Aussie guy that seems like he knows what he’s doing with his videos as well. I was surprised he didn’t need a hollow ram to pull and install the pins! I have to reseal the articulation cylinders on the 12g as well and I think I’ll be working out how to use the hollow ram on it. I need to rebuild the centre hitch on the 12G at some point too but I am dreading doing that.
The machine in question working building a pond bank.
Forgot the attachment......
I did wonder about that, but didn't want to annoy you so thought I would let it develop Thank you!