Hello frens So a couple weeks ago I unscrewed a plate that’s below the steering clutch adjustment compartments in the middle almost at the bottom and a lot of gear oil mixed with engine oil drained out from there. Here is a photo I’m assuming I have to use sae 140 gear oil but I’m not sure, also I’m not sure what parts that oil lubricate is it the bevel gear or the final drive or something else? I managed to weld the steering brake lever here is a video I’m hoping it won’t brake again Regards J.
For the bevel gear compartment the callout is an SAE30 oil to Cat TO-2 specification. You'll probably find it hard to get that these days, TO-4 is the replacement and it's readily available. I would suggest that you get hold of a copy of the Operation & Maintenance Instructions. It's still available from Cat for download.
Hey I cant find that specific manual to show up im trying the catpublications website is this the right place to be looking? Can you confirm the hole where the oil is dripping is the bevel gear compartment? Thanks
Go to - https://catpublications.com/ Put 78A in the box and click Search. It shows me 4 results, one of which is FE034887. That is the bevel gear compartment.
I always use 90w gear oil in transmission and finals.
You're welcome to use what you want but the factory recommendation is power train oil.
I was able to find sae30 TO4 oil bougtht 1 5 gal bucket, it was very difficult to find, the seller told me its a new product, for the final drives it requires sae50 TO2 but I will use sae30 TomA the previous owner of the d4d told me to use 140w gear oil, temps in the summer here are close to 100F (40C) so previous owner tells me that everybody uses thicker oil, for the hydraulic pump he told me to use engine oil sae50, I will use this sae30 TO4 from now on, what do you think about what he is saying, he says that hydraulic oil is too thin and that the pump is going to start making noises, I will give this TO4 a try for the hyd pump
Here is cat chart for D3C I use T04 for finals and TDTO from cat for transmission this may work for you .O'Reilly has To4 if you have one local.
I wouldn't if I were you. It says SAE 50 for a reason. Unless you are somewhere with an arctic climate SAE30 is too light. I can't believe you had trouble finding TO-4 specification oil. there should be loads of outlets that stock it.
I could be wrong and Nige please correct me if I am, but I think a SAE50 transmission oil is similar in viscosity to an SAE90 gear oil. That doesn’t mean the additive package is the same at all for the two oils and so are not the same oil. I say this to point out how thin a SAE30 oil is for a final drive and second what Nige said.
That was the point I was trying to make. They are in the same ball park. Google "SAE vs ISO viscosity chart."
Yeah I did google it to check myself and found a few good charts. I was going to post one with where it was from but I am sure the OP can find one with google.
Yeah im serious, I live in a "city" in Mexico 10 hours away from mexico city and 3 hours drive from the border with the US, but I think in the rest of the country here in good old "united states of central america" aka mexico, to4 is not that common, there were only 2 sellers online when I googled it and shipping was too expensive, But I will drive to the USA I have a mailbox in hidalgo TX right across the border, so I drive 3 hours then I pickup stuff I buy from US amazon or rockauto, etc. So I will get the to4 sae 50 oil for the final drives. I'm going to try to baby my dozer as much as possible because its an old machine. Oh I forgot to mention that I called the local caterpillar dealer, he told me they dont carry to4 oil but he mentioned someting like "FDT" oil CAT brand, nobody knows what TO-4 is around here or in the whole country im guessing ahahha Im going to drain and refill the final drives too soon because I think its somewhat possible the previous owner used engine oil for the final drives but the good thing about this dozer it was parked inside a shed in an abandoned cane sugar farm for like 40 years because the radiator fan was installed upside down and the machine tended to get hot the farm got sold last year so I was lucky and bought the dozer at a decent price
He would be talking about FD-1 final drive oil. That is SAE60 viscosity and is a bit too heavy for anything other than machines that work 24/7 in mining operations. https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/CM20150813-35930-33142 Call your local dealer and ask him if they sell Cat TDTO oil. I would be amazed if they didn't. It's a Cat-branded equivalent to TO-4. Actually Cat "invented" TDTO first and then developed the TO-4 specification for commercial oil suppliers to use when offering their own products. https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/CM20150813-35930-44106
Thanks again Nige!! Yes exactly thats one TDTO and the dealership guy mentioned they only have sae50 so I am guessing thats the oil I need for the final drives refill! I should probably go to the cat dealership in person to see what else I can get from them the guy at the dealership was half right then to suggest TDTO sae50 for both final drives and bevel gear, I know its a big debate which oil to use etc, I will stick to what it says in the manual and the info I have gathered here J.
Until a couple of posts ago you never mentioned that the machine was in Mexico. That being the case IMHO SAE50 TDTO/TO-4 would do fine for both the bevel gear compartment and the final drives.
Thanks, we have an O'Reilly's here in town, I will check with them.
Yes, I live in Mexico in the infamous state Tamaulipas, borders with texas in fact part of south texas used to be part of this mexican state where I live all the way up to corpus christi, but that was a long time ago, sometimes I wished texas would have taken this part of the country too because this part of mexico is a huge drug mafia mess, I lived in quebec 2 years thats where I honed my english skills (and learned some french but not really). Ok well I will buy the TDTO for the final drives, thanks for all the info!
The subject of the correct oil was already covered a few posts up.
hahahaha thanks yeah it was the first time I welded stamped or cast iron