I am working on a gyro-trac mulcher. It appears a previous owner "modified" the loader arms and welded in D4D trunnion mounts instead of the OEM trunnions which utilize a plain spherical bearing. My issue is the used the OEM trunnion shaft which is 2" dia. And the left the inner spherical race. There is about an inch of slop between the old bearing race and the D4D trunnions. My idea is to adapt a 3.5" trunnion ball from some type of machine to be rid of the slop. I dont want to return to the original trunnion setup even though I have all the new parts, because in utilizing the Cat parts, they cut the loader arms shorter. I would have to lengthen and reinforce the arms to return to stock. Too much work for this POS. The D4D bearing caps have a 6F3183 cast into them. What is the part number for the insert side? What is the part number for the trunnion ball? Did these originally have shims? How were they lubricated?
Nothing listed for 6F-3183 in D4D, probably because there is not much data available for machines going back that far. Earliest that 6F-3183 appears in the online system is D4E. If you mean the "other half" of the assembly (Item 5 in the illustration) that mates with the cap the options appear to be either 6F-3184 or 6J-0800. depending on what type of bulldozer frame is used. .030" thick Shims are available to adjust the clearance between the caps and the ball to allow for wear. Part Number 8E-5701. These joints are designed to run dry because they are usually buried in dirt all the time. The welded-on replacement trunnion ball that is listed as mating with the above-referred caps is 9J-2759. Shown as item 1A in the illustration which is NOT from a D4.
Just something to think about. Those trunion balls are tough stuff to work with if your talking machining them to suit your need. If you know a good machine shop you might look into having them make something custom that will adapt better to your existing shaft. 4140 htsr material induction hardened after its machined would be a good fix. My 2 cents worth.
Thanks so much. I will be adapting these trunnion balls in some manner. I googled some pictures and it appears that the ball is heat treated but the flange is of lesser hardness based on the color of each unit. I may be able to weld them directly or slightly modify my frame and then weld them. Any way to know how long each trunnion ball is?
Enough on the back of the ball to get a groove weld into it. See diagram & photo of the finished article below. This is on a D10 BTW, so the ball you are working with will be somewhat smaller, as will the size of the groove weld.
Thank you Sir.