We are preparing an old cat, a 325LN to take it from europe (Portugal) to Mozambique (near South africa) we took the swivel joint to replace the seals and we find out that the seals were gone, they simply vanished Did this happened to someone else?
Yep same thing happened in my 330l, the service manager at the dealer told me that may be the case. Just install the new ones and away you go.
Seen this a few times, not common but also no uncommon, need to watch f.d oil levels as the oil can bypass and go in case drain lines and blow motor and fill f.d's Derek.
Yes leaking oil will melt the seals away. Best way to test is drive about 200 yds or meters and try to steer. I you have problem then reseal the swivel. Later Bob
Yep, I had this happen to a cat 312, never found the seals in any filters, just disappeared. Did another 1000hrs in that machine no problems
We bought an o-ring kit from Caterpillar and now its a complete different machine, everytime she needed to climb anything it was always with the help of the bucket, much better now.
I have seen more track motors replaced only to find that the real problem was in the swivel. Made it travel like a new one.