Good Morning All. Given the economy, I now have the opportunity to try some more of my own repair. I have one of the side covers off of my Cat 242 and can see the chains. It looks to be apparent that they are tensioned by moving the wheel hubs(which has slotted mounting holes) fore and aft. But what is the proper chain tension? From time to time, I felt that I had heard some slapping from this area and have about 2" of total slop in the RR chain. Any advice from SS techs out there?? Looks like I'm looking for a chain tension spec and torque spec for the hub bolts, and if there are any specifics things to watch out for. I have service manuals for much of my eqpt, just not the piece I'm working on. Go figure..
This is something I need to do with my machine too. Is the oil level below these side panels or do you need a catch pan? I've got a manual in my machine, I'll take a look later today and see if the specs are in there and post them if they are.
Steve, There's a 2" plug or so in between the wheels which is the "check point" for the lube. It is much lower than the inspection plate. So other than a great RTV sealant that held like cement, the plate just pops off to expose the whole shooting match with no mess required. I took my tires off just so I could crawl in there, but once that's done there's all kinds of room in there. Looking forward to seeing what your manual shows. Have a good & safe one!
OK, got the skinny. With the bottom chain taught, there should be no more than 1.6" deflection of the top chain. If so, it should be tightened to .6" deflection by loosening the axle spindle nuts as you mentioned and the axle should pushed away from center drive to do so. Axle spindle nuts get tightened to 37 ft/lbs in an opposite pattern as you would lug nuts on a 3/4 ton truck rim. They recommend checking the torque a second time in the same pattern, and then crank an additional 90° on the wrench, again in the same pattern. Recommended service interval is 500 hours. Caterpillar makes a tool to spread the axles, it works like a turnbuckle in opposite. It appears to be a hexagonal threaded tube to fit a wrench to which has threaded rod on each end with a semi circle welded to the end to cup the axle housings and push them apart.
Us old folks use a 4x4 cut close to length and some heavy oak wedges to spread them.
Great stuff guys. Thanks Steve for the lesson. Did you catch what the recommended lube is in the cases? I have both sides' covers off and have over the 1.6" , so off to cut some boards now. I was wondering about making a turnbuckle, but the 4x4 would be a bit faster.
I'll look at the oil spec later today.
They specify motor oil be used in the chain boxes and state capacity is 1.6 gallons per box. The oil viscosity varies according to temperature just like for engines.
Thx. It looked like 15-40 or 20-50.
Chain Adjustment: Hello RT, You might be able to use a ratchet binder... they work good to push, as well as pull. You might have to do a little fabrication work on it... I don't know. OCR...