G'day guys, Chasing some advice here. I've got a collapsed track roller on my old d5 dozer. That is, bearings and bushings etc have gone and whilst still in place there is heaps of play. Because of my location, can I leave this roller in place for about another 150 hours? are there any downsides to doing this? Dozer is used about 2-3 hours a day for light to medium work and at present on some hard rocky ground thats banging him around a bit. Also, when it comes time to replace roller, is it bette to replace all...both sides..any thoughts would be appreciated. Two other track rollers have a small amount of movement when the weight is off them and a pry bar is on..maybe 5-6mm or so...am I correct in assuming there should be zero play? Thanks in advance.Ps. we're still not finding any gold!
rollers should not have any play. Having said that we run ours till they are about to come off or are causing track travel problems. I know some frown on this but when your a small company every penny you get out of a u/c counts. I would run it and keep an eye and ear on the tracks to see if their is any chance of throwing a track. When we change or rollers we'd always do atleast on side at a time if not both. Just don't forget lock-tite. Those bolt holes are a pain to redo if a bolt comes loose and strips out.
If it's just one roller, then you may be able to get away with it without too much trouble. It will run on the rock guards (If it has them) and wear grooves onto the back of the grousers. just keep in mind the neighboring rollers are probably on their last legs too, so running them with the one roller out will not do them any favors. Inspect them thoroughly after you get the dozer on blocks.
If you contact Westrac and indicate to them that you're in the market for new undercarriage (the fact you're not makes no difference) they should send someone out to measure everything and give you a complete report on the condition of each & every part of the undercarriage system for FREE. When you have that report post back here again.
I wouldnt use loctite i use antiseize if everything is clean when you reinstall no rust paint etc,and clean out the threads real good use new cat bolts and retorque to specs they shouldnt come loose
thank you very much guy's. Nige...we're operating in a very remote location and would doubt westrac would come this far out for a quote...but I'll ask the question. There is six rollers a side and the one thats failed is asically in the middle. I'm trying to nurse it along untill maintenance over summer...we'll see how we go!
Wasn´t suggesting a quote mate. Cat do a service called Custom Track which is FREE ......... the Parts & Service rep measures your undercarriage and gives you a report on wear % for every component along with recommendations as to what course of actipn to take. That part's free, along with that you could ask for a quote for the parts if you wanted. Sorry didn't realize your exact location, I assumed it was close to Perth. If you nurse it along with a centre roller gone it'll probably make ut for a while longer yet.
If you're not too far from an independent track shop you could get a used roller for $50 or less. Shouldn't be too hard to change since it's in the middle of the track frame...as long as the bolts aren't rusted.
Fix the roller now. Running with a spent roller will lead to more damage that could have been prevented. 150 hours is a long time to run in the condition you describle. Just replace it with used and continue on your way.
We swap out rollers all the time, if you end up with something wrapped around the roller like twine or wire they'll dump the oil out and run dry and ruin them in hours, just swap out the shot one for a better one, we always keep the old rollers from every undercarriage replacement to use for this purpose later on, if it holds oil and isn't too wore out it gets used later on for a replacement. To run it 150 hours might be pressing your luck a little far, that and the noise it makes would be enough to drive me nuts, that and knowing its shot would do me in as well, those things bother me to no end
Just make sure the new roller you get is not way larger (it will get all of the load and overload it and fail, dont buy a new one) than the ones that are on there or you will burn it out in a day, you need to find another used roller about the same od as the ones next to it, look in the junk bin at cat undercarriage shop or a indepenedent track shop, scrap is so high down here its impossible to find used rollers anymore for me
I've had them do a track inspection on a 330C and the report came back with 50/60% wear.. 100hrs later i did a service on it and found one of the carrier roller bearings were that worn it was only holding onto the sheft by the grooves in the shaft and the weight if the track, the boss questioned why i wanted to buy a new roller when they were only 50% worn.. i took great delight in showing him a two piece carrier roller which i removed but saying that i'd agree, if it was the end roller/s you could swap it over with the centre ones (if you knew the bolts werent going to snap) being the centre one i'd be nursing it and changing out the whole lot at once depending on the shell wear of the others I've been asked to oxy cut shells on double roller flanges before because they were that worn they were rubbing on the track chain pins and making a hell of a noise
I worked for a company that had some D66E Komatsu loaders. It had about a 50 percent. The boss man told me get a new one on the way home. Isuggested against it and what did I know I was a 21 year old oerator. He was an older guy but only a concrete man. I showed hime the difference of the diameters and he had me put it on and 2 days later I was taking it off it was taking the whole load. They didnt have an oddball to to put with it so I came home and made a brass bearing to press in it and Put in an oil hole in the roller. It lasted 2 months till I could down it.
thank you for your responses. The advice I have had is that because it's a middle roller I can take it out completely and operate the dozer as is for the short term. Unfortunately when I put the dozer up on it's blade and rippers and take the weight off the rollers I can put a pry bar in there and get small amounts of movement out of four other of the rollers. This is not great. My decision has been to 'suck it up' and replace all track rollers for new. My plan is to then 'rebuild all the old rollers over summer so I have a spare set up my sleeve. I see that parts are available to rebuild these things....my question is, can this easily be done? I keep reminding myself.it's only money.
Guess I'll add my $.02 Rollers need to be checked a couple times a year, more often if you have a leaker. If the thrust part of the bushing wears it can unload the seal in a certain position during a turn, we put STP in the leakers in attempt to make it until repair can be made. In the case of a COWBELL roller I'd replace it when you get the chance. Not really that big of a job, easier yet if you have a dozer/ ripper to jack the machine with. Finding a used roller with the same approx. diameter will likely be the hardest part. Anti sieze the hell out of the bolts.
I'll ask dpete...whats STP?
That's right this is an international fourm ,my bad. STP is a thick oil additive that was popular back in the 70's here in the States, it's sticky and heavier than 140 gear oil and will stay in a leaking roller longer. It's a (get me by) to try and finish a job and save the roller or rollers.
thanks for that.any comments on re-building the old rollers ?...can it be done...if so is it fairly easy and economical?
Yair...54j rebuilding rollers is pretty easy...is it economical? It depends on what your time is worth. Incidently, if your machine does not have blind holes in the track frame you will save yourself a lot of grief if you measure the required bolt length and cut the supplied roller bolts off so they are one thread inside the frame, that is to say there is no thread exposed to rust...and slather on that never sieze or grease. Cheers.
Its easy to reshell rollers, all you need is a 50 ton jack and make a roller press stand, you use a old shaft to push the ones out in the roller you are rebuilding, same way for the bushings, you can get aftermakets shells and seals and have a spare set of rollers for next time, save the old worn shells in case you lose another one so u can build it up to match the wear on the adjoining rollers, we used to mix up a 5 gallon pail of grease gun grease with some John Deere planter grafite 2 tubes to a pail and add some 140 wt and mix it up with a drill and fill up the rollers, we never lost a roller after we got rid of the factory 30 weight, we ran 140 weight in the final drives with some Lucas as well insead of the 30 weight, this was pulling Holt 11 foot root plows with d8 and d9 direct drive cats!!!
Check with u cat dealer about classic rollers, about half the gold . Rebuilding old rollers is a coin toss. I would by aftermarket new and be done with it first. Time is money. Change them once and go dig. My 2 pennys, good luck
mmmm rebuilding rollers, one of my first jobs as an apprentice.. the ladies love the smell of burnt gear oil on ya thats for sure
With today's labour costs I'd go for replacement shells with new bushings already fitted. Disassemble the old rollers, re-use the shaft, end caps, & bolts if they are in good condition. Replace the seals with new, reassemble, fill with lubricant and off you go.
Agree with that, I tried a set of rebuilds on a D8H, got about 1/2 the life and the weld flaked out in places, flanges wore quickly. Went reshell or new aftermarket after that.
I thought it was worth finishing this thread of in case others read it in the future. I have replaced all the track rollers on the old girl. An interesting job in the bush but I got lucky and whoever did the job last put plenty of never-cease on the bolts. All removed ok but still a pig of a job. Interestingly, once off and I could have a good look at the old ones I found that every one of them had movement in them.they were all buggered. I'm pleased about this as it justify's the decision (expense) to swap 'em all out for new.about $3500.00 AUD. Thanks for your input guy's, it's great to get some help even out in the middle of nowhere.
Nice to hear of a happy ending ............. even if it did cost you a bit more than you initially thought. Peace of mind is hard to put a price on. Keep a regular eye on your newly-installed rollers for leaks. Catching leaks while there's still oil in the roller can mean the difference between a cheap repair and a very costly one.
I know it's an old tread but I'm new to the industry and was wondering if you typically fix bolt realted problems your self or pay someone to fix it? If you fix it yourself would you use OEM or aftermarket bolts?