I have a 1981 d3b with 6 -way blade. What I will refer to as blade pivot appears to be worn. Maintaining blade depth is aggravating. Can anyone offer me advise on removing the 4 bolts that "capture" the pivot ball? (bolts appear to be 3/4 inch) What can be done to repair this? Thanks!
Thats the trunnion assembly. The ball is welded to blade. Socket welded to c-frame and trunnion cap bolts on with 4 bolts. If the shims are still in it you can remove them and re shim it tighter. If not you can have cap shaved at machine shop then shim as required. Usually when the trunnion ball and socket has shims removed it is wore out. Have to cut off ball and socket, weld in new and install with new cap. Then shim properly. Good luck which ever route you take.
THank You! Are the shims located between the socket and the cap? I do not appear to have any shims there. There is a 1/16 inch gap between socket and cap on the right side...left side has a 3/16 inch gap.
your bolts are loose. hopefully they are not rusted solid in there. if they are you will need to heat side of socket to keep from breaking bolts. that happens and you gotta pull blade and drill out bolts. there should not be a gap in there at all. try to tighten, if they are froze up get a torch and put some heat on em and back em out. run a tap in the holes, clean threads on bolts and install. with that much of a gap ther may still be some slack but know where near as much. do somethng with em quick, alot of people keep running like that and bolts snap loose.
Thank you again! Dozer is 20 miles from my shop...are the bolts 3/4 " and if so are they 10 TPI or 16 TPI ?
As I recall the bolt are 3/4" and Cat always used coarse threads on that type of application. If the machine was run with those bolts loose, the threads are probably hammered and won't come loose. I have had to cut off the bolt heads, remove the blade from the machine and start working on them with a pipe wrench, hardened drill and finally a gas axe. The project does get your repair thinking working. If there are no shims and the cap is tight you have two options. Shave the caps and run for a little while or replace the caps, trunnion ball and bolts and be tight again for the rest of the life of your dozer. Good Luck!
Jeremiah, is there a web access to the detailed illustrations you provided on the blade? I often get on the Cat web sites (Part Store) and look at their illustrations but I find the ones you provided very good. The Cat sites for part orders are OK but not as user friendly as they could be. Thanks
I go here. http://www.mustangcat.com/parts/parts-online but i have an account at my local cat parts store. So i am automatically regeistered. I am also registered with a CAT ET. You might be able to click on the Firt Time User link on that page and sign up? Then you can check parts and prices on any Cat machine. Also check reman and classic parts. Good Luck.
i removed my c-frame this year and had a machine shop in ada, ok remove those four bolts becuase the threads were battered and would not turn. cost was slightly less than $3k to rebuild repin the whole dozer, but not she will run another 20 years.
Thank you all for your help...problem solved!!
Hello, new to the forum. My father in law and I have been working on his CAT D3C LGP. When he first bought the dozer it was missing the center blade pivot, we did not figure this out till it snapped the 3/4 bolts. We had them replaced and CAT welded the center ring on and we thought we were good to go. Since then we have broken that center d ring off twice. We welded a thicker ring on there and it began to break it again. Hoping someone can give us some guidance or direction.
I see you started a new thread so I'll respond there.