Suspected it but couldn't ck. It out till I got my cylinder fixed on the blade. I raised up the whole dozer today via the blade and the rippers and confirmed the left side track frame pivot is wallowed out. Track moved about a 1 away from the dozer when raised and about a inch back in when weight was reapplied to it. Looking at the pivot shaft itself I found a wore out bushing or ring which came out of the joint. This is going to be fun...where do I start????
Not for the faint-hearted, but here is the procedure.............
Thank You for that valuable information Nige. Update for today: took pivot endcap off and I find no oil but hard packed dirt/rust and bits of the outer bearing along with all the sheared off bolts (3) that retain the pivot shaft on to the track frame itself. I was able to back out all three of those ...however nothing but the equalizer bar and track tension was holding the track frame to the dozer. From the looks of it, its been that was for years. Without tearing it all down (which I Don't have to means to do) im assuming the race on the frame itself for the bigger bearing is wallowed out along with the pivot shaft itself being ground down wallowed out too. time to start considering a DIY fix to stabilize the pivot shaft inside the track frame with like maybe a split collar/bushing inserted from the backside and held in place with another split collar that can be tightened around the base of the pivot shaft holding the other split bushing in place in the track frame. also abandoning the oil for packing the whole thing in grease. I figure it cant be screwed up by me any more than it is now. I figure I can do this without having to disassemble the whole left side track. and get rid of maybe 75% or more of the play in there now. Thoughts? bottom line is I don't have the monies nor the means to do this right there for I will improvise.
When you say "Don't have the means" are you referring to tooling or cash, or both..? Here's the Parts Manual. Bank on the pivot shaft (alt. Part # 282-2704) being toast plus probably the track frame will require building up and machining back to size before new bushes are installed.
Inspect the track frame closely around the bushing mount. They tend to crack around it when the bushings get that worn.
Nige thanks again I really appreciate the information. As to my comments earlier. Cash wise I do have the means but this can turn into a bottomless pit real quick(for a ranch dozer) since the UC is 70% gone already. Plus I don't have the shop to handle this heavy disassembly of the under carriage. Also this dozer is not a money maker...its just to be used maintain some private property. Ill kick this around an will post some pics when I figure out a DIY non proper fix for this and will report my success or failure. Like I said before its already FUBAR so I cant make it worse
Pevo …..ive done 4 caterpillar dozers ( d6h..d5m ..d5n and last the easiest d5g a pallet jack rolled the frame rail out after tracks were moved out the way but so far and each time its something different ..That being said All 3 were complete undercarriages and pivot shafts and equalizer bar were both worn down … https://www.offroadeq.com/may be able to find what u need sometimes old new stock and some after market ..Make up a user name and password and if they don't have it in stock inquire for it they sometimes find it pretty fast and cheapppppppppppppp
Getting DIY ghetto parts made to fix my wore out wallowed out pivot shaft...the wrong way. Already patched replaced the piece of missing front press in bearing at the end of the shaft. And already installed the main bearing/bushing...that used to be a press in sleeve bearing in the track frame. Cut them into kinda wedges to fill the void from the backside of the pivot shaft where the sleeve bearing was at one time. The split collar with the welded on offset rig holds the wedges in place and fills the last gap between the track frame and exposed base of pivot shaft. This also holds in greased hemp rope that raised ring on the collars hold in place...providing a half ass seal to keep the grease that I'm going to pump it full of sorta in place. The last part that holds it all the together is another split collar that I can tighten up around the base of the pivot shaft. The taper of the pivot shaft will naturally force the clamp collar up against all the scrap metal I shoe horned into the track frame cavity. Lastly I plan on a grease zerk that will have a protective steel cap on it to pump grease in amongst all the puzzle of junk I have between the shaft and frame
I reduced lateral moment considerably and the replaced shaft end bolts will keep the track frame from wandering away from the dozer...when breaking or backing up. I'll post a finished pix sometime next week. I'll also have to re tighten the split collar after all the parts wear in and loosen up some.
UPDATE: Installed late homemade split clamp...ran dozer for a hour or so pushing dirt around a creek bed. Thighened it up one time....all seems fine now. I did pack grease in all the Nooks and crannies. ..but still need to fashion a grease zerk to keep grease in there. I'm very happy with the results. And it only costs pennies compared to fixing it the "right" way. Very little wayward movement now. Heres a pic of split clamp over pivot shaft holding every thing in place.