This is on my old ranch dozer, the previous final drive went out in a destruction, case damaged, no oil in it, a total loss. So I bought one locally for $4500 that was supposedly rebuilt. I installed it and it leaks badly and won't adjust. Called my Cat mechanic out to see what was up and he found it hasn't been rebuilt is is most likely a pull-off which is missing seals and has some internal damage to the adjusting cones. I am almost ready to pull it apart again and take it back for a refund. The place I bought it from told me to go ahead get it fixed by Cat but that looks to be at least a $2000 bill so not sure if they are gonna go for that. I should probably warn them? As it is they are already gonna be out at least another $500 for having him come out and diagnose the newly installed bad drive. Might be time to lawyer up as they say. This is getting to be a headache.... Any thoughts?
I would have the people you bought it from come look at it and give them the estimated repair cost from cat, then get it in writing that they will pay for it.
Looks like I will be pulling the drive and taking it back to the place I bought it to have them properly reseal/rebuild it, then they will come back with it and install it for me. They will also pay the bill for Cat to come out and try to fix it, which is actually nearly a $1000. Cat field service ain't cheap. Good idea to get this all in writing in case they get funny. So far I have almost $7000 bucks in the old girl.
Besides getting that damaged final repaired, what are you doing with the other side -- and with all the other oil-filled compartments on your tractor? I hope you learned a little bit about PPM with this. (Planned Preventive Maintenance) Owning a tractor or other piece of equipment is more than just starting it up and hitting the dirt. Walk a round inspections, oil and fluid checks, greasing vital components, periodic fluid & filter changes -- these are all part of ownership too, and will save you a lot of bucks in the long run, even on a lonely old ranch Cat. Sounds like you may have a handle on getting it fixed now, and in writing, I hope. To bad those folks didn't do you right in the first place with a decent component assembly. Might be a good idea for you to be there and visually inspect the internal parts yourself when they tear it down for repair. Who knows what the rest of that looks like inside? What's their warranty on this repair? 90 days, 6 months, 1000 hours? Get that in writing too! Good Luck!
Yeah, I would have saved myself a ton of trouble by making sure the fluids were checked on a regular basis, problem is it has been run by several ranch hands over the years so whatever maintenance we were doing ten years ago has sorta been forgotten and I'm not there all the time to make sure it is done. I do remember the last time I had it in to the dealership for some work on the equalizer spring, I wanted them to reseal the final drives as they had a tendency to leak but they talked me out of it, said it was gonna cost over ten grand to have them both resealed. I did get the drive off and over to the shop that sold it to me so they are gonna rebuild/reseal it and come install it for me, and they also paid the $1000 I paid having Cat come over and look at the other day. So far it looks as if they are standup sorta folks. (The old drive was so tore up I even had to replace the dead axle, that was some more serious bucks)