Have about 1/8 inch slack on equalizer bar end pins. How do you check center pin slack?
Get under it and have someone lift and lower the tractor with the blade. Watch the bar to frame movement as they do this. Later Bob
If no slack is found, how long can machine be run with minimal slack in end pins?
Just keep an eye on it every Monday morning or replace the worn parts now. The sooner you do it the less it will cost. You may be able to save the cost of lineboring the pin holes now that will pound out if kept running. Later Bob
I agree with Bob. The sooner you do the repair the less work it will require. I would not class 1/8" of slack as minimal on a D6-size machine. To me that amount of play would be almost panic time -- maybe you are into line boring territory (or almost) already. Edit: It would be strange to find there was any play at all in the centre pin, usually all the play is in the end pins because of the way the spherical bearings can move in all sorts of directions at the same time.
Assuming the center pin had no slack, would removing and replacing the end pins require removing both roller frames?
Sometimes by removing one or both the equalizer end pins you can jack the machine up (either with the blade or other means) sufficiently to give enough space to change the end pin bearings. It may be the case on this tractor but never having done one personally I'm not 100% sure. Is the S/N of this tractor PERxxxxx..? Another comment on the centre pin. On this model the centre pin is greased, the end pins are sealed spherical bearings that will wear rapidly once the seals fail. Provided the greasing has been done as per recommendation it would be highly unlikely IMO that the centre pin has any wear yet.
I have just done one a few months ago at 13500 hours.I last did it at 7400 hours. Both times the tractor was run too long and eq bar had to be removed the put new ends on or have them rebored.The trackframe are left on . It's quite a simple job of removing the centre pin,removing both take frame pins and sliding the eq bar out.The center pin is still like new after nearly 14000 hours so you don't need to worry unless it's been starved of grease. The rebored thing or replacing the ends isn't too hard on the pocket
Much cheaper if you can get away with just replacing bearings & seals though ....... A question. The Manual shows a hydraulic cylinder be used to remove the end pins. Are they that tight..?
I am reading this thread with great interest. What you guys are discussing about not removing the track roller frames has me intrigued. My center pin is greasable and it has been greased, my machine has mid teens for hours and worn end pins and bushings but it is a high track D-6H. Tahnks Ron
Ron, what applies to the OP's machine should apply to yours as well provided the centre pin of the bar has no play. To simply replace the end pin bearings should be possible without removing the bar from the tractor so no need (I think) to remove the track frames. Pull the end pins, jack up the front end of the tractor high enough and there ought to be enough space to access to the equalizer bar end pin bearings to remove them and to install new bearings, snap rings, & seals. I'm fairly certain that any type of boring operation to refurbish the bores for the end pin bearings will require the track frames to be removed in order to get the equalizer bar assembly out of the tractor because there will not be enough space to get a mobile boring rig in otherwise.
I am the original poster of this thread. The serial number prefix is Akm and machine is equipped with a straight semi u blade. Most are equipped with v Pat blades. Cat shop told me at least one roller frame had to be removed because end will not clear frame bracket. I was wanting to do this job in house and not sending to cat. Machine has 5900 hrs.
Ask them if their requirement for removing the track frame is to completely remove the equalizer bar from the machine. If their answer is yes then I would tend to agree with them. HOWEVER ....... if the only thing to be replaced are the equalizer bar end pin bearings, snap rings, and seals I am still of the considered opinion that it can be done by pulling the pins and jacking up the front of the tractor with the blade. The fact the tractor has a semi-U blade rather than a V-PAT is probably in your favour because it would be better balanced when using the blade to lift the front of the tractor. You might ask the Cat dealer about that also.
So, this is what I'am getting out of this thread. If equalizer bar center pin is removed, the roller frames do not have to be removed and if the center pin is not removed, the roller frame has to be removed. By removing center pin the stabilizer bar can be moved to one side.
No, it's actually the opposite. If you want to remove the equalizer bar completely from the machine for whatever reason (which includes removing both the centre pin and both end pins) you will need to remove at least one track frame and maybe both in order to create the necessary space because the bar is removed pretty much sideways out of the chassis and the track frame is right in the way. If on the other hand you are only working on the two ends of the bar to replace bearings it should not be necessary to remove either track frame. You remove the pins at each end of the bar and then raise the front end of the tractor far enough using either the blade and/or jacks & cribbing so that the ends of the bar are accessible above the track frame "ears" where the equalizer bar pins are located.
Thanks Nige, Hopefully center pin has no slack and I can raise machine by blade and replace bar end bearings and seals.
I have to mount a new wear bar to the new rock guard we welded in last week today at my shop. I will try to get some pictures of my pin ends. I have no help so I wont really know what the center pin play is. I will report back tonight. Ron
Center pin comes out easy enough. Only needs to come out if removing eq bar.If you just do the ends,you just jack tractor up on blade. (Chock it up).It can be done this way even with lgp pads on
OK, Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need for pictures. Luckily a friend showed up for a visit about the time I got the machine up to the shop. I went under and he ran the blade control. The center is full of nice clean grease and oil but has about 3/8 of an inch of play straight up and down. The right outer pin and bushing is worn pretty good but pretty much all there, again maybe 3/8 of an inch play. The left side is pretty much destroyed and looks to be about into the bar itself. So I crawled out and said the heck with pictures. It is pretty much screwed. Ron
Ron, based on that information the equalizer bar will have to come out for refurbishment in a machine shop so at least one track frame will need to come off....
Yep, after reading this thread I had a glimmer of hope for a repair soon..... but not after taking a look today. I just can not do the full repair this fall. My building is still rented so no indoor workshop to leave it sit while torn down either. Maybe I could find a used one from a bad machine and have it refurbished over time, then when the machine comes apart it wont be down so long and the bar work will be paid for ?
Yair . . . I am not at all familiar with the suspension/equaliser bar set up on the hi-drives but it seems to me worn bar ends and centre pin would transfer some undue load onto the dead axles or track frame pivots, what type of bearings do they run on . . . just curious. Cheers.
Having a refurbished bar would be the way to go. A bar with all the bearings/bushes already installed would only need new pins and everything would be covered, EXCEPT the bore in the chassis for the centre pin and the bores in the track frames for the end pins. If any of those three bores is not to spec then a bore rectification job would be required before the refurbished eq. bar could be installed. Scrub, to start with there is no dead axle on a high-drive. The pivots shaft run on big plain bushes in an oil bath, it's unusual for them to wear but when the hours get up there usually if you pull the track frame for any reason new bushes and seals are installed.
While moving the center chassis up and down as well as my friend tilting the blade I did not notice any movement in the center pin, I did see plenty of egg shape up and down movement only of the bar on the pin. One can only hope
Cross your fingers, it's all you can do. TBH I'd be more worried about relative movement between the end pins and the ears on the track frame myself.
Nige is correct.The trackframes are a bigger deal than refurbing the eq bar.A good skilled welder can rectify the problem to a satisfactory status instead of line boring the trackframes
Are you hinting at I should get some new parts and see what it would take to get the ends in much better shape than they are now ? Anyone have a good diagram of what the components actually look like ?
A question to HEF members based in the US. Does anyone know of suppliers who deal in refurbished exchange equalizer bars..? I know Cat don't do Reman ones. Here's a typical equalizer bar from another model of tractor. Your D6H bar is NOT exactly like this one at the ends but the centre is identical. Does this help..?
This is a crude copy scanned to my PC but I think this is what I have according to the serial number. I may see what is available from V-Track or CAT Classic for some of this stuff.
In the U.K. most CAT D4 through D6 High Drives are LGP tractors and to get the E beams out of them you don't remove any frames as the beam will jiggle out easy, we just drive the tractor up on timber baulks then place some large timber cribbing under both corners of the blade raised about 3 ft off the ground , press down a bit and suck out all the pins (with a safety block up to the pan guard) then press the blade control to lift the nose of the tractor nice and high, then stuff in a few more blocks under the belly pan at the nose end, then use pull lifts off the track to lower out the beam onto the dirt, finally pull the beam out from the back of the tractor, if I removed a track frame to get a beam out the owners would put a Boot up my arse, the centre pin location is usually damaged in the tractor, this is common to patch up as best can with a welder and die grinder. tctractors
Can I add that you also need to remove the bolts holding the pivot shaft seal carriers to the frame to avoid tearing the seals when you lift the nose.
Yair . . . Gotcha Nige I shoulda said "pivot shaft" . . . I'm learn'in. (big grin) Cheers.
Cmark, in the U.K. we just press the nose up, if anything starts leaking we class that another job. tctractors
Could someone clarify which bolts to remove on pivot shaft to prevent tearing seals when raising the nose?
On your AKM-prefix machine there aren't any. The seal is a simple lip-type one. See diagram below, Ref #1. It will pivot infinitely without tearing anything. If you want to remove the E-bar note what Tony said in post #30 on Page 2. First you will need to get the tracks of the tractor up on top of maybe 8-12" of cribbing (or over a pit) to give you sufficient room to work underneath. Then raise the blade far enough to get a pile of cribbing about 3 feet high under each corner. Raise the tractor slowly with the blade until the weight is off the E-bar end pins and they can be removed. Then raise it even further until the E-Bar is aligned so that it will slide out sideways above the track frame but below the tracks and at that stage block under the belly guard right at the front end of the tractor. At that point a couple of come-alongs anchored to the tracks should be enough to take the weight of the E-Bar and allow the centre pin to be removed. The bar will then slide out sideways.
Yes, my apologies. This only applies to D8 and bigger.
Thanks, Nige. Thanks Cmark.
I just finished replacing e-bar with a aftermarket one with bearings and seals and pins $1200 verses 1800 in machine work on e bar..... ...
I see a pile of new parts in the background. Looks good so far. Ron