Moving on to my next project/repair, replacing exhaust manifold, and turbocharger. Any tips or tricks of the trade on this endeavor would be helpful. Trying to remove old rusted bolts from manifold now.and yes I figure I will break one or----- off.Anyone have a sure fire way of preventing that, I could sure use that INFO. THANKS
Will you be using an induction heater to aid in the removal of the fastener?
Oceanobob-- thanks for replying, I have to say I am not familiar with an induction heater. Could you please explain this to me and the procedure.
This contrivance is sold by Mac and Snapon and I saw that Autozone was listing one. You plug it in to your power (120v, about 10a) and the principle is electrical energy goes around this loop that you place over the nut. The heat is highly concentrated on the nut (to me this is notable and much improved over the acetylene torch plume). Soon the nut [only) will glow red. The principle of heating things to red is: the high temperature severely disturbs the corrosion products and makes them weaken, and as the steel heats up it expands and it also weakens, this causes the nut to yield (this means it changes its shape although subtle this is all one needs to get it to loosen) and then when it cools it isn't the same size, likely a hair bigger. These two things will allow it to spin right off. One would consider replacing such a nut with a new one for reassembly. Hope this helps - the exh manifold on my backhoe for whatever reason is so corroded compared to the rest of the machine, this device will be added to the tool collection soon.... the one I looked into was sold by the dealers mentioned above and is by a company called Induction Innovations and the tool is called mini ductor II, lso has a rope (for bearings I presume) and a small pad too. I learned about these since my shop is located in an area with a few other mechanic shops and they loaned me their trade magazines ... I dont actually know anyone that has one so between us maybe one will get the item and show some pics of how it worked. I asked them if they had one but with the economy the guys weren't buying as many tools, they say lots of folks don't keep their cars like they once did. If you try this, please to keep us posted (and same for me on this topic).
As oceanbob say's they do work,,, ive used them.
I changed the exhaust elbow on my 955L a few years ago, that's the elbow exiting the turbo that the muffler attaches to. I split the nuts with a chisel on the advise of a Cat mechanic. I extended the chisel with a piece of tubing - Heavy wall tubing, bored slightly to fit closely around the body of the chisel, then cross drilled a 1/2" hole to take a dowel pin. slid the pin through the hole, wrapped it with electrical tape to hold it on place, then slid the chisel inside the tube and against the dowel pin. The tube is about 2 feet long, this allowed me to get a good swing at it with a heavy hammer. The nuts are grade 8 and took a LOT of beating to split. That induction heater sounds really slick, I'm going to look into that - thanks!
hello, I replaced the exhaust studs and gaskets to my 951c recently. The studs had become thin and in danger of breaking. First I cut the nuts in order to remove the manifold without forcing the studs, and then on the dies I welded the nuts until they become red, then I cooled with oil spray and I acted on the nuts to loosen studs. I unscrewed all the studs and I have not had to make any hole.
Thanks to all for the replies, your info is very helpful. I'm looking into borrowing an induction heater to take off the manifold Hardware. oceanobob-- Thank you for introducing me to an induction heater, I would like to go out and just buy one but I found out the cheapest one I found was $450. so I'm trying to borrow one from one of the local heavy equipment mechanics. I'll keep the thread updated with pictures as I progress in the repair of the manifold. like always the only thing that's holding me back from completing this on a timely fashion is $$$$$$$$$. Ordering new manifold, gaskets and hardware tomorrow. should be in the next day or so. I will take some pics of the old manifold before I take it off and then some pictures after I get the repair completed. over the last 4 or 5 months I believe an induction heater would have paid for itself, as I have drilled out many bolts on the old machine. again thanks for all the info.LATER
Another thing to all who replied, I'm also removing the turbocharger to find out if its even working. if anyone has any tips or tricks of the trade or any info on that please advise. all the farm tractors we have with turbos whistle very loud when you quickly decrease the RPM's at the throttle. but on the 955l I hear no whistling in this turbocharger at all. I don't know enough about it to know if it is mechanically the same as the ones on the farm tractors, but any info on how to check it would be appreciated. Thanks again for the replies.
Toddcat955L: Please keep us informed on the actual tool brand used and any comments on the tool from the mechanics...
Mine doesn't whistle either but after I shut the engine down from an idle I can here it turning for a short period if everything is quiet.
Mine doesn't really whistle either. I think if it wasn't working, you'd see excessive exhaust smoke under load and poor power.
My 955H doesnt whistle loudly either, but it does work. You might try pulling your air filters, making sure the filter cannister is clean, then start your machine. You should be able to tell if the turbo is pulling air. Just be careful to not have any rags, towels, etc around the filter cannister that it might suck up. If your filters are clogged, you wont notice the turbo as much either. Good luck.
I replaced the manifold on my 955 a couple years ago. Replaced the muffler, pipe and top cap while I was at it. The machine is to load even with the new muffler to hear the turbo. Wish I would have used one of those heats my self. I did use a torch on a few of them and had only one that snapped off that gave me some real trouble. Welded a washer and nut on it and got it out.
Here are some PICs of the manifold, studs and nuts. ARE these the worst ones youall have seen! How bad do these nuts and studs look, I think they are just waiting to bust off if I even just look at them wrong. And do I need to remove the fuel pump and governor to get the job complete?
They look like the ones I removed. Only good thing was the manifold lifts right off if the studs snap, no through holes on the bottom just slots. The stud that is left behind I was able to get a hold of and remove easy enough with the exception of two, which came out later with more difficulity. Once the manifold was removed the head was pitted in several areas. I used Loctite hi-temp metal repair (which is like J-B Weld) to resurface the ports. Let it dry and then sand flat, has been working fine since.
AllDodge-- Thanks for reply, can you tell me did you need to remove your fuel pump and Governor housing. And if the head is pitted on mine like you stated that yours was ,how bad before I need to replace the head. Thanks for the help and info.
I didn't need to remove the fuel pump, just the injector lines, fuel filter housing and filter and as I remember the oil vent pipe. Also remove the glow plug wires and bolts holding the glow plug wires to obtain easier time. I use a cutting tourch to remove the exhaust pipe housing bolts because I couldn't get to the back ones.. You could get away without cutting the bolts if you just cut the muffler off. I was trying to save the muffler and pipe but only replaced it anyway. Match up the manifold before you start to install, my clasic one obtained from CAT turned out to be the wrong one. They had 3 of the old style in the warehouse and I was given two of them before I brought in my old one to show them. But this is another story. The pitting in the head was pretty bad in a couple areas but nowhere near needing replacement. Used the sealer to level out the ports and the gasket did the rest. Make sure to use acetone (finger nail polish remover) to clean up the pit areas after wire brushing or other method to remove rust. You shouldn't need to replace the head unless you see a big chunk missing and I doubt that would happen. Take care Bob
For loosening rusted, nightmare bolts/ studs... Get out your torch and heat up the bolt/ stud as much asyou dare. Red is fine, but if in a more confined space, heat it whatyou can. Grab one of the wifes candles and melt it on the stud (using the red hot bolt). Let it cool. Remove it with anything.... pliers, fingers (ok, exaggeration), wrench... The heat breaks the rust holding everything. The wax lubes everything. I have spread this old trick around when the subject comes up. I have had guys that remove broken bolts/ studs all the time swear by it. Give it a whirl. Wags Oh, yea... induction this... lol
wagspe208---- Good to hear from you again, hope all is working great on your CAT. Read your post on the other thread you have, and sounds like its going good.Iam in to this manifold & turbocharger repair. Thanks to all the HELP Iam getting on this thread it should go smooth. Did I just say smooth! WOW jumped the gun there, I have not had anything on the OLD 955L go smooth. but it will workout aslong as the $$$$$ holdout. thanks for the candle trick tip. I like the induction heater method but if I cannot borrow one, Its to rich for my blood to buy one I may just have to fire up the old torch.Thanks to all REPLYS ,Ill keep PICs posted of the SMOOTH repair as it unfolds. Any more INFO on manifold or T/C please post. Thanks
The torch/ candle thing is so surprisingly awesome. I had a PTO adjustment plug on my old oliver. I put a breaker bar on it, with a pipe. Would not budge. I heated it, wax, cooled, when I put the breaker bar back on, you would have swore it was never tight. Wags This is honestly one of the coolest little used tricks in the rusty bolt world.
wagspe208---- Thanks for the torch / candel trick. As you said, it was very surprisingly awesome!!!!!! Studs came out perfectly, no problem.Thanks again! OUT with the old, in with NEW.Have some PICs, if any one could look at the PITTING on the HEAD and tell me, how BAD is this. If just new gastkets and manifold will make repair ,or do I need to do something more. Please advise. Thanks for all INFO.
Looks pretty good, better than mine was. Mine was pitted out further toward the studs. I would apply a thin coating the bottom left side more than anything else, then ligth sanding smooth. You should be fine, mine is still doing good and it's been a couple years.
Not bad but you might want to put a little of the red high temp silicone on there before you install the gasket.
One other point. I see you might be working on this with no caps over the fuel line connections on the pump. I would flush the pump out by cranking over the engine some with lines off. Don't want any crap getting into the fuel nozzels. I used to work on a few 3306's years ago never had a 3304 like yours. Nice simple engines that last a long time if cared for.
Great to hear it. People are surprised how great it works. Before they try it, they think it is BS. This came to me from engine building days. The oil galley plugs in a small block chevy were always a ** to get out. An old machinist told me this. I tried it.... wow. End of the drilling, easy out, tap, etc. It is always my first go to method. Drilling is always my last ditch effort. 95% of the time, if you can head it, grab it, it will come out. Wags
For the pitting around the exhaust ports of the cylinder head I'd suggest Cat 2P-2333 High Temperature Manifold Sealer. It stays stable up to 2,000 DegF so it should work on your 955.
Hi all, Thanks for all the help and INFO from everone. I completed the manifold repair and all the tips and advise that I recieved from thread replys definitely made this repair very smooth, almost down right enjoyable. Here is a pic of the accomplishment,I feel like we all did this one together! Thanks again to all.
How did you fix the head ?
shopguy--- I used LOCTITE fixmaster steel putty. I wish I had known about CAT 2P-2333, but I had aready made repair.
The Cat Product might well be made by Loctite, might even be the same thing. I've seen that before. A Lot of Cat's "Chemical Products" are made by Loctite.
Thanks I will get that ,Nige I remember the Cat parts guy said that Loctite & Cat use the same number maybe with a prefix.
From my experience the Loctite product & the Cat product won't have the same reference number, even taking into consideration a prefix and/or suffix. Often even the container they're packed in will be a different size or shape. Definitely the colour of the container will be different. It's usually only when you pull the lid off the can and see the contents that the penny drops - a sort of "I know what this is" moment.