2005 Volvo 160 is seeping grease around the turntable joint. I wipsd at least 1 tube of Grease off the machine. It has a milky Brown color to it. The oil in the turntable gearcase is the same color. At 1 time the dipstick cover was off of the swing gearbox and probably got rain in it. The level of the oil in the gearbox is high. What is my problem?
I had a similar problem on a 345C Cat with one of the two swing motors. The case vent was plugged up and the hydraulic oil from the motor was getting into the swing planetary. I supposed if left un noticed it could fill the planetary up and get past the seal on the bottom filling the house causing the problem you have. I'd drain the planetary and refill, and clean the vent. If the problem persists you'll be looking at the seal at the bottom of the planetary. (I'm no mechanic..... just thoughts on what to check) Good luck.
Sounds about right....operator did say that pressure was relieved when he pulled the dip stick.
The seal on the swing pinion shaft is leaking swing machinery oil into the swing pinion tub. It has been happening for awhile for the level to be high enough to start seeping oil through the slewing bearing. You will have to remove the swing drive and replace the seal. Good Luck!
John C, is correct the seal on your swing transmision is leaking allowing gear oil into the turntable and then leaking out of the dust seal. I just had mine done again on my 330l for the second time in 22.000hrs, unfortunatley on mine the swing transmission has to be disasimbled to replace the seal, as its the last part to be removed and the first to go back in, of course. Best of luck.
Our old 300-1 Hitachi was the same. I seem to remember one had to remove and replace a rather large bearing down there when installing the new seal. I'd still solve the pressure build up problem before i removed the whole swing unit. You never know, seal might have survived. Keep in mind the swing planetary has had diluted gear oil in it now from the hyd. oil and water so keep an eye on the oil when you drain it. On the other hand if its an important piece of production equipment might be a good idea to get in there and do it all at once. Downtime can soon add up to more cost that the whole repair. Ive learned that once or twice trying to be "cheap"!
Also, Make sure to grease the Rotec a lot for the next while as the greae in there might be diluted as well. Once every 1000hrs or so I also slather a tube or two of grease on the swing gear itself. On our Hitachi's its accessible fron the battery box via an inspection cover. One guy swings the machine slowly whilst the other lathers in the grease.
check and c if the gear oil is out of ur swing planterey if it is not u are getting water in the rotec joint . if u are low of oil in the gearbox u have a seal blown out of the bottom of the plantery . if the seal isnt bad get the watere out of it there is a plate under the unit to get it out . pull the plate and put a big container to catch it theree may be as much as 10 to 15 gallons of stuff come out of it .take about 5 gallons of diesel full in the cavity and swing it block up on the oppisite end of the plug let drain over the weekend . install new grease in this cavity it may hold 20 to 40 tubes depending on it size . seal the inspection cover , make sure the swing plantry isnt loose, check the boot around ur transfer swievel that feeds ur travel motors if it has a place in it it may get in this cavity
Vent was clogged...120 psi air wouldnt open it up....had to run some steel wire through it. Draining oil...flushing w diesel...refilling and crossing my fingers.
Good day Sir The issue you describe could be a combination of problems, the rubber gaiter which seals the rotary coupling to the superstructure may be punctured. Please take a close look since you describe water ingress to the slewing ring bath. The only other issue in this respect is some crack or missing studs providing passage for water. The second point is that the slewing ring only requires three or four shots of grease once a month. Over greasing results in the seal blowing out of the location and please believe me its a real bitch to get back into place. If you would like more details drop a request to [email protected] Regards Uffex
Where does all the excess grease from the ring gear go?
Good day Tnc Surplus grease ends up as deposits on the track frame or if the inner seals is dislodged the excess ends up in the ring pan
ok...took of the inspection cover to the ring gear and found several rubber pieces...I'm assuming it is the turntable seal. Are there two seals...from outside I followed the seal all the way around and it seems fine. I am a little confused how this whole thing works. I was told that the small cover on the top side ot the superstructure has to be pulled every 1000 hours and packed with grease. If this cavity is to be packed with grease then why does the turn table even have fittings? Next question is how much is Volvo going to charge me to replace this seal? If I grease the turntable fittings every day will I be fine until I get the seal fixed?
The grease that you pump in the fittings goes to the turntable bearings, the grease that you pack in the hole greases the turntable gear & pinnion teeth , no overgreasing the bearings will only blow out the seals. Sounds like you have oil getting in the grease tub (cavity) wipe in there and see what you find grease only we hope
The grease cavity is where I found the rubber pieces. Is this cavity suppose to be slam full of grease?
No it gets a few pounds I an not sure on a 160 I would squeeze in a tube or two until some stays on the teeth after it runs a bit maybe thoes seal parts came from a pinnion seal that has already been fix. Hope this Helps
Swing ring explaination Good day Sir Here is an illustration which I hope will clarify the component if you have any questions please come back to me. Kind regards Uffex
Very nice, thank you. Looks like I found pieces of the inner grease seal. What do you think the Volvlo shop will charge to replace???
Good day tnc I have no idea what your local labour rates are, we have replaced these on a number of occasions but from your description it sound rather like the superstructure will have to be lifted to renew the inner seal. This task is a big job and your choice maybe to live with the status quo. Sorry it is not so good news, if you require more information please get back to me at [email protected] Kind regards uffex
I wouldn't bother with replacing the inner seal. But make sure you double check inside the top inspection plate. If the grease is milky brown you may have a seal gone in the pinion. Keep checking the oil level in the swing machinery. I had the same problem and it turned out to be the pinion seal. It cleaned the grease right out of the turntable and the oil level got low pretty quick. There should be another inspection plate underneath the machine, I used that one to look at the bottom of the pinion gear and I could actually see the oil dripping from it.
The grease is milky brown for sure! Kinda thin and dripping. I'm hoping that now that the swing box vent is working that it wont push any oil down to the ring gear cavity. When your pinion seal went, did the grease start seeping out the turn table? This is what it looked like before I fixed the vent.
When my seal went, it was runnier than that. It cleaned the grease right out of the turntable. You'll have no doubt, as the swing machinery case will be low on the dipstick as soon as you swing only a couple times.
Learned something new today... If the gear case (pinion seal) is leaking, it will probably slowly drip into your turntable and probably won't ruin your grease there. If it is a slow enough leak, you could add a heavier oil in the machinery case and keep an eye on the level, may only need topped intermittently. However, if the swing pump seal goes, it will pressurize the machinery case and very quickly dump large amounts of oil into the turntable, coming out the dust seal around the swing circle. The pump seal, is an easy, quick and relatively inexpensive fix. The machinery case can be much more difficult and expensive to fix. Especially if the bearings are seized onto the shaft and need to be cut off. Just more info for you.
Called the Volvo service dept yesterday...he said there is no inner grease seal...I find this hard to believe...especially after finding rubber pieces in the tub that look a lot like a grease seal. (see pics posted above) Today I pulled as much of the contaminated grease out of the tub from the lower inspection cover. Found a few more pieces of rubber. gear oil is still up from when I changed it 3 days ago...but it hasnt been run since then. stuffed 8# of new grease in the tub. Going to keep an eye on the gear oil and hope for the best!
I the gear oil stays up it could be hyd. oil from rotator manifold
it looks to me like the grease tub is only wide enough for the pinion gear plus about 3 or 4 inches. I don't think there is any way for the hydraulic oil to get in the tub.
There should be both an inner and outer grease seal on the swing bearing. To replace the inner you would have to separate the upper and lower structures. There should be 22lbs of grease in the swing bearing tub. For the amount of work involved I would probably not replace the inner seal but you should replace the outer if it shows any sign of deformation. How often are you greasing the swing bearing and how much? You should follow the op manul and grease it no more often than that. It almost looks overgreased. How many grease fittings are on the swing bearing? There should be only 2 of them. Looking at the fittings there should be a pipe on the left and one directly in the bearing. If there is one on the right(going around under the cab) remove it and plug the hole. I would clean out the swing bearing tub and install 22lbs of new grease. Then clean the outer seal real well and probably replace it with a new one. If it has never been replaced there will most likely be an updated seal. I would then monitor it and follow the proper lube interval for the swing bearing. If the oil level in the swing reducer stays put that seal should be OK. The vent for the swing reducer is actually the dipstick handle, it is hollow, make sure you can blow through it a little bit. Also make sure you are greasing the swing reducer bearing at the proper interval. This could cause you to overfill the tub also.