I've been having an issue with my track motors and narrowed it down to my Center joint was bypassing an excessive amount of oil through the case drain. I have put new seals in it already and I don't know how I didn't notice these grooves but I'm pretty sure they are the culprit. What would cause these? They go all the way around. Is it possible that at some point in the past the circlip had come off and it allowed the joint to slide up and down or something? I'm pretty sure the ball bearings have something to do with it. I think the only grooves that are a problem are the ones with oil seal rides. The grooving on the housing is just going to have to remain. I think the only fix at this point is to weld up those surfaces and turn them down and polish them on a lathe.
Kind of reminds me of what a needle bearing would look like if it had gotten stuck in there. I'm thinking that might be the area where the case drains from the motors come return to tank through. Are those lines in the land where the top seal in the barrel would run or just the way the light is hitting it?
It is. It runs up from the bottom and dumps out that gap. There is a seal on the rib just above the oil port on the shaft and those are the grooves that are leaking. Or at least is my assumption. I think oil is blowing through those grooves into the case drain cavity.
You can probably take that to a hydraulic place or a machinist and see if they can fix that. A lot of times I throw rocks at Hydraulic Repair and Design but I think their machine work has been pretty good in the past. Good Luck!
My friend is a machinist and I've talked to him and he said he's up for it. Should be relatively easy. My curiosity remains as to what would have done this. There aren't any other moving parts in the joint. Kind of baffled.
My guess is that a travel motor came apart and spewed material into the swivel and beyond.
I know the previous owner did have the travel motors out and a couple grand worth of work done to them at Portland Tractor. All the filters were clean when I replaced them when I bought it and the travel motors don't bypass at all and run smoothly so I think I'm good but that all makes sense with the needle bearing looking damage. The machine only has 3600hrs on it. I'll weld and machine what is feasible to repair.
I hate when people leave threads open with no known fix so I won't be that guy. I ended up welding up that surface with 3 overlapping passes around the diameter and machining and polishing it back to spec. It works perfectly now. Not the easiest repair but it was free which is my favorite kind.