One of the back braces is rusted out and decided to oxy the spring out as that seemed to be the only safe way to do it problem is I have made 5 cuts right through in the springs and all have moved back but still seem to have as much tension as ever where do I go from here
Hasthe grease operated tightner been relieved.
Yes it has and everything up to the front pilot has been removed so there would not be any pressure from outside the spring
Here is a pic the cumalong is just there to hopefully keep it all safe.I think you can see how much the spring has moved.There is nothing attached to the idler end
Keep cutting more coils. You're on the right lines.
I replaced the spring on my old 941 Cat Loader last year, which will be quite similar to the D4D. I believe the hyd adjuster components may be identical on both machines. When I cut my spring, after about 5 cuts it was loose & ready to come out. HeavyEquipmentForums
Yes after 5 cuts that was what I was expecting too Metalman but the picture doesn't show it to well but the spring is starting to bow upwards a bit and has me a bit worried as I don't obviously know exactly how much tension definitely the cumalong still has plenty on it.I do have plenty of 3/8 high tensile chain I could lap around the other end but no way of keeping it tight up against the spring.The other thing I would like to know is which end would be best to keep on cutting from.Many thanks in advance for any thouhts anyone has rest assured I won't rushing into anything till I have heard all your thoughts experiences etc.
It has all the signs of a broken through bolt.Before you go any further split the track and remove the complete assembly. Repair and reassemble in the reverse order. Easy as.
Cut one more ring then rap with a BFH to knock the slag reconnects loose, it should be relaxed at that point. May just be bowed due to the back brace offline.
I don't think you can go wrong by cutting a few more links & rapping it with a hammer, in case the slag is holding it some. Maybe double cut each wrap & remove the chunks. I just started at one end & worked my way back. It didn't take long to get loose. You can likely see if the long bolt is broken down inside, right?
Yes had another look at the spring this morning and I am sure a few hits with a decent hammer would be worth a try have managed to get a chain around the rear end of the spring so hopefully that will make it a bit safer.The problem is there just seems to be so much pressure on the cumalong much more then when I started.The inside bolt doesn't appear to be broken but I wouldn't trust it because it maybe badly rusted that was one of the reasons why I decided to cut the spring out instead of messing around tightening up the nut thought it should be safer this way but just at the moment not so sure
If the bolt isn't broken then the spring should be retained. By spliting the track and removing the idler everything should come with it bar the track adjuster.
when I did the tension spring on my JD 355 track loader the retaining cap cracked and let the spring , unspring, I was able to collapse the grease piston and remove the spring loose even un sprung..made a new cap and rebolted in a 20 ton press and all back together..shouldnt you be able to do the same here? can you collapse back the grease piston to loosen up the spring, or different set up than a JD?
I am not familiar with the John Deere dozer you have hoobbytime but yes I most certainly could have done it differently I could have tried tightening the rod as you are supposed to do till it lifts away from the stops but as everything was so rusted including around the big nut I just wasn't prepared to go down that path in case the spring let go as I was getting the assembly particularly as second hand complete assembly all set up ready to go is only $480 plus around $50 freight just didn't make sense to go that way.Anyway it is all out now so all good now
To everyone who put there thoughts out there many thanks could not have done it without the help even if it was mainly to realize that I was definitely going about it the right way.I just got a big solid bar that I have and started thumping it I couldn't notice it let go anywhere but when I was finished I noticed the cumalong was all loose and I knew then that I was pretty much on the right track just kept cutting and giving it a solid wack to make sure it was all free.Here is some pics
Now to the hard part rebuilding the rust that is left of the mounts.
At least the spring came out safely! Well done so far.
Yes I can assure you the spring hadn't lost too much of its tension either as you can see by the pic I ended up cutting most of the coils before it became really loose.Unfortunately I won't be able to do much more to it this week however I did manage to cut what was left of old struts out and and straighten up the base where back pilot fits so at least I have made a start.I would like to think it might end up something similar to the track on the other side it was an easy fix compared to this side all be it not perfect to look at but at least I know it is all steel now.It just had a couple rust patches in it
^^ Nice work !!! I can just about smell the fresh paint
Just thought I would like to show everyone what progress all be it slow with the track tensioner that I had to cut out of my d4d
Also new to me tension assembly has got here too looks to be o.k.
Still got plenty more painting but I am getting there
Looking good! Are you going to compress the spring & install yourself brucew?
Opps......I see my post was a little late. Already compressed!
Yes it is already to go I just have to put the old cylinder back in and with new seals at the idler end and it should be ready, the only problem I have at moment is I have managed to break one of the bolts on the stopper and I would say the other bolt will probably break too when I go put any decent pressure on it.I have it all soaking in mixture of diesel and Onerex think that is how you spell it supposed be penetrating lubricant etc but nothing seems to be loosening up as of yet.
Ought to invest in a little scrap salvage for the tin shields to cover those back up keep the dirt and build up out of them for longevity.
Thank you for your reply but yes I do have most of the shields that goes on it just had to take them off as couple of them had to be welded up where it had rusted out too.I think that actually contributed a bit to the problem in that we did the final drive on this side where I have had all the problems and there was virtually no rust in then and we have only done a couple of hundred hours if that since then but one job we did do was clean the silt out of a small dam we had on our property and we ended up with silt all through the tracks as you do and obviously we should have washed it down which I always try to do but because the shields were in place and after a few hours work most of mud had shaken off it was just one of those jobs that didn't get done.Here is some pics of the shields now all ready just about to go back on
Good choice I have shields and track guide/stone guards for mine as well, just finding time to clean up and remove the broken bolting to reinstall
Thought it would be a good time to update you all on the progress with tension spring assembly at last it is all back in the dozer getting the bolts out of the stopper where it attaches to the frame turned out to be just a hound of a job didn't think I was ever going to get there, managed to break both bolts even though one had been soaking in penetrating fluid for a week, no amount of heating and welding bolts to them, nothing. In the end had to pretty much drill them right out until I could punch in one side then turn it out from there. Ran a tap down and put recon tension spring assembly back in new bolts etc and all good. Once again many thanks to you all who replied just never ceases to amaze me the number of people that are so helpful on this site. Here are a couple of pics First pic is the new tension assembly in place the second is the other side with the guards all in place
Looks good! We all breathe a sigh of relief when the recoil spring is back in place safe n sound for sure! When we removed the bolts on the retainer shoes on my machine, if I remember correctly the stubborn ones that didn't want to move we put some heat to, then let them cool completely & they came out ok. How did you compress your spring? We made up this home made spring assembly & it worked ok for us.
Much better with guards back, protect the springs from loading up. Just need to remember to remove and clear the region every so often.
Didn't have to compress the spring metalman it was already done in the workshop in Toowoomba before not exactly sure how they did it it was obviously had been used but the thread appeared to have been newly threaded up in a lathe with a new nut on end of it. When I put it in there was about a 1/2 inch gap between the stoppers. Was scratching my head for a bit on how to loosen off the nut as my 3/4 drive socket just wasn't quite long enough. I had the right size socket just wasn't a deep socket. I know I could have picked one up in town but, for something I can just about be sure I will never need again, I decided to make up my own long socket out of scrap steel and it all worked had the spring hard up against the stoppers no trouble. It came on a half pallet, I think they called it, rods welded on to small pieces of pipe at each end to keep it all safe and protect the thread at the nut end really neat and I would say perfectly safe.You can see by the pic of the new tension assembly I have just cut the 2 rods off but the piece of pipe is still covering the nut.Really happy with it all.
Yes DMiller bad blue on my part not cleaning it but as I have owned and operated for the last 31 years I can honestly say there has only been one or two mistakes like that so I don't think I have done too bad. It has come time I think for a new owner so that will be my next project and that is to sell it.
Just thought I would update everyone on progress of my dozer this is what it looks like now
I am late to the show. Having a D4D and having had the track adjusters apart I couldn't help but notice something in the first set of photos; the adjuster was fully extended while cutting the tension spring coils. There is a good 4-5" of adjuster shaft showing behind the head of the adjuster where the grease fittings reside. Mine would not collapse due to dirt build up which may be the case here.
No Scott nc everything was all hosed out with high pressure water spray most people over in Oz as far as I am aware call them a Gernie ,I do anyway.I had already taken side arm going to the idler off as well as making sure there was no pressure from any grease was all released.In other words the adjuster shaft was just sitting there.Such a shame because there was only 2 things really wrong with the whole assembly and that was the braces at back were all rusted which meant to take the pressure off the spring was to tighten the big nut on the end but the thread was all rusted out as well and it just couldn't be done that way. Doesn't really show up in the pics too well but the base where the spring sits up against had to be all straightened back to where it should be before I could start welding the new braces in.
Too Purdy to use!! Should work very well!
Ahh, missed that part. Curious, I too pulled the outer half of the wishbones; How much fun did you have getting the bolt holes to line up for reassembly? Put my problem was that I was alone, out in the boonies with minimal tools.
Yes I have had trouble in the past what I did this time was made up a mechanical adjuster out of pipe and a large nut and bolt and pushed the idler to somewhere near where it would normally run and put a G clamp on the frame. Obviously I had the luxury of being right next to my so called workshop and it would not have been as simple out as you say out in the boonies. Been there and done that one in the past not easy.
Thank you DMiller yes not perfect but very happy with how it has come up have got a video of it working but it is apparently to big to display on this site. However here is the tree, big old dead ironbark that was right beside our driveway, first pic is of the tree on the ground, second where I covered up the hole that it left. The tree just came out easy as.