My understanding cat quit making the 527 & 517 track skidders in 2010 because they could not fit anything but the old 3304 motor in the engine compartment of the 527 or 517 chassis so could'nt meet the new emmisions standards. Are they working on a new machine? If so when is it coming out? I.m.h.o. This is the only real tracked skidder ever produced. Any thoughts? Anyone got any good pictures of these machines? Videos? I once found a picture of this chassis converted to a powerline installation machine with quick attatch man basket and auger. Thanks theironoracle
I've been told that the horsepower required for these machines means they would need the DPF with all the plumbing that goes with that package and there are not enough of these machines sold here to justify all the engineering and production work to justify the cost. I have also heard Cat will keep making the 527 for over seas use.
There"s a brand new 527 in front of the cat dealership up here....couldnt see it being new/old stock.
The company I work for just bought one.I think It's a 2011,not sure but its brand new.
If I recall correctly, our local Cat rep told us back in 2010 that they were stopping production for a while as they were shifting the manufacturing to another plant. I'm pretty sure they're still flogging them off down here in NZ too.
I believe CAT will continue to build the 527 in the US, but only for export. Lack of sales and new emission laws were the cause. Western States Cat has actually completed their first certified factory rebuild of a 527. Can't remember the price - thinking it was around 75% of new
justlogit, how much better of a machine is the 527 over a d5htsk series 2? i see you use the 20 inch pads over the tri rail, do you like that? have you ever sheered the pivot shaft off of this machine? i have a customer with a 5000hr 517 i know he has busted at least 3 pivot bars and one equilizer bar, busted main frame where it comes together under the cab where the blade lift cylinder attaches, not sure if he is really hard on stuff or if it is just the 517 being to light for what he pulls..thanks for the pic. i have some pics to post how easy is it? theironoracle
theironoracle, We've never skidded with the d5s but I've had people tell me there is quite a bit of difference. On of the main ones is the transmission cooling. I think we're up around 10,000 hrs on ours and it has been a good machine. Actually, those are single rail - not tri-rails. I don't really understand the thought behind the tri-rail. I think the 517 is more comparable to the d4, so there is quite a bit of differnce between it and the 527. We've never busted pivot bars- have went through several sets of bushings though. But we did break that equilizer bar once. Never broke the main frame, but we've played hell with the C frame on the blade. We fool ourselves into thinking it is a big cat and tear into uprooting stumps and big rocks. We've welded cracks and actually plated the inside curve of the frame. We had lots of problems with the ESCO swing boom in the beginning. We kept snapping the ears off of the king post. Finally rebuilt king post with male end and a yoke end on the main boom (actually copied what Young did with theirs) - cured our problems Was sad to hear Cat stopped US production. We were starting a list of things we'd like to see on a 527 B. Posting pictures is easy: I import my pictures into www.webresizer.com It takes a picture that is too big to post and resizes it to a useable size. Creates another file for the new picture that you insert using the picture icon above Unfortunately too many shadows in this picture to be very good
What's the benefits of one over rubber tire in that sort of ground/
justlogit, i would love to see a picture of that king post modification where the boom cylinder attatches.. i have never seen that failure but now that you say something seems i see where that could be a week point over the d5 or 517...have you installed a grease zirk in the oil hole on the pivot bars yet? i have seen this modification alot. is that link belt a 240 waratah 22b combo? SPMiller, if justlogit does'nt reply my guess on the skidder on that ground is due to compaction issues, it comes in some contracts that you use only track equipment for skidding under certiain conditions so the choice would be shovel (tough in thinning as pictured) or track skidder. there could be a hill just 100feet away looks like it drops off just beyond that processor theironoracle
my first picture on heavyequipmentforums!!!!this is a d5h skidder boom cylinder from last week, it was needing to be resealed and i just happened to have a resealed spare in the back of the truck that i was going to install anyway theironoracle
some explanation, this is the 517 that breaks the pivot bars, the time it broke before this picture the tractor was loaded and the final drive fell down onto the track frame bending the housing where the sprockets attach, the pivot shaft was available next day so we installed it and ran the tractor until the final housing was available then i changed that out...
We have put a grease zerk in that oil hole. That works really good. I wish there was more of a shoulder on that pivot shaft for that inner ring to butt up against when it all goes back together. As for the processor, it is a 330 Linkbelt with 624 Waratah. It's been a good machine for the most part. We were running a Cat 525C into this landing as well. There is a steep pitch just out of the picture that the skidder couldn't get to with all of the snow. The 527 spends alot of its time plowing snow for the skidder in the winter. What does Cat say about your pivot shafts breaking? .... Operator Error??? Only thing I can think of is if the 3 bolts in the end plate came loose and it was allowed to work out. We weld a piece of key stock from one bolt head to the others, so they won't work loose. Next time I'm around our 527, I'll get you a picture of our king post modification. You do realize, now that I've bragged it up, it'll probably break this afternoon.
Here is our updated version of the ESCO king pin. We kept breaking the ears off the original design, so we reversed the design by putting a female yoke on the cylinder and leaving more material on the pin. We copied the Young boom design
justlogit, that is a great conversion, top notch work, its to bad you had problems with the king post, it looks weak but i have not seen one broken/repaired in that area but haven't seen alot of them, thanks for the picture theironoracle
yes here you go brand new (still had plastic on the seat) at Peterson CAT yard in Portland. Snapped this while making my monthly donation to CAT
i do believe that is a 2010, rumor was petersen purchased the last 25 built because of them being discontinued, i could be wrong that is just what i heard, can't prove anything. thanks for the picture i was there twice friday and didn't even notice this, wouldn't have mattered had to get the parts i just picked up on something. theironoracle
i notice that it doesn't have those massive blade lift cylinder guards, shouldn't be without them that is a real soft spot under that door, i think maybe those are a finning cat dealer upgrade and not cat, not sure again....theironoracle
Since I am looking at a shiney new set in that last post, maybe someone could explain to me the benefits of the extra link assembly on the outer edge of the shoes. Is it just to keep the pads from bending? Does it work as intended? Is it worthwhile?
The tri and quad links help keep the center links inline and from the twisting action that happens when working the rough terrain with a heavy load. With those wide pads you generally twist the ends of the bushings hard and the tracks get snaky real quick. You see them a lot on machines working soft ground and when local regulations require them. From what I've seen, most machines start out with the quads from the factory and then the pads get narrower each time the undercarriage is changed out. By the time trade in comes around the tracks are generally standard.
Jdofmemi, that outside half rail is amazing what it does for supporting the edge of the of the track pad. Typically i have seen that 1/2 rail lasts 2 pad and rail changes. When in extreme conditions (which is most of the time when properly used) it really helps protect the rollers and rockguards, really just all of the undercarriage pieces. Imho i would think that the extended life of rails and other components and the fact that the 1/2 rail gets re-used it would probably pay for itself. It definately gives extra stability and lower ground pressure....................the ironoracle
Thanks for the replies. So is the half rail a special part, or can it be made from a standard set? Sounds like something I would like to do on my D-6H LGP. It gets some time in rock and rubble, though it is mostly used for settling pond work and grading in sand.
As I recall the links are the standard ones and the bushings and pins are special. For the half links to be put on the D6LGP, the pads would need the holes drilled. I haven't ever seen that but think it would be an idea worth asking about. Your thought on the D6LGP is one that I asked the local dealer about when I heard about the 527 being discontinued. I was told the 527 is basically a D4H with longer track frames and a beefed up rear main case for pulling. The high drive was thought to be a real big advantage in these skidders and now that the smallest high drive will be a D6T, the thought pattern went that the cost of the D6 and its increased size and foot print would not work in the woods. I'm not sure I would want the DPF furnace under the hood with all the stuff falling out of the trees and brush being shoved into the pans from underneath anyway.
Jdofmemi, your in luck, can you say bolt on!!!! Both the 4ns and 3yg dozers use the same link assemblies, 8e7405 and 8e7406, and bushing 8e7222, at least in some of the listed track groups. This would mean you could take a 527 tri rail or quad rail pad and bolt it to your existing rails, and then add the outside half rail(s). As far as using existing rails and cutting them down to make half rails i believe a set of dry rails would be the best place to start because it would be best to have that bushing prodtrude into the female section of rail...but you could also cut the bushing close to the rail the spacer and oil seal would probably work its way out of the joint between the two rail sections.......i want to see pictures when you do it..........................theironoracle john c. In regards to a 527 being a d4h no! The 517 is close to the d4h, d4h for one has a 3204 where the 517 has a 3304, 527 is close to a d5h, but on both comparisons the undercarriage is upgraded to the next size machine, respectively 517=d5h, 527=d6h, then on top of that almost none of the components are the same between any non skidder model i.e. Final drive, pivot bars, equilizer bars, track frames. And if i remember correctly the transmissions have different gear ratios. I have spent hours trying to find used parts for these machines related to dirt dozers and have came up all zeros many times. If you look at dismantled machines on machinerytrader.com you will not find any 517 or527 skidders in the lists anywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arrrrr!!!! I don't operate these machines in the woods but in regards to a dozer being in a clearcut situation where the comparison is to 50 ton shovel logger i don't see why a d8 would be to big, any thoughts? People try to compare the cycle/costs of a 527 to a 50 ton shovel logger no wonder they use shovel loggers!!!!maybe i am way off here, a discussion for another thread?....theironoracle
I know there are a lot of differences. I was relating what i was told by the dealer. I didn't know about the 527 using D6H tracks. I'll check that in my notes next time I look at one. The track frames are way different from any standard crawler of the same size. As I recall they are eight or nine roller units.
Thanks for the info. It sounds like it may be a good idea. It will have to wait a while until times are better, but it sounds worthwhile. Those 527 track frames look like they are built stronger than my D-6H frames.
527 Plant move to Indonesia.
Is this something that happened recently? Are they going to start building and importing them into the u.s. again.....TIO
here is a model made by someone. very good work and really cool idea. I myself have never seen a 527 in person but I have always liked them. I have seen a couple of the kmc track skidders and really like the idea of track skidders.
Nice scale model. It's assembled very nice. I also never seen this model in person but I would like to see and take a picture on it.