I just bought a Komatsu 160-7. The tracks froze at the toprollers from sitting. Any suggestions on how to free them?
If you can move the machine so that the seized pins are at the bottom you can spray them with diesel. After a while exercise the tractor and the kinks will come out of the tracks.
Good day Nige Sorry been there it rarely works
Yair . . . I've had success tracking back and forth though shallow water. Cheers.
I have done this a few times...... Rotate the house so it is perpendicular to the tracks. Put down pressure on the bucket and raise the track off of the ground. Place a wood block under the track at about the center of the track frame. Rotate the kinked link so it is over the block and let the machine down on the block. A lot of times it will straighten the kinked link. Then lift it back off of the block and rotate the track which usually will re-kink the link. Do this several times while soaking it with diesel. I have done this a few times with success. Just my $.02
I tried a 6x6 pt. It didn't last long! Lol. Got a 12" I beam. The joints will bend, then they bend back when wrapped around the ends and stay Kinked. Crazy how they like to go back to the Kinked position after they are broke loose. I will keep working them. I have heard that a 50/50 mix of acetone and atf is the best penetrate you can use.
It's the lousy grease they use in the original track chains between the inside of the bushings and the outside of the pins. I've never seen one straighten out with any less than dismantling the chains, clean out the old grease and put them back together dry. It might make your teeth rattle a little as the kink goes under the rollers but I've yet to see it hurt anything. Run it till the tracks drop off and then get new ones.
Got one link stuck on the excavator . Kind of aggravating at times . I'm going to pull the grouser pad & knife in to the top of the bushing with a torch down to the pin . Then weld in a pipe fitting & hook a hydro hose up to the Ford 4000 tractor & throw some pressure to it . Imagine it will free up after that .
If possible run it when its well below freezing. -30 F is always a good day for loosening stuck tracks on the old Cats. A block under it and a little natural shrink on the pins usually helps big time. You probably don't want to wish for that cold of weather there. LOL
The shallow water trick worked for me too Scrub.
Yair . . . d9gdon. I should have mentioned they would have been standard tracks not SALT. I does make we wonder though about the technology when I see excavator tracks on that other thread seize up after fifteen hundred hours. Cheers.
The first of the EX200's Hitachi had the same problem and they would kink so bady even with the track adjustment backed right off the machine wouldn't move. The problem was greased pins and bushes and the rememedy was to press out the pins, clean them up and refit dry.
I had my pins and bushes replaced by the local hitachi dealer when they had a track shop and have the same problem of frozen links. Highly likely the same grease problem with the links. I have tried nearly everything to get them free and have had a little success. I used heat and two bits of 150x10mm angle welded together and placed between the rear sprocket and last roller and then slowly went back and forwards so the link would be forced to move. Soaked the links in oil, oil/diesel, penetrating oils of different types, nothing worked really well. At least it doesn't shake like it did when they were seized solid, but there always seems to be some links not straight when I park it. If I ever get the opportunity to run in shallow water like suggested, I will give it a shot.
I have this issue on my CAT 225 51U: http://imgur.com/a/5XNFq I tried all of the above, and nothing worked for me... I have 5 kinks on one side, 2 on the other. The prev owner put new chains on the machine, then it sat for a long time. I've used the machine for 10 years like this (only about 200 hrs of tracking). I'm not sure if I am hurting anything running it like this.
PITA as it may be I don't belive it will cause any problem as the pitch remains the same. The problem really starts when you have to let tension out of the chains just to allow the machine to move.
I know on my Kobelco it just got worse as time went on and I eventually had to do something. It was not that noticeable on soft ground but would shake the daylights out of both operator and machine on hard ground or tracking down crushed rock etc. I had it running almost perfectly again, but without constant use it has stiffened up but nowhere near as bad as it was. I would definitely think on hard ground it would cause some kind of problem after a while.
Yeah, I just have this machine for personal use, when the ground is soft it's fine, but mid summer when my sandy loam turns to concrete, tracking just about rattles my teeth out. I don't think I want to remove the tracks and find a shop to remove/replace the pins & bushings. Not many shops even have the equip around here to do that, most owners just opt for import replacement UC's as opposed to turning pins & bushings.
This was a problem for me also. There used to be quite a few track repair companies locally, but with cheaper track groups available now, the cost of turning/replacing pins and bushes combined with the dangers of running such high power presses needed for track work make it no longer a viable option and most track repair companies have now disappeared. My track rails, pins and bushes have probably 80% left in them so it is hard to justify the cost of new chains.
My UC is also 80-85%. It just sucks to see it with kinks in it...
How long have you had the machine for? I have a machine for my own personal use as well. I had some frozen track links as well. They eventually worked their way out. Took probably 150+ hours, but it solved itself. I like those kind of problems!
As I said above, I have owned the machine for 10+ years, it came with a 90% UC with kinks in it. I dug 3 ponds with it and logged about 10 acres with it. None of the kinks worked themselves out after about 200 hrs of tracking. I put 600 hrs total on the machine. I've dumped a mixture of diesel and used oil on one of the kinks pretty much every weekend all summer long and tried to lower the weight of the machine down onto a kink/log. The weight of the machine just sat up in the air on the kink... I think my only option would be to have them pressed out and back in. I don't really think I want to pay for that at this stage.
Update. My kinks are all gone. Found some standing water and tracked back and forth for 5 min...6 or 7 kinks all gone.
If I ever find a deep puddle I will give that a shot.