Hey Guys I have an old pc 60 ( maybe 1995 or so) I was just digging on a slop and noticed a lot of water pouring out of the turntable area from the bottom. It has two grease fitting down there that I grease when due and seems to be ring or something up there. Is this something to be worried about? Doesn't seem like water in the ring gear area would be good. Can anyone offer any advice or direction here? THank you
Hi Again, I was reading my Owners manual and parts manual ( not service) trying to get an idea about what is going on with the water. From what I can see there are two grease fittings and a tub filled with grease that has an inspection cover on it. Although I grease the grease fitting regularly I have never had the inspection cover off. Can someone clarify which does what. Do the grease fitting lube the bearing and the tub of grease lube the ring gear and swing motor gear? I see that there is a seal ont he top of this ring gear that might be the reason water has gotten in. Looks like a big job to replace.... I am going to take cover off and look at grease tomorrow. Any advice or direction here will be appreciated.
The 2 grease fitting is for the bearing itself, the inspection cover if for the pinion/gear swing. if you have water in the turntable tub, I recommend you to inspect where the water came from, this winter you will have ice and can broke a gear.
|Hi Steve. THank you very much for the reply. Can the water that has been getting in cause damage or bearing wear/ failure? I will inspect the grease tomorrow and assess that situation but I am mostly afraid of any damage that could have been done from this water getting in. Can water get in the bearing as well and cause problems?
There's a rubber boot around the rotary manifold (where the travel hoses go down). Check to see if this boot is cracked or torn, or if the lip is lifted up. Water tends to collect on the car body floor and if this boot is bad water will get down into the swing gear area. Also check the verticle plate behind the boom cylinder area, there should be a hole to let the water drain of the floor. It often gets plugged with grease ect.
Ok I will check these this morning. Do I have to worry that this water leaking out has damaged the swing gear or table bearings? I was worried that the bearing has water sitting in there and would have rusted / been damaged from water. I don't know how long water has been getting in. THank you
I opened the inspection cover and looked at the grease. IT is quite full but is a lighter grey colour ...I would say cement gray. Guessing that is due to water being mixed with it. It is still fairly thick. There is some play in the gears there not sure if its too much or not but definitely noticeable when I am working it. Is there anything that can be done about that without breaking the machine in half. THe machine does seem to stop a little bit too hard instead of the softer stop in other machines I have. Like when I am doing some finer work it and you swing sideways slowly it turns , turns then stops a little too hard and the house swings back and forth a little bit ( fews inches anyways) I havn't spent a lot of time working on excavators so any thoughts are appreciated. Also I couldn't find any drains holes in the turntable gears....just a lot of grease. Any one have a better idea where it would be located? Will the water getting in there hurt the gears ?
Having just been through this on a PC200... If you have the house lined up and pointing towards the idlers, look underneath, up inside of the trackframe, and there should be a cover plate under the access cover you have already removed. Undo two nuts and all sorts of muck will likely come out. If the swing bearing is messed up, you can measure the vertical play. If you have the bucket of the ground, then lift the machine with the bucket, there should be a very small (1.5mm) amount of vertical movement in the bearing. Anything more and you have significant wear. For me, the water came in from a bad gasket on the top cover, and some down the threads from the exposed bolt ends. I had enough slop that the machine would rock back and forth on the bearing when you stopped moving suddenly, and water would splash out from the seals on the bearing... -Sean
Hi Sean, Thank you for the reply. At this point I don't feel movement in the bearing but definitely in the swing gear. I will pull this plate off tomorrow and have alook at what comes out. I do grease the swing bearing regularly so hopefully that will help protect it from the water that got in. Have you ever seen any drain holes down there? Some one mentioned that there was some but I havn't seen any.
There is a gusset plate (which is just in front of the access plate you removed) which reinforces the area between the base of the lift rams. On mine, there is a little arc on the bottom to drain water out the front. If there are more, hopefully someone will chime in and let us both know where to find them...
Gentlemen, I am still investigating this issue but can't really say I have figured anything out... Still can't find any drains on this nor can I see where water is getting in. I have another question however, I was digging yesterday and happened to look out my right side window and down toward the swing motor. I noticed noticed that the pivot assembly...swing assembly? is moving back and forth when I swing /change direction. Looks like it has play in it or something. There is a small steel arm that comes off it too that looks to move? Has anyone ever seen this before? I noticed it because I could see that hoses moving when I swing left to right and vice versa. I then got out and sat on top of machine while someone else swung it and could see the movement better. Also I am looking for a repair manual. its a PC 60 series 6. I have parts book. Thank you.
Sounds like your slew gearbox is broken or loose. Try tightening the bolts at its base.
What you are seeing is the rotary manifold, or as we call it the swivel. The top part of the swivel rotates with the house while the bottom part is stationary in the carbody. The rod you are looking at ties the top of the swivel to the house. It is normal for this to have slight movement in old machines because the holes and pins in the ends get worn out. If the hoses are moving when you swing it sounds to me like one end of that rod is hanging loose. It is something you better fix before going back to work with the machine.
John C is right about your swivel being the one with the rod on it that is also where there should be a rubber boot around it sealing it to the floor like Excavator said.. your swing gearbox will have a hydraulic motor on top of it and the gearbox bolts to the floor that's the bolts you want to check
I have a similar problem on a pc60-6 When I opened the bottom inspection hatch fudge colored semi liquid came out. The workshop manual says there should be 20 ml of grease covering the floor of the ring housing. 5 kg. This should be done when the grease has lost integrity.