Can anyone tell me how much grease should be on the turn table gear.. I am new at this and the operators manual does'nt say,, I took off the smyall panel underneath the boom,, I can see the gear where it revolves around the smaller gear,,, it doesnt have much grease on it at all.. It has the grease gerts on the front but how greasy should the revolving gear be?? It is a link belt 4300c11. Any advice is greatly appreciated..
I don't believe the manufacturers suggest lubing the actual gear teeth themselves. Back in the day we would use open gear lube on some of the friction cranes , but never did a hydraulic crane or excavator. The problem I see is with lubing those gears, they will attract dirt, and the grease turns into a sandy mix that wears your gear teeth prematurely. Someone correct me if I am wrong.......
Somewhere in the service book it says to keep the grease like 1/3 the way up the gear. Start with a 35# pail thru the hole. If the old grease looks bad there should be a drain on the bottom of the gear tub. Bob
As you are looking into the hole you will see grease on the bottom and then back towards the middle of the machine forming a channel of grease gear runs in. The wall of grease to the back is supposed to flow real slow over time and be picked up by the teeth and smeared around when the house is turning. The problem is the grease turns hard over time and no longer flows. You can tell when the gears start running dry when you hear some scratching kind of noise when you stop the house from turning. I used to recommend pushing a tube or two of grease in there about twice a year. It is good to check this for water that can get in there. That should be drained out and the grease changed when that happens. Also just to make a point clear about the grease zerks, they lube the circle bearing and not the gears. If you don't have an operator's manual I used to recommend they be greased at engine oil changes. You only need a couple of pumps from the grease gun on each zerk. Then spin the house a couple of times each way to distribute the grease and you are good.
Thanks Vetech, it is an excavator,1992 linkbelt LS4300C series11, Makes since about the sand...
Thank you Biluox, I have the service manual for it and it does'nt mention how much should be in there, It only mentions the grease zerts. I have a 5 gallon pail of the mystic6 I am going to use, I wasnt sure if i should put some on the big circle bearing or not. Thank You for your help. Rquartz
Thank you John C. It had a thin layer maybe an inch deep on the bottom of chamber, it had a watery thin feel or texture to it and then i pulled a couple of hard handfulls away from the vertical gear as far as i could reach.. If i spoon a whole 5 gallon bucket of the mystik 6 into it,, will the mystic warm up melt down and flow on its own the way it is suppose to? Thank you for your help everyone.. I am determined to learn what i am doing and do it correct,,so i know i am in the right place here on this blog community. Rquartz
If you look up under the center of the machine there will be a drain on the tub ,open it and drain the old grease .you can slowly swing the machine to help it drain. When you put in the new grease swing a bit put in more grease When a new bearing is installed it takes 2 or 3 pails. put in enough to come up on the gear. Bob
I will be over at the mountain tomorrow working on the excavator, i will look and see if i can find the drain hole. I cant start it up yet as someone cut and stole the copper wiring going to batteries, we have one more wire to hook up, before we are ready to see if it works,, the operator works me in to his schedule a few hrs at a time as he has other jobs going and bigger fish to fry. It is intimidating working on the excavator as i know nothing about them and i havent learned how to operate it yet I bought it a year ago with the idea of digging quartz crystals with the nieces and nephews and showing them a good time in nature. So far i have had one idler wheel replaced, 2 top rollers, 1 track link removed, bought a used bucket h link, replaced the 4 large hyd hoses going to boom. new orings and seals in left hand pilot control valve...wont know if it leaks untill we start it up. I did that myself,, geeze that was a challenge,,, had to get glasses during that procedure ordeal getting them back into correct chamber ports was a challenge.. A new key switch, a diesel mechanic to fix the 6 leaking fuel delivery valves, with new o rings...mechanic was fantastic... we have done a few other things, learning as we go, the mountain is nice and this old excavator should do a good job, when we get her purring like a kitten and all systems go...
Take the hydraulic tank , drain it completely and swab out all the goo you will be surprised how much is in there. If you are on a budget and have time let it sit in the drums for two or three wks all the swarf settles to bottom two inches and filter it back in. Same for fuel tank , once you get it up and running you will be tempted to try it out , but you will stir up all that goo by swing back and forth and open up another can of worms. Patience my friend ,take the time and you may have a good machine to use. Just my two cents, been there done that there are a lot of smart fellows on this site
Thanks Ratmotorhead,, yes these guys are great,, I have been reading and searching the site to get any info i can for about 8 months. I know nothing about excavators so all of the lingo is a new language to me,, I think it will be a good machine for what we want to do as a hobby with the nieses and nephews, digging quartz crystals We did get the hyd tank drained, swabed the bottom with a mop and then paper towels on a stick,, changed the filters ,, added 60 gallions,, i went over to the mountain today to work on it,,right now I have got a bigger problem, some lowlife cut the wiring to the batteries and took the copper wire,, now trying to figure how to hook it back, I have the electrical schematics,, the computer no longer works, so dont have to worry about alot of the wiring. the young man helping me is a good excavator operator but has never worked on one this old..
I've got a 4300c which I got up and runnin last fall . The machine will run without computer , which really is a monitor basically . I have manual guages for oil press, water, and the like. My turntable takes 40 lbs of grease down on ring gear through plug in bat box . I found it easy to take an empty grease tube , and make a plunger out of a fender washer and a 16 inch long all thread piece and fill up my tube from drum and just shove plunger through tube and bingo down the hole it goes. Swing cab every couple of turns and it goes well. And yes outer grease fittings only get a couple of pumps once in a while. Good luck
Thank you for all the help,,,, your method sounds alot easier than me spooning it in there.. what is a fender washer??
It's a flat washer bigger in diameter than most with a 3/8 or 5/16 hole in it. Get one that is the same inside diameter as your grease tube
ok great, I will get one, It is the first thing i will do once we get the battery wiring figured out. I am excited to be making progress and with all the experience on this blog, I have more confidence.