Looking at real nice looking well kept 89 case 888 that is for sale. Is there any problems with these older case excavators or anything that I should look for. It has a real good undercarriage just overall a real clean looking machine. Any and all input is appreciated. Thanks for your time. Steve
Those are notorious for main parts going out, first the final drives, then the swing , then the main pump. All three are hard to find most of the time. We just brought in one fo those machines to tear down. I would be cautious unless it is pretty cheap thanks joe
Thanks Joe, The machine is real clean but it has 13000+ hrs on it. I haven't heard it run or tested. He is asking 10k for it and that is what has me worried. Thanks for your time. steve.
Run don't walk away we demoed one when it was only a few years old and it broke down 4 times on a demo that was only for a day but took a week in repairs. No one around here has had much luck with them. The lift cylinder pin was one of the week points I remember.
I figured these machine's are not the best, being this is the first one I have seen around here. Thanks for all the Input.
I'm looking for a 888 in the Northeast.If you have decided to pass on this one,could you send me the contact info? If posting violates forum rules,please pm me. ..........thanks Jeff
I owned a 78 880. I have to say the engine was care free and dependable. The pumps in the series can be turned over once worn and viola they are like new again. The bad is the track final drive strip. The shaft in the middle of the sprockets strip. The pillar block bearings rip apart because the shaft and the support bolts loosen and move especially on rock.The fix is a fortune or you can temp fix by putting a key in the shaft and then welding the sprocket on.The other problem is the boom will break. Everyone of these I have seen or owned broke with anything but gravel work. Great machine otherwise.
The 880 was a Drott machine with gear pump there were 880, 980 and 1080, they were fairly reliable but slow and clunky. The 888 was a Poclain and the whole 88 series was junk 688, 888, 1088.
I have a Drott 40BLCW - was a feller/buncher. Converted to an excavator. The Drott 40, Case 1280, 1187 and some others used some of the same parts. I bought mine to clean up my burned down shop. It is broke down. The transmission output shaft stripped inside the track drive sprocket. The shaft is p/n S605277 or S616807. It is available from aftermarket for $450 The sprocket is a different story. I have not been able to find a new or preferably used sprocket. It is p/n S953545. I have found used transmissions with sprocket for $3.5K. My machine becomes scrap because a single part is no longer available and spares cost as much as you can buy the whole machine for. I only need the machine for a year or so of scrapping my business. Has anyone had any luck repairing (patching) this failure mode using set screws or removing the outside pillow block bearing and drilling holes the length of the spline and inserting dowel pins? Other suggestions?'
Do you have a really good machine shop nearby? I've had to go this route before on obsolete items
^ this. Figure out what the ideal fix is, and pay a competent shop to make that happen. It will be longer $$, but done right it will hold.
if you have the stripped shaft and sprocket, post a pic of them. Without seeing it, my guess is a machine shop could remove the stripped splines and then pin/weld a bushing with external splines where the old splines used to be. Same on the sprocket- drill/lathe out the stripped splines and insert a bushing with internal splines that mate up to your newly splined shaft. There's probably a number of ways for a machine shop to make this work...just need the right idea and right machine shop.
If I have to split the track and disassemble the transmission to repair it - I'd be willing to swap out the shaft with new and put a replacement sprocket - new or used (and in any condition) on it to get by - but I can't find a sprocket. I'm trying to not go the route of significant rework to essentially patch the part. I'd rather do a reliable repair if I'm taking a machine apart. Is a single key in the sprocket hub going to be up to the task? Has that proven to be a reliable repair? Another option comes to mind. Is there a sprocket of the same diameter or close that fits the type "C" Case/Drott track chain - but bolts on? If so possibly I could then make a mounting plate that could be welded to the output shaft and mount a bolt on sprocket to it. That could prove to be a method for helping other folks with this same problem.
A reputable machine shop can make a repair that can be better than new. It would hardly be a patch job unless the company you use is crap.
No- keys are designed to shear if overloaded. "Some" keys are hardened and are not intended to shear....but I wouldn't go the key route regardless. . Like Vetech said, a good machine shop will know what they're doing and make a reliable part.
Dad and I owned had a decent machine shop until it burned down. At one time I could have cast new sprockets - I had a 75KW Inductotherm coreless induction furnace. Now just scrap. I've already scrapped 50 tons of just metal working machinery with more to go. The scrap yard got pissed when I put 82K/lbs of lathes, mills, and drills in a 70yd roll off last year. I need the excavator now - not a month or 2 down the road. Now! My village is being a bunch of bullies and kicking me while I'm down. I've found messages that said DANA made these drives. They used undersize parts in these drives. Not surprising being an passenger automotive supplier. There simply isn't much material to work with and I can't take the machine out of service for weeks to muddle through repairing it. If I could actually push the shaft out of the drive without disassembling the drive like I was told by Crawler Parts in Indiana - I'd be willing to put a new shaft in it for the $450 I can buy one for. I don't feel there would be sufficient wall thickness of an externally splined busing to attempt a repair the shaft. A failed repair would mean days of work. To attempt to save the sprocket I have. I would have to send the new shaft off to have someone make a bushing with internal 29 tooth spline to match the shaft. Bore a lot of valuable strength out of a wimpy sprocket so it can have the internally splined bushing pressed into it. Then weld the bushing in place. Depending on how it is welded - machining could be required of the welds. All along hoping that the thinned sprocket hub doesn't break later. Crawler Parts said just weld the sprocket to the shaft and pay the piper later if the inner pillow block bearing fails. I'm not sure how they would weld it - through holes drilled through the sprocket hub to the shaft spline? The pillow block bearings bear against each side of the sprocket so welds can't effect the sides of the sprocket. Here is a picture of how little difference there is between the shaft's spline and the bearing journal.