I need to service my new to me excavator and have some questions. How is the turntable (not sure what it is called, but what the cab swivels around on) lubricated? Does it need to be greased or is it in a oil reservoir, or is it a sealed unit and how would I lube it? Also do the drive motors for the tracks have a reservoir for gear oil or is it lubed be the hydraulic oil? Is there anything else I would need to do other than the usual fluid and filter changes. I am unfamiliar with excavators and don't have a service manual yet. The mini is a 2004 IHI 35N that I posted a couple threads down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The cab rotates round on the slew ring - this needs greasing every 50 hours via a grease nipple located on the front or side of the machine (it may be highlighted by a sticker with an icon like a small cog next to a larger cog) You grease it by applying at least 5 pumps of a grease gun into the nipple at every 90 degress of rotation (4 times throughout the 360 degree rotation) The machine most likely will have a gear oil resovoir (especially if the excavator has two speed tracking) on each of the track motors - Will probabaly need changing every 500 hours, not easy to describe how to change the oil though!! Sorry I can't be more helpfull. Best get a service manual if you can.
There should be two 'plugs' on the travel motor. One is the drain,the other the inspection/fill. Rotate as req'd,drain old oil,refill w/ fresh 80/90w gear oil. But Check The Manual! HTH. J. :usa
It may pay to state the make and model of ex you are asking about, as different machines are set up different. For instance my baby Kobelco SK005 has remote nipples for the slew ring, unfortunatley I have not been able to find an operators manual in English (I have one written in Japanese) the problem being the SK005 was only ever build for the domestic Japanese market. Whilst we are in the slew area I was wondering about the usual set up, my machine has a little play in the slew and I am wondering whether the slew cog is made of softer material than the ring? I would presume it is as it would be easier and cheaper to replace a cog than the ring. I would presume this is the same principal as used in having softer pins for the boom. Which reminds me, the SK005 has a swing arm boom and the pin that attaches the swing mechanism to the boom has a fair bit of wear in it, due most likely to lazy Japanese operators not greasing and the fact that the way it is designed there is always dirt sitting on top of this pin and thus a lot of grit would work it's way into that pin. So if you have a swing arm boom, make sure to grease this pin often and try to keep dirt off it, as much as possible.
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Thank you for the replies, they have been very helpful. I have another question regarding engine oil. The engine is a 3 cylinder Isuzu and the lubrication chart recommends 10W 30 oil. I am used to using only 15-40 diesel oil in diesels but I'm not familiar with these small engines. Are they supposed to use 10-30? If not then I'm putting 15-40 in.
I usually use 15w40 in my minis which have smaller engines than your IHI.
Yeah, I use 15w40 in all my diesels. It's a heavier duty oil specifically designed for the demands of diesels. Shell Rotella or Valvoline Premium Blue, you can't go wrong....
I found some Shell Rotella T 10W30 at walmart. I just didn't know they made 10W30 for diesels.
http://www.shell.com/home/Framework...ella-en/html/iwgen/products/dir_products.html