I have problems with my machine on side hills, doesn't take much of an angle driving horizontally say. The bottom rollers like to try and walk out of bogies. Im looking for a set of center guards for the track frame that covers the 2 center bogie area. Just to dang expensive from Cat, I've called few salvage places and no luck yet. I found just one piece at a used parts seller but thats 1 of 4 and no luck anywhere else so i haven't thought about buying it unless i maybe could replicate it in my shop. thanks! i attached some pictures of examples thanks!
Why not take these pics and measurements to a local welder and just have them made. Buy some grade 8 bolts and your done.
Yair . . . Okay what's a guestimate to cut parts and fab up a pair of them and drill and paint . . . the average fab hand wouldn't do them in a day on a two off basis oxy-cut by hand . . . maybe twelve hours or so times eighty bucks an hour plus consumables and steel Around here they wouldn't come in at much under fifteen hundred bucks, what are they from Cat? Cheers.
Give or take three and a half grand.
Yair . . . Gotcha Cmark , I'm completely out of touch as (everyone on here knows) Cheers.
I'd take it on, but I'm in VT. Shipping would be staggering. Talked with a local fellow I've known forever about a set for an Allis Chalmers. Not brain surgery, but a lot of cutting, and welding. Having the tractor to bolt it to while welding would be a big advantage. Without a track frame to limit warping it won't be a perfect fit.
farmin ...give Diamond Attachements in Atoka,Oklahoma a call. They don't list them on thier website but they do build things like this for people. Maybe they can help. I was also thinkin maybe u could modify a set from a Case 850G to fit. I'm trying to decide if I want them for mine seeing as how they aren't that expensive.
657 a piece from cat x 4, and that's no hardware just plates , I think they also have wear strips inside lower edge
Do you have a Part Number from Cat..? If so try Offroad Equipment - www.offroadeq.com/ for a price. Approaching the issue from a different tack are you 100% sure that it's worn track guiding guards that are causing your problem..? What about wear on the track links themselves..? Your photos don't have enough detail to see whether the links are worn or not.
this is my machine those pictures above are not my machine there just examples of the center guards I'm looking for. ill get some better pics of my chain and end guards tomorrow, i just built up the wear strips on the end guards on all 8 in the shop with welder. The shop guy from Cat says those end guards do get bent out over time and I'm pretty sure some of mine are. anyways my undercarriage was all new cat rollers and chain and idlers built up id say 500 + hours ago. still like new really.
Yair . . . Blimey, to this old codgers eyes those little Cats are ugly . . . I would have to learn how to love them. Are rock guards an option . . . it sure looks strange to see a machine without them. I always considered guards to be part of the under carriage system and without them, it was convenient to work on but functionally incomplete In the example pictures posted by farmin I see no provision for cross bolts and spacers between the rollers. These used to be integral parts of the system and full length guards fitted without them (on timber work) became bent and splayed outwards and would pop the bolts where they bolt up to the track frame. Cheers.
a LGP machine is not the best machine to be chasing sticks with, real hard on under carriage. i have an old D
SORRY i have an old D2 that does that and the pins and bushings and rails are totally shot.
alright heres what i got, i see even those holes are drilled and tapped for the center guards on the track frame IDK WHY TOP 3 PICS ARE UPSIDE DOWN!:bash
Aside from the subject of guards, is the terrain on which you generally work similar to what's shown in post #10 above..? If it is then I would say part (or maybe all) of your problem is the wide LGP shoes on your tractor. They are too wide for the type of terrain IMO and will tend to twist the track links off the rollers, especially on side slopes more than a couple of degrees of inclination.
Yair . . . Something a little odd with the DF roller in the second picture . . . to my eyes the end cap is not snugged up to the track frame and what's the go with that bolt head? Cheers.
Tracks appear in good shape. Are the idlers jumping about? Could just be the ground conditions. I have one the same,but run it with std pads most of the time. LGP tracks are really for soft conditions where track guards just keep the muck trapped in.
here is an example of my end guards. i built them up but some are tweaked out a little scrub the end caps are all made like that one this machine. it pinched the roller shaft harder with this design i guess. They were all properly torqued haven't had any loosen up in 4 years now. Nige yea half my work is about like that. that particular picture is a 100 acre woods that had been logged off almost completely then allowed to grow up to weeds and you couldn't see where any of the stumps were plus all tree tops were left lay. So i cleared all the tree tops and overgrowth with a rake, having to drive over all sorts of stumps wasn't my favorite but i was just careful didn't have too much of a problem. Then my brother pulled all the stumps with tooth on excavator and i came back behind and piled stumps. I did throw the track off one time, derailed from front idler on right side got the inside of the track up on a pile of stones i didn't see and before i realized it was half off. no big deal master link was in a good spot thank god. anyways where i noticed my biggest derail problems is on side slopes. helped a guy dig and build a pond this winter and of course he wanted all the banks graded and my machine just couldn't do it. Would walk out of bottom rollers in 50ft. Luckily there was a Deere 550H LGP there that seemed to have no problem. I see D6Ns and D6Ts (LGPS mind you idk why necessary) around here on highway projects grading some pretty steep slopes with no problem. Thats why i wonder. I know running LGP tracks isn't ideal in some of my jobs but i can't justify switching pads or having a second machine at this point as this isn't my main income
Would a second set of narrow shoe tracks work, and then switch from one to the other..? The photo of your idler guard is scary. To give you an idea the bolt-on wear bar should actually be parallel to the shoes in the photo, not bent up at about 15 degrees. The links have been leaning on the guards so much and so hard they've bent them, plus the links are badly scuffed around the pin boss from the same problem. Another indication that the shoes are far too wide for the application. IMHO installing a centre guard as you propose might stop the symptoms but it sure as hell ain't going to stop the wear.
Yair . . . That guide/guard whatever laying out as Nige points out at maybe fifteen degrees is an example of what used to happen to even full length guards if not fitted with horizontal though bolts and spacers as I mentioned up thread. Cheers.
Now see i don't know how much of that guard bending I caused, I have never really looked at them until now. I have talked to several guys from local cat and they said those guard bending was very common on the 4 and 5H's. I also remember having one of them come out and look at it and he goes oh ya that happens just pound them back in once they get so bad. But another guy at the shop in Cat said eventually u just have to cut the piece off and reweld it on straight. Now that I have the wear strips all welded up I'm gonna see just how much rubbing I'm actually doing. Another thing they told me is the end of the pins on chain get beat up that's just a fact of life?? Haha