I chose this machine in part from lurking at the site over the past year or so. I checked out a few 955s and chose this one as the undercarriage is well maintained and the PO, a mechanic had spent quite a few bucks underneath it. A big part of the work to be done is clearing trees, about an acre of mostly white pine and the machine has ROPS. I got to work a couple of weeks ago and found tree clearing pretty easy. The soil is sand clayey with a lot of boulders and I found that tying a chain around the truck as high as I can get it attached to a 1/2" - 100' long cable pulls the tree to the tractor and pulls the tree down with the root ball and all. I pull the tree back to a clearing and then cut the stump off it. The guy that sold it to me promised the owners manual but he had misplaced it and I'm still waiting for it. I figured out most of the details but I wonder if someone can tell me about fluids and fillers locations. I see that to the right of the seat there are two filler caps and dip sticks. I assume those feed the final drives with the right serving the right track and the left vice versa. The right fluid level looks ok but left is at ADD. That leaves the Transmission fluid. Where is the filler for that? Hope somebody can help. i have to go into town now for a couple of hours so if you reply and I don't respond it's cuz i'm not at the computer.
For an operation and maintenance manual that will have everything you need for $35, Google "servicemanualpro". Genuine factory manuals available for download.
If you plan on keeping the loader, you should watch Ebay for a Service Manual and Parts book. You will find these publications to be very valuable for troubleshooting and diagnosing problems, in addition to very clear servicing instructions. Regards, Clark
You can't raise the bucket up all the way high on the tree and push it over? I do this with big oaks all the time, then either push them where I want to cut the or carry them with a clamshell bucket.... sure beats all the chain work!
How about a few pictures of your new addition? Always interested in seeing what other people buy...........
Pic of the beast Thanks everybody. I tried pushing the trees and that works ok too except I'm pushing the tree forward into the other trees and I still have to separate the trunk from the root. I found the root ball wants to pop back into the hole so came up with the cable plan. It is hard work pulling the cable but by yanking the tree into the clearing away from the other trees it cleans the soil off the root ball. Anyway i learned along time ago that the first couple of anything takes forever and once getting going the work goes a lot faster. I'm not there yet, but i'm getting better at controlling the bucket and picking up some really huge boulders.
Oh, I see. Looks great, won't take long before running it is second nature...
If you push the tree over and get the root ball loose, you should be able to get it out with the bucket. A 955 weighs around 16 tons and can lift a fair amount.
Broken Well this is not good news. The left bottom front roller has separated. Both the inside and outside holders)? have come away and sheared the four bolts off and the roller is loose inside the track. As I was pondering how to go about the repair and up rode a guy on an ATV. He's helping my neighbour with some logging and came by to say hello and introduce himself. He said he's retired and is a heavy equipment mechanic. He said I'll have to separate the track and jack up the machine to re-fit the roller. He said theres a king pin that is friction fit and gets removed by a sledgehammer. I asked how do I find it and he said it looks different. So I wire brushed all the pins and found one that looked different but oh yea its been stick welded to the track. To verify that it looks different I cleaned up the other side and found the pin that looks different and it's not welded but has the telltale bevel in the centre. The inner holder is missing entirely and the outer one is badly damaged so i need both. I asked the mechanic and he suggested his former employer as a source. I stopped by this morning and they said if they needed Cat parts they would go to Toromont, they are the Cat Dealer. I wonder if theres a heavy equipment salvager where I might source a roller from a machine parted out. As for the track pin If I'm right about the king pin then I have some grinding in my future, oh yeah the pin is welded on the inside too. Her's a few pics.
Not sure it is possible on that model but I have changed bottom rollers on my old D7 without splitting the track, loosened track all the way, jacked up that side so track was hanging below rollers, sometimes had to use a bottle jack to get slack under roller that needed changed, BLOCKS BETWEEN TRACK AND TRACK FRAME for safety! I've done 4 or 5 this way. PITA any way you do it.....
Good idea, I check it out.
I got the roller out and it wasn't to bad at all. Released the nut on the tensioner and that brought the idler back an inch or so and stuck the bucket into the dirt and pushed bucket down and that raised the from off the ground, stuck a log under the front tracks and the track sagged enough to all the roller to pop out. I drilled a broken bolt with a 1/8" bit and followed that with a 1/4" bit and hammered in an extractor. The bolt look like 7/16 -5/8" and it's stuck in pretty good and didn't budge. I'll put a torch on it tomorrow and see if that helps.
I have to hand it to CAT for having a parts inventory for an old machine. Thanks to the good folks at Toromont I have a new roller assembly coming to me from Toronto. Ordered today and ready for me at the Orillia branch tomorrow.
Did you get the broken bolt out OK..?
Not yet but looking at the CAT diagram I might have drilled too deep and trying to do the impossible so i got a 3/8 tool and will give it a shot tomorrow.
If you can get to it OK try melting some candle wax into the threads. That often helps to free a stuck bolt. Also you could try turning the bolt in the tightening direction - that might break it free, especially if there are a couple of threads sticking out of the nut inside and they have rusted. Make sure you don't break the extractor inside the bolt or you'll be in a heap of trouble.
Well I found that the beam is about 1" thick and i tried removing two bolts and I heated the steel around the hole and the leftover of the bolts won't budge. I thought it might do to drill the holes out and cut a thread slightly larger and get new bolts. Thats sucks considering I bought four replacement bolts already.
Get nuts big enough to slide over the the shank of the bolt. Weld them good to the stub sticking up and let them cool for a bit, 5-10 minutes. Put a good socket on them and turn them out. Repeat process as needed. I've pulled track link bolts, roller bolts, manifold bolts, head bolts and lots of others that way. Mike's candle wax trick is absolutely wonderful if you can get to the top of the bolt. Just don't heat them too much to burn the wax, just enough that it runs like water. Broken bolts are the joy of a used CAT. When you put the new bolts in slather them with plenty of anti seize so the next poor fella doesn't have the same problem, it might be you. Good luck John
John, that was always one of my favorite sayings:"Be nice to the next guy as he may be YOU!"
The bolts sheared flush with the beam so there's nothing to weld to and its on the bottom of the beam looking up so i'm pretty screwed except to re-tap the holes.
Have you considered (do you even have the tools & lifting gear) removing the track frame and turning it upside down to work on it..? I know it might sound drastic but that's what I'd do right from the start rather than trying to mess with removing broken bolts from underneath the frame.
Hate to say it but Nige is correct, get the frame off and flip it, will work out faster/better over the long run. Lots of blocks, lots of effort and will need a backhoe, excavator or something to lift the chunk of iron. I have to do the same on a Allis loader, a little worse as I have only a small a-frame and a farm tractor loader to move mine around. Allis also had to put a extra mount pin/bolt/support apparatus into the loader frame to the truck frame that I will guarantee won't remove easy for me.
you can try welding a heavy washer with inside diameter slightly smaller than diameter of bolt to the bolt, then weld big nut to the washer... PITA but easier in the long run to remove and flip the track frame.... this is why there are a lot off rollers welded to the frame........