Hi all! Just letting you know this is my first post and I'm new to the industry so any help you can give is very much appreciated! I'm currently trying to find a supplier for track and plow bolts... so I have these general questions.. Factors that determine getting a new track or A9 bolt and how often this happens? (from malfunction or needing regular replacement?) How many bolts would need replacing? (just the broken bolt or all bolts?) Where do you buy these bolts from? (OEM or aftermarket - can you please suggest?) Who in a company would order the required bolt/s? (When it breaks or have them pre-ordered?) Would you install the bolt yourself or it is done by the distributor? I know these questions might seem simple to some but even if you answer only 1 of the questions it will be a fantastic help!
I'm not sure what your wanting to know for sure, but when I do an undercarriage, I replace all the track bolts, roller bolts, everything, if I put on oem parts, I get the bolts from them, if aftermarket I go through them and they supply the bolts, I'll only reuse the track drive sprocket bolts, all the rest get replaced, but for me, I bought a dozer that someone put soft or reused bolts in the bottom rollers and I twisted most of them off to get the bottom rollers off, had to drill and torch out the old bolts, said never again and have since put them all in new. If the machine has rock guards on it, and I have to take them off, those bolts are new when put back on too. On cutting edges and things with plow bolts in, I just torch them off and put in new every time, I'd never reuse any for any reason, I've also been know to spot weld on the nuts to keep them tight too when installing them. On track pad bolts, its new any time I have to take them out, I keep some on hand at all times, and if something comes loose I put new in, not that common but it happens, I"ll also torch off the old one when replacing the pads or track chain, its faster and easier and I want new bolts in anyhow. Some save bolts, others not, its just personal preference or a time saving deal, to remove the old bolts carefully, like track pad bolts, and reuse them is time consuming, to me, I want new one's anyhow, just torch them off or twist them off with a big impact and new saves time putting them back together again, if you don't know the difference, when you go to do your first replacement, you'll understand fully. Hope this helps somewhat, if I wasn't clear enough ask more specific questions.
I'm with Randy, We replace all the bolts when we redo an undercarriage. Broken bolts on the bottom rollers can be a real PITA! We put a new undercarriage on a D5 this winter and had about 10 hours into removing all the broken bolts and tapping the existing holes. New hardware doesn't guarantee that the bolt wont break next time, but sure gives you a fighting chance. Also getting the torque spec back on used undercarriage bolts is impossible.
Hey thanks for replying! Since you guys have given me a lot of knowledge so far, do you own your own machinery or are you operators? Or something totally different I'm trying to pin point who would do the ordering of track and plow bolts or book in for servicing. If they broke.. would the bolts be self-replaced (by the operator/someone else? and where would they be ordered from) or would they take it to be serviced (general servicing or would the machinery be under a service agreement)?? Thanks again for all your help!
I own my machines, do the ordering and also the replacing of anything, fixing of all my own stuff, and there's nobody else to blame when things go wrong. None of my stuff with undercarriages on was bought new, all used and there was no warranty to worry about. I'm curious by your question, just what position do you hold, or are you doing a college study survey or something like that, just so we can help answer your questions better.