i got a call last night asking if i could get a 345 ready to be shipped south. of course i said no problem about removing the counter weight, bucket and narrowing the tracks. i told the fellow i'll read about it on the internet tonight and in the morning the crew and i will know what we are doing. that is exactly what happened and we figured out a bolt that was tightened to 2200 lbs will take 2 guys and a 10 foot pipe to loosen it, LOL. thansk KoO Published Author
how exactly does the counter weight come off like that? like do you need a crane or something?
A lot of excavators 40+ ton on up, have an option for a counterweight removal device. It's a little different from one OEM to another, in Cat it's a hydraulic cylinder with a pulley and heavy chain. See below for a better detail.
Thats a nice hoe. Did those guys eat a little something extra for breakfast just in case?
Getting them off is no problem, even without the hydraulic picker or a crane. Just remove the bolts and give it a tug off of the frame lugs it sits on. Putting it back on is a different story though. 2 regular mechanics trucks, one on each side, both with 8K IMT boom, will pick it on a 345 or 350. Get a 375 and you better have more to pick it up. Did a Hitachi 700 once and the 245D we had would barely pick the CW up to place it. Had to take the bucket off of the 245 to do it. Tried with it on and it would not pick it. To slide the tracks in, I have lifted one side like in the pic, but with the bucket closer to the frame, then used the bucket and stick to shove it in. Put a cable around the upper rollers and the teeth to pull it back out. I like the cheater pipe KoO