We had a couple days of -10C weather and I thought it might be enough to harden the ground so I could get out to work on my drainage ditch. Too much frost and I can't dig it. It's also hard on the backhoe on the 931B. I tried to go in from one end but ran into a swampy section and pulled myself out with the backhoe. Then I tried to clear a short path through some tree's and hit another swampy section I had to pull myself out. OK, looks like I have to try go the long way parallel to the existing trench. Made it almost a 1/4 mile and noticed it was getting soft again so I stopped. Backed up maybe a foot and that's all she would go. Tried to pull it out with the hoe but the right side was just sinking in the mud. The ground where I just drove held the machine fine but when I tried to put the hoe bucket in and pull, the ground was just too soft and mushy. Pulling with the hoe also puts a lot more weight on the front of the tracks. I lifted the right side up and threw a few logs under the track but it was pretty much planted. If there would have been a big tree to anchor to, I think the hoe would have pulled it out without having to do any digging but I couldn't be so lucky. I only needed to go back about 5 ft. to get on firmer ground. So close yet so far. The only good thing is that a guy from the gravel pit will get a trailer and bring one of their Cats to pull me out on Tuesday. I think I'll need to thaw all the mud in the right side track. It's a good thing the guys at the gravel pit ride dirt bikes and I've known them for several years. Otherwise, I don't know how the heck I'd get it unstuck without spending a fortune. It's all loamy soil which I think makes it worse. If it was clay, I think the hoe bucket would have grabbed a little instead of just digging it all out.
We need some pics! A stuck machine is always worth looking at! Good luck getting it out. Some guys working on one of my building site's got a 20k lift stuck last week, a 4x4 John deer tractor pulled it out. Just barely the tractor was sliding sideways on the slope. It was a rental lift. I got stuck washing it.
Hopefully you're not froze in when you try to get it out.
Railroad ties under the tracks. Got a track loader out that way one time. Pushed about a dozen ties into the mud, never saw them again. Eventually the loader crawled out though.
I'm going to take a tiger torch or my generator and a redi-heater to thaw out the one track. I lifted it up and turned it but it's packed full of mud. I safely can drive my skid steer within about 30'. If I had more time and my chain saw set up, I could have fooled around and probably got it blocked up enough to get it out but I'm getting too old for this. I'm sure a D5 or D6 wide pad will get it out without too much trouble. The whole machine weighs around 22,000 lbs.
My day wasn't as bad as yours, but I was an hour into the job and blew the right side hydrostat hose on the 53. Wasn't fun getting that bad boy out! I just hope I can get it back in before it drops below freezing tomorrow.
I broke the main boom lifting cylinder on my 301.8 mini excavator Friday, working at my fathers farm. I am not still fully recovered after the shock when checking price for New rod. Should have stayed in bed...
Most hose failure on cat 53,63,73 are from bent belly pans and dirt rubbing through, then they get new hoses made and they are longer than original making it worse, look at old hose length before you remove it to check where it rubbs.
It rubbed up beside the engine block where it went through a steel tubing. 11 gallons of fluid, new hose and ends, and 800 dollars later I'm back in business.
I just changed one on a 963 landfill machine... Talk about fun! ointhead
I had get to get the stick cylinder on the backhoe fixed last year, only $1300. I would think a good hyd. shop could make a new rod for a mini a lot cheaper than Cat wants. The bolt holding the piston pulled out and damaged most of the threads in the rod. I got them to drill it out and tap it for the next size bolt and drill the piston to fit the new bolt. It only saved about $200 over making a new rod with the old pin end welded on. They said a complete new cylinder was around $5000! At least you didn't have to lay in 20 gallons of oil to get your hose replaced. I had the main hose going to the loader valve blow apart because someone before used a Cat reusable fitting with non Cat hose and put a metal shim in to make it crimp tighter. What's worse was I was digging with the hoe in soft ground and the machine was sunk in the ground enough that the belly pan wouldn't drop enough to slide back off the front lip. Finally after playing with it for 15 minutes, I got the belly pan out. Then I had to slide under the Cat in a pool of oil to get at the hose. The hose was perfectly good. The rubber was skived off real nice like it was ready to go back on the fitting. The other end of the hose had a piece plastic used for a shim. My friend from the gravel pit is bringing a D5N wide pad to pull me out tomorrow. I'm going to go out earlier and try to thaw the frozen track/frame out before he gets there. Getting stuck isn't fun, getting stuck in mud and having everything freeze makes it so much funner...NOT!:throwup
Today was one of those days here ..............
more snaps.............
Lol. So that's what you call an air starter. One that's hanging in the air? Nige. I sent you a PM.
Definitely a Snap, followed by a bang.
Some wit here opined that it actually went BNAG, but we all though that was bang out of order ........ It will take a while to clean the brown stains from the seat and the general smell of **** from the cab. The operator literally wet himself, he was running in 6th at an indicated 44km/h grossed up to 325 tonnes when she let go. The informed conclusion is that the counterweight decided to do a runner and made a bid for freedom via the walls of the cylinder block. CM, Seen your PM and working on it. Nothing as yet.
This 'Was' a .7 hour old genset on initial acceptance run, did not quite make it. Seems #1 main was installed wrong shell up and starved the crank rod journal. And yes was less than 45 minutes when it locked solid then the fire alarm went off and as we opened the cabinet door to the set found the rod on the floor, pizz can wrist pin bosses exploded, was at full registered load!
Oh dear........
Looks like the engine in our 769C a few years back! Loader operator told truck driver something did not sound right with the trucks engine. So of course truck driver decided to save me some time and decided to drive up to the shop! Almost made it! I had to walk back about fifty feet to find the missing rod. That engine had been rebuilt by local Cat dealer about a year earlier. They determined failure was related to a bearing delamination problem and covered it under warranty. Was the cause of this failure a counter weight coming loose from the crank? Went back and actually read the post instead of looking at the pictures. Can you slip a new engine in and have it ready for the morning shift?
Counterweight broke in half. You have SIS, check out SEPD1840, then ask me which cwt let go
My SIS says SEPD1840 Not Found
Nige, Ouch, how many hours were on the engine and how many remans? Bob
5,000 hours since a zero-hour rebuild that included a new cylinder block. PCR is 20,000 hours.