After looking to purchase a crawler loader for a while, my family's company finally decided a tracked skid steer would be more practical. We made the plunge and just recently purchased a used Deere CT332. The thing is a brute.:scool It has 1686 hrs on it. I'm a newbie when it comes to heavy equipment but have experience with farm machinery. The first thing I always do after buying anything used is thoroughly inspect it, replace all filters/fluids and read the owners manual (no owners manual came with the machine but local dealer is ordering me one and hopefully a shop manual too). Well I found some areas needing attention on the Deere and thought I might get your opinions on these repair issues. There is a crack on the right side of the body where the lift arm attaches to the frame. I've attached pictures of the crack. I plan to have the crack welded and a plate welded over it to strengthen it. Anyone else ever see a crack like this? Do you think this this evidence of poor design or abuse by PO? There is a foam pad located where the cab rops meets the body. The covering of this foam pad is worn so that when it rains the foam soaks up water like a sponge and retains it. I'm wondering if the moisture issue may have caused the original weld to rust, thus leading to this crack. I plan to replace the worn out foam pad with a new one and store the machine in a barn. I also found that the left rear idler is worn out. The inside lip on the idler is totally gone. I'll be replacing this worn idler. The right side idler is just fine. This baffles me. Why would one idler be so badly worn and the other side just fine? Is there something else I need to be looking at which may have caused only one side's idler to wear? The tracks aren't too bad but I may replace them too. Once I get the tracks off on both sides, I'll be able to better inspect the rest of the UC. How do y'all jack your machines to service the UC? Are there any specific jacking points under it? I've heard the tracks probably weigh 500lbs each but I've got a tractor with a FEL to help lift them. The rear service door is damaged on the right side making it difficult to open. I plan to take it off and straighten out the bent metal. That's some thick steel so it won't be easy. Also, I found the bolts to be extremely loose where the lift guide arms attach to the top of the cab. Is this a common issue? Anyone else find themselves retightening lift arm bolts? Thanks in advance for any suggestions, opinions or insight. I know you'd ask for them, so here's some pics:
Here's pics of the worn idler and the location of loose lift arm bolts.
Welcome to the Forum MoCat!! I am not familiar with the JD skid steer, but as for welding - make sure you clean that crack out well before welding. It might take a little time for the real experts to give their two cents - have patience. We have some really good folks on the forum!
Hi du5tyl. That's real good advice for repairing the crack! I'll defintely be sure to clean it out really well. It'll help that I'll have access to both sides of the crack. Thanks for the welcome and the advice. I've enjoyed reading the forums but haven't posted much till now. It sure is a great resource.
Do u have enough room on the inside to put a fish plate on it. Be sure to v out the crack real good, before welding it.
Seems like really low hours for that idler to be worn out..... Only thing I can think of is maybe the original owner only turned one direction? Make sure to find out the appropriate torque spec for those bolts!
MoCat, 1)the loose lift arm should have no to about an 1/8th of an inch of play at best. 2)Idler has me :beatsme?? Maybe letting the tracks stay too loose and the teeth in the belt has been eating at it. The tracks look fairly warn out. If you have to put some kind of straight edge on either the inside or out of the track frame to see if all the rollers and everything is lining up. Just from the pictures you show the machine has a too good to be true paint job?? or at least on the boom.. 3)And yes that padding will soak up water. you really won't notice it till you lift the cab up to clean it out or something. then it drips all over your head and back. 4)I haven't seen those cracks on the one I run or any other one for that matter. But I will go check mine now.... 5)When and if you do transport the machine. Have 2 binders on the rear to keep from bending the rear door. Beides that be sure to have the machine's serial# run through your dealer to make sure your pips and mods have been done. Also keep your fuel tank above a quarter of a tank and fuel filters clean. Along with a spare fuel filter. Other then that, put diesel in her and let the fur fly. Hope you have good luck with the machine, DM
Thanks Stickpro. I'll look at it again this weekend to see if I have enough room for a fish plate on the inside. I think that I do. If so, I'll probably weld one on the other side too to reinforce it as well and so that both sides match. Hi Flashpuppy. I was wondering the same thing. I've heard some operators turn more often toward their dominant side/arm and that consistent turning tends to wear undercarriages unevenly. I think you're on to sometime. I was able to look up the torque specs and they're a little over 500 ft/lbs for the idler (I just downloaded a service manual and it lists the specific ft/lbs). I don't think I have a torque wrench that goes that high. Maybe have to rent one? That's a lot of torque! Oh and thanks for replying/helping. Deereman. I hadn't thought of checking the alignment of the undercarriage. That's a good idea given the uneven wear. There are places that look repainted. Wish they had sprayed the rops with new black paint while they were at it. That padding at the bottom of the rops sounds like trouble. Local Deere dealer said to take it out completely but I may either replace it with new or use some other material like rubber that won't absorb water. I really don’t want to remove the foam completely due to the vibration dampening it serves. Thank for all the help and the tips you gave me.
if your welding the frame just remember to unhook the battery. i have cooked a few expensive batteries that way
I would hire some one to weld a critical area like that. someone that does this type of work for a living could fix that in a few hours tops if you can help them out by removing the ROPs it would save a good a mount of money.
Yea, I don't think that removing the padding will do you any good. Did you say if the machine still had warranty?(The reason I ask is Deere has a longer warranty on the booms and mainframes that they might cover that crack??) And for checking the track sag, just but the boom all the way day and tilt your bucket down till all the carrier rollers are not touching. Check from third roller from the back the distance between the bottom of the roller and the track. I believe 3/4 of inch to an inch and a 1/4 is proper distance. If you are going to take the tracks off and you have a flat, hard place to park it. You can put a jack under the rear and jack it up using the bucket. Put some stands under the front and then loosen the grease fitting on the track frame till grease starts coming out. You can put you a 4x4 block or something else in between the loader bucket and front idler to get the slack required to get the track loose to take it off if you have to.
I really appreciate all the advice I've gotten. I spent this weekend wrenching on the machine. Changed fluids and filters. Oils looked good. I took samples and sent them off for analysis last week. While warming up the machine for the oil changes I thought it would be a good idea to attach the grapple bucket and cycle the aux hydro. The aux hydro is actuated by the right hand control. There is a lock on the handle, which when released allows the handle to pivot inward. I couldn't get the handle to pivot. I could tell the handle was unlocked but it would only rotate a tiny distance before it stopped dead. I thought it might be a seized cable so I detached the cable at the hydro block. Nope, the cable moved fine detached and so did the handle. It's like it is locked inside the hydro block. Am I missing something obvious? Do I need to unlock it in the hydro block somehow? It feels similar to how when the machine is shut down the foot controls are locked in the hydro block. Also cleaned crud and mud out of the belly pan (2 - 4 inches of it). My brother and I used a wide putty knife to remove probably about 200 lbs of dirt and there's plenty more. I think we'll take a water hose to it to remove the rest out the drain holes/access panels. Speaking of which I can't get the rear access panel off yet due to one stripped bolt head. Tried cleaning up the head with a file. Tried locking pliers. Tried stupid gator socket or whatever they call it with the springing rods inside it. That was worthless. Tried a special craftsman helicoil type socket specifically for removing striped nuts/bolts. Nope. I'm going to try filing or grinding again to fit a smaller socket before I finally give up and grind the head off. Not much room to work under it so it won't be easy if it comes to drilling and tapping it. Any suggestions? While working on it I noticed that the two front engine mounting bolts were loose. One was completely out. The other still in place but the bottom nut/plate had released and fallen into the belly. I realigned the engine and the rubber dampeners and reattached the bolts using locktite. I'm guessing they must have vibrated loose? I've got the boom locked up and noticed it seems to sway or lean uneven. I think a right side pin on the boom is bent or missaligned. I plan to talk to Deere about that and see if that might be warrantied. I don't have any idea how to fix it. I guess that boom arm has to be taken off and the pin realigned or something. I'll try to post a good pic to show you what I mean. Dont know how that may have happened. Same side as the crack in the frame. Maybe a severely uneven load? Rollover or extraction? It was lots of hard work this weekend but fun. Time flew by. Sure hope this doesn't become a regular weekend activity for me though.