hi all, I’m currently stripping down the undercarriage on my hitachi ex60-3, going doing a rebuild and going to sandblast and paint it as it’s quite rusty. I’ve removed everything except the track motor and final drive assemblies and I hope to remove them tomorrow. My question is, with all the rust built up around the frame, will I have trouble removing the assemblies from the frame and is there any tricks I need to know of, obviously apart from removing the motor hoses and the bolts that mount the drive to the frame. Thanks
All depends if they used never sieze or not
I've had some where the rust really grabbed hold of the motor and wouldn't let go. I would sneak a porta power in between sprocket and frame to give her a little nudge here and there.
Thanks for the reply, managed to get them off, had to use a porta power, but got there eventually. When it comes to refitting the motors, is it just a case of refitting the hoses and running the motor levers to bleed the air from the system? Thanks
I'd take a flapper wheel and polish the bores they came from as well as the OD of the mounting area. Heavy applications of anti-sieze at all mating surfaces. When I swap out motors, I try to raise that track off the ground and free run it without load for the first run. That way you've got oil everywhere you need it.
Ya I’ll definitely clean down all the rust when I’m putting them back. Copper grease the best anti seize? Machine is currently up on blocks and undercarriage is completely stripped, so when I am putting it back together I’ll run the motors before putting the chains back on. Thanks
Copper is usually for high heat applications. The silver stuff would do just as well. Just use some, no matter what color it is. Whatever is on hand, is what works best. Most folks are in a mad rush to jump it back into service, the little things are the ones that jump up and bite ya. Goes without saying, 271 on mounting screws.
Well I’m in no mad rush with this machine, prefer to do it right while I’m at it. Ya I’ll definitely put threadlocker on the bolts. What grade of bolt would I need for the mounting bolts? Bolts I removed, the heads are all rusted and worn, so I want to replace them while I’m at it, just want to get the proper grade so there’s no chance of them breaking?
Do to shear force, I would not deviate from factory. So, with that said, I'd be calling your dealer.
The bolts are 10.9 metric. Most of those put out the manufacturers have a body on the bolt the just fits the mounting hole. If you go aftermarket on the bolts, make sure to measure the body of the bolt and consider how tight it fits in the hole.
Thanks for the reply, by body of the bolt you mean some of the bolt shank is unthreaded? Their m16 coarse thread I think.
That's what I mean. I also usually don't lock tight a bolt of that size if there are a lot of them in tight spacing. Antiseize and proper torque usually means a bolt with a worn off head can be removed by a worn socket. Use the glue and you might be pounding smaller size sockets on just to get things apart again. I'm not saying the glue is wrong, just making an observation based on plenty of experience.