As mentioned earlier on another post, the RH track seems to be at the end of the adjustment, as it will not move any further. Then when I got looking in the parts book it looks like the yoke for the front idler seems very different on the loader than what is shown in parts book. Maybe someone swapped out for a yoke off of another machine? Also, the place where the grease goes in to adjust the track out has the fitting broken off & the previous owner put the grease nipple on the "relief plug" that is used to let grease out. Does it really matter which location the fitting is in in order to tighten the track? In the picture that shows the track frame, does it look like the idler still has room to travel a bit?
I would say that idler is fully extended. Don't look at the distance remaining at the top in your 2nd photo, instead look at the bottom and if you imagine where the bottom front corner of the idler guide is I think you'll find it will be tight against the track frame.
I had another look on the inside of the idler & it is a little hard to see by the picture, but it appears to be free to travel right off of the end of the track frame.
Sorry, I didn't write down what I was thinking. The guide in your last photo is already part way off the front of the wear strip on the inside of the track frame. I imagine the inside one is the same. When the front end of that guide passes the end of the guide on the frame it's a sure sign you're running out of tensioner travel.
What is the track adjuster extended distance? Maximum allowed is 5.1"
OM, would you happen to have a diagram that shows where to check that? Thanks
Measurement #2 in the diagram below.
Ok, thanks.....that's a great help.
Based on the 5.1" it looks like I have about 7/8 to go yet. As mentioned earlier, the grease fitting at location #3 on the above sketch is broken off & a previous owner installed one in location #1 where the relief plug is. Should it work ok in either location to tighten the track?
I'm not the last word here but the bores appear to be the same, just the fittings are different.
I always thought the idea of having the vent valve at the top (relatively speaking) was so that air could be bled out of the tensioner cylinder. If the cylinder is already bled it shouldn't make any difference as far as I can see.
I was able to drill & easy-out remove the old ball check assembly that had been broken off of the 941 & pilfer one from one of my parts machines. The grease nipple was broken off of the parts machine ball check as well, so I drilled it out, tapped & put a grease nipple in it & install it in place of the old one. The track seemed to tension a bit more & is tight enough for now. I had a similar experience on my D4D a couple years ago where it seemed to "lock up" & not adjust out when I tried to put grease in, like it was hung up on something for a while & then it freed up later on & all has been good again as far as adjustment is concerned.
Back working on the RH track adjustment problem again. As indicated at the beginning of the post the track had stretched to pretty well to the end of adjustment, so we took one link out a few weeks ago. For some reason the hyd adjustor is not cooperating, not leaking but does not move freely at all. Need to put the draw pin in the sprocket to get it to retract & to extend the adjustment, it does not move freely either, likely all corroded inside? Are there any tricks to free things up inside, or better to take things apart & try to rebuild the adjuster? Some posters have said that if your spring is broken, just carefully start at one end & cut the spring one wrap at a time with a torch. Is this the best way, seeing the spring is broken anyway & needs to be replaced? Or can the spring be left alone (even though it is broken at one end) with the stops holding it & just move the idler ahead far enough to get things apart? The track can easily be split again, since it was just done a few weeks ago.
The problem with removing a broken spring is that you are never quite sure where the tension force is in what's left of the spring. On the face of it the recoil force should be less because one coil is broken, but on the other hand if something somewhere has bound up you could have a section of the spring that is under a fair amount of compression, maybe even more than it would be if the spring wasn't broken. The spring is not going to be reused anyway so there is no reason at all in my mind to attempt to disassemble the recoil mechanism without first cutting the spring one coil at a time starting from the end opposite to the broken coil. That way you could disassemble the whole thing, replace the spring and overhaul/clean the tensioner mechanism while it's all apart.
Got some pricing back on replacing the big track tensioning spring from the Cat dealer............ over $2,000.......yikes!! I am wondering if it may be logical to attempt to repair the Hyd track adjustor, by leaving the spring intact, as it is still functioning? Can everything come out the front if I split the track & slide the idler ahead? The other parts for rebuilding the seals in the hyd adjuster are reasonable. BTW, I am on the hunt for a used spring as an option.......
Another thought.........I have two D4D's that are not running currently.......one an 83Jxxxx & one a 78Axxxx. Would any of those hyd track adjustment assemblies or recoil springs be compatible to the 941 Loader?
Check ebay after market for recoil springs.
Check Offroad Equipment - www.offroadeq.com/ - before eBay. My 2c. Edit: Check out some of the threads on here where people have replaced tensioner springs. New aftermarket are about $250-300 IIRC. You will need the services of a local machine shop with a press in order to install the new spring. Here are a couple of useful ones. HeavyEquipmentForums HeavyEquipmentForums This guy even made his own press ....... HeavyEquipmentForums
Thanks for the references re the spring removal & rebuilding the hyd adjuster. The cat dealer got back to me later today with an aftermarket alternative for the spring...$300 this time, much better to swallow. I plan to order it along with the hyd adjuster rebuilt kit. I managed to loosen the spring nut on the long bolt tonight after putting a bit of heat to it & then oil. Is it better to remove the coil spring assembly by tightening up the nut & bringing it out in one piece, or since I am replacing the spring anyways, just nip it one spiral at a time & take it out that way? BTW is the long rod/nut 1 1/8 #12 or something different, as I could try cleaning up the threads on the rod & reuse it?
Honestly with that one in the state it's in I would cut it with oxy-acetylene and have done with it, then disassemble the mechanism once the spring is cut.
Wear GOOD eye protection, dealer mechanic lost an eye cutting spring coils to remove the recoil spring!
That is good advice.....will remember that.
Have never been into one of these before so pilfered a hyd adjuster assembly off of one of my parts machines to better understand just how the Hyd Adjuster mechanism works, as the 941 is still being used & wanted to make sure the right parts got ordered, before taking it apart. This assembly is off of my one old D4D (not running)of which the parts book shows the same part numbers as the 941 for the adjuster. May use this cylinder, as once it was all cleaned up, the chrome is better on this one from off of the D4D than the one still on the 941. After taking this apart & cleaning things up, it makes way more sense to understand just how it work never having seen one inside before. Reading the other threads posted by Nige of others doing the same job was helpful......thanks. Ordered 2 sets of seals & O-rings, enough to do two rebuilds. All parts including the spring should be in on Monday.
IMHO there is no sense in re-inventing the wheel. If someone else has done the job and posted pictures as well then why not take advantage of it..?