Hey guys. A question about the sprokets on my 8k. They seem easy to change. Can I do it myself. A guy also told me to have the pins turned on the rails after the sprokets put on. Im thinking thats a big job right there. Im just wanting to put the new sprockets on for now so it wont skip cause they are pretty wore and I hate having the track so tight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lt...omment_id=z130inagsovittzya04ccdpwiln3h3foudc Check out the video link I posted to have a better look. Thanks
If the question is can you replace just the segments , yes. They will wear at an accelerated rate due to the bushings are flaking and the pitch has probably been stretched. Nige or others can give you the measurement to see how far they are stretched. No doubt it needs top rollers. If I were you I would be on the hunt for a good set of rails used. Or new depends on what you want to spend. It depends on what you paid for it and how much you plan to use it as well. My personal belief , heavily worn undercarriage is hard on final drive systems. There are guys on here that are very knowledgeable about this model tractor. I'm in the same boat your in , or was , I bought a track loader with a worn u/c , replaced it then the final went out , replaced it and it went out again in 10 hours. That being said consuming 18 beers in a setting only alleviates the problem for a short while.
You can't turn those pin & bushings, they went to far. Putting segments now against worn out bushings and stretched track is a waste of money. The cheapest way out is new pins and bushings & segments, not sure you have the rail height for that to make sence. Nice paint though. A good used UC would be next choice if you can find it.
Your undercarriage looks pretty much worn out. See how the paint is worn off the bosses on the chains? That means a your roller flanges are cutting into them due to either worn out rollers, low link height or, more likely a combination of both. I personally would have no problem spending a few hundred dollars on a set of aftermarket segments and a carrier roller and running the U/C to destruction. Don't underestimate how tight you have to get the segment bolts though. If you don't do the job properly, they will come loose, damage the hub and then you're in a world of grief.
Thanks for the Answers... Whats a used UC going for these days average? I already have a set of sprockets here. They cost me 1000 bucks for both. I have some new top rollers also... I would like to get another year out of it before doing UC work. Would there be tourqe specs on how tight to get them?
I picked a 77V D8K higher than 77V5006 at random. The spec for torque on those bolts is 250+/-50 ft.lb. plus another 1/3 of a turn (2 flats) on the nut. The bolt threads need to be lubricated with "high pressure lubricant" according to the manual. To me that's a minimum of a copper anti-seize, others may have different suggestions for what to use.
As the others have remarked, pay attention to getting the bolts tight. The torque-turn method described by Nige is the only way to be sure they do not come loose. One more thing, Buy NEW bolts, and throw the old ones away. Once you put the proper stretch into the bolts, they will hold good, but the second time around they may not, and if they come loose and wallow out the holes in the hub, you have to buy a new hub. The upper rollers are OK to run for the rest of the life of the tracks you have. The bushings appear to be worn too far to turn, as Dpete said. New segments will get you quite a few hours, but be ready to buy a new set of rails for it. When you do the rails, that would be a good time to do the rollers as well. The part you don't see is the bottom rollers, and they are far more important than the top rollers.
How about decent take off set of segments good enough to get some hours and save your new ones for a better track that's back in pitch.
It will wear the sprockets but you will get plenty of hours to pay for them and most important get away from that final destroying popping I to wouldn't worry on the top roller
Thanks for the input. Apon closer inspection the the sprokets I now see that they have been welded in place on the hub for some reason..Ugh....Probably because they were getting loose or something. I will have more when I take them off.
Oilerman, Nice D8! What part of Alberta are you in?
Segments Welding the segments was standard procedure. Keeps them from coming loose.
Not on any of my machines it wasn't!
LOL :iagree
Only if whoever tightened them was too lazy to use the correct tightening method IMHO........
Yair . . . Under normal circumstances welding is unnecessary but if the holes are worn from coming loose before a bit of weld is good insurance in my opinion. Cheers.
I usually try not to be too uber critical when I come across someone's bodgy repair work because you just don't know the circumstances it was done under. Some guy may have been stranded miles from nowhere and had to do some bush mechanic-ing to get back to civilisation. That doesn't apply to things like sprocket segments though. Things like that come firmly under the heading of routine maintenance which should be properly planned in advance. If someone approaches a job like that without the correct tools or training to do it properly, then they probably shouldn't bother.
The only things I would add to that is all too often the guy who gets stuck with the "problem" is not the guy who did "bodgy repair work". I'm sure I have made repairs that were not proper by the book out of lack of knowledge or experience. And many times things are done knowing they are not right because the guy who signs the paycheck says "DO IT" or I will find someone who will!
I will pipe up with what I consider an exception to the rule, and that is it seems to be common practice in my neck of the woods when installing new segments on a machine to vee and weld a few beads in the gap between the segment ends, in other words weld the segments together into a ring. Does make them more stable and you can easily cut the weld with a zip wheel if you need to. No welding to the hub though, unless it's already trashed.
This was standard Caterpillar dealer procedure for No. Cal. I should have paid closer attention as it didn't occur to me that welded on the hub meant welded to the hub. Kind of defeats the purpose of the segment. We did not weld the segments on our last three 8K undercarriages. None have come loose.
No these are welded to the hub underneath the segment
That could mean a previous owner has had loose segments leading to the holes getting wallowed out after which even new bolts won't stay tight. Only removal of the existing segments is going to tell you, if the holes are wallowed it will be obvious. One solution would be to redrill a new set of bolt holes on the same circle but in the middle of the existing pattern if that makes sense. Problem is that it will likely require the sprocket disc to be removed from the machine and handed to a good machine shop to drill because the tolerance on hole position is measured in thousandths for those particular holes.
One small matter when bolting new segments on, be sure to clean all the paint of the mating surfaces and make sure they are super clean. Paint and dust will move over time causing them to come loose.