I have to replace a front idler on a 312C tomorrow. I've done a few Hitachi's and they had a tappered master pin with a dimple on one side and a snap ring on the other. Just wondering if the CAT's are the same? The operator did find a pin with a dimple. Thanks
If the UC is original, you should find the master pin is retained by a split pin (cotter pin) so it should be fairly easy to see.
Talked to the operator. He thinks there's enough slack to pull it off with a chain if we push the idler in. Sure would be nice.
Thats how I've always done it...
You can find them many different ways. The ones with a cotter pin have a "T" head on the opposite side. Those are easy to do. I haven't seen the snap ring on a Cat yet. I have seen the standard press in master also. If you have that one you can usually hammer them out with a little heat on the links. If it is seized hard I burn the centers out of the pin and then it comes out easy. A new master pin for that machine is probably less than twenty dollars. I don't like knocking the track off the idler because getting it back on can be such a pain at times. It also gets in your way when you pull out the idler. Don't forget to put new seals in the track adjuster when you have the idler out.
I usually find the pin with the dimple heat it up with a rose bud and knock it out with a track hammer. Make sure the grease is out of the idler adjuster Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My c series excavators usually have the pin with the t on one side and the cotter pin on the other Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I ment heat the link not the pin Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is what the master link pin should look like. Item 7 is the pin, Item 11 the cotter pin that holds it in place. Should be easy enough to find but you may have to heat the link a bit before attacking it with an FBH to get the pin out.
some cat machine master link joints with bolts
Thanks for all the responses! Turns out it was all for naught. Yesterday the operator put his phone up to the idler and it was making a horrible noise. I asked him to check and see if a rock might be jammed in there. "No there's nothing I can see." Well after 3 1/2 hours of driving though Seattle morning traffic to get the part, I get back to the shop and he calls and says the noise just quit, "it's all good". Must have been a rock.