Thanks again to all who contributed their ideas. I was able to make a tool, as described here, from a 5/8" thick railroad track plate, cut down to fit over the master-link. I rubbed a lumber crayon over a piece of paper feedbag to transfer the positions of the holes and so forth onto the paper, and then drilled two clearance holes and two tapped 1/2 x 20. Thought sure the tap would break; toughest tapping job I've ever attempted. I ruined a couple of grade 5 bolts shoving the links apart, but it worked to start things moving. A 3lb hammer and a bar of old soft iron finished the job. We'll be back on "track" again soon. Thanks again!
Can you post a photo of the gadget you made ? would like to see it.
Right on! Necessity is the mother of invention :salute
I will try to learn how to post a photo. The tool is very simple though, just a heavy plate about 3 x 5 inches with two half inch holes with which to bolt it to one half of the master-link, and two tapped holes aligned with the heavy part of the fingers of the other half. Bolts go through the tapped holes to force the link down. I used 1.5" long bolts, but longer ones might have been better. Still had to pound on things a lot. I've done a little investigating and this forum is set up very nicely for photos. I'll snap a shot of the thing tomorrow and post it.
Good to hear it worked out making the press plate and your up and running.
A thing of beauty, NOT The two empty holes are where the bolts go to fasten the plate onto the master-link at the bolt holes in the photo. The two bolts in the plate bear on the other half of the master-link. They're mushroomed so much that they will have to be ground down to remove them.
To my knowledge that style of master link did not stay on the market very long... for obvious reasons! Strong when assembled, but if the two bolts failed... and as you now know, a bit of a bugger to work on. Well done!
I'm sure that the forces involved while the machine is working are phenomenal, and I'm sure it could happen, but after having to separate what Case had joined together, I find it hard to imagine these coming apart unintentionally. Now that it's apart I fully expect to see pigs fly and certain hot places freeze over. It looks to my untutored eye like the link could not separate by sliding the other way, so I stumbled into pushing the correct one down. Normally when I have a fifty-fifty chance of getting something right, I have a 100 percent chance of guessing wrong. When it goes back together, I wonder what torque the new grouser bolts should have?
Make sure you get the correct track bolts for that master, there should be a "Torque/turn" spec from the dealer or manual if you have one, or as I recall we used to have a standard chart by track bolt size. So many foot pounds and then a quarter turn or whatever to get the proper amount of stretch. That's why you should never reuse them, if they're installed properly they stretch like a spring and they get smaller in diameter.
I ordered new bolts along with the tensioner parts. Once the heads were torched off, the rest turned out reasonably easily. They were really tightened down and as you say, stretched. I have an Owner's and a Parts manual, but no service manual. I might try calling the Cat dealer in Warrenton to see if I can get any insight from them.
That looks very tidy,well done. I thought it was for pushing the chain link pin on the trac master join link though. well done:notworthy