So I just bought a 2011 Cat 305.5D CR with 3800 hours from a municipal water department. It was on auction and inspections weren't allowed, thanks COVID. The price was too good to pass up, so I bought it. Now that I've been playing with it, there are two big issues. One is that the swing seems kind of weak. Corresponding with that is overswing when fully loaded. The machine will swing anywhere from a quarter to half turn too far once the joystick is returned to neutral. I'm guessing I'm having an issue with pressure settings on the cross-over relief valves on the top of the swing motor? Second, there is significant play between the swing bearing, 1.2 inches to be exact. When I was running it, it didn't matter how stable or level the ground I was on, it felt like I was on uneven ground and shaky. That's when I took it back to the shop and could visibly see the gap when lifting the cab up off the ground by the boom. That's when I put a dial indicator on it and had to take a double-take when I was seeing 1.2 inches. I reckon that could also be the possible source of the somewhat weak swing I was experiencing. The machine came with an 18-inch bucket, with the teeth missing and the bottom portion of the bucket was literally ripping away from the sides, despite what appeared to be them being welded back once already. I assume the cause of this, along with the worn-out swing bearing, was the water department guys probably trying to pop up chunks of concrete on roads, etc when trying to access water pipes and that was an extreme load on such a small machine. Compound that repeated hell on the machine over a couple thousand hours and here we are. With all that said, if I were to delve into the swing motor and fix it and replace the swing bearing, is there any other 2nd and 3rd order effects I may be missing from such abuse over the life of the machine or it is likely confined to the issues I have found? I own a Cat 304C CR and a John Deere 230C LC, so I have a good frame of reference to compare this machine to, especially to my 304. This 305 is real strong everywhere else, hydraulically speaking and from the little time I've spent on it, will run circles around the 304, which is only slightly smaller. The motor looks good too. Just wondering if it's worth being a fixer-upper or I should just slap a for sale sign on it and cut my losses?
Good day RanchTx Surely a mistake in the measure 1.2 inch's means the machine is almost in two parts, a worn slew ring will result in transmission failure but that should not effect the hydraulics. I attach some information that may be helpful, you may find it slow download as it is mainly illustrations. Kind regards Uffex
Those machines had a problem with the swing bearing bolts breaking. The inner ring of bolts is under the house and you can't see them. Contact your local Cat dealer and see if they still handle the factory campaign to repair that. There were about a dozen of those machines that came through this area in that time frame.
Couldn't share a serial number? Is it one of these?
The serial is FLZ329. Those all look like E models, I assume it potentially affected the D series also?
I dont see any thing on a "D" model. The letter on "E" machines pays 12 hours.
I have a similar problem with a 2015 308 with broke bolts in the swing gear/bearing. Cat had an update on this machine to retorq the bolts to a higher torq setting. I had them look my S/N up and the update was never done, bad news is it expired in 2020. This machine only has 1800 hrs on it and I bought it with 1600 hrs. I'm in the process now of separating the cab from the car body to replace all the bolts and hoping the bearing is ok. If not that bearing is over 4K ouch that will hurt.
Wayne.....I saw in a different thread that you got the machine apart. How hard was the job?
Good day Had a similar issue some years ago attached is the explanation hope it is of help. Kind regards Uffex
Every things harder at 67 , but still wasn't that bad. Just time consuming 1 day just getting all the broke bolts out and tapping holes. Not sure what machine you sent the procedure on but the 308 has the bolts that hold the inner race/gear on coming down from the top. The only way to inspect them is to pull the swing drive. Not sure why the bolts backed out but some of the heads had been rubbing on the upper frame. If they had come in from the bottom would have been found before being a problem. Anyway back together now.
Good day Wayne Manufacturers use different designs to mount the slew ring the information is intended of general use, the golden age should be the easier years Im not so sure that is true. Kind regards Uffex
Hey RanchTx did you decide to tear into your 305 to repair the swing bearing? If you need more info on how I did it you can pm me and I will send you what I have. I may be going back into mine to replace the bearing.