I just bought an old Cat TH 63. Everything works, and it seems to have been reasonably well maintained. One thing that looks like it has been neglected is the extension chain. With boom back plate off I can see from back it is kind of rusty, and at least it should be lubed. The maintenance manual refers to service manual for inspection procedure. After buying that manual, all it really says is to inspect and lube during boom assembally. Does anyone have any tips for getting at the chains without taking the booms all the way out and apart? At the very least I'd like to get some chain lube in there, but as it is I can only get to first couple of feet.
No inspection panels or access points along the boom that you can see with the boom extended?
The first thing to consider is the environment it is working in. Sometimes lubing a chain creates more problems than it solves. Remember that dust and other impurities will attach to the surfaces and create wear that wouldn't have happened before but only you will know the conditions. We very seldom lube one because of this but we have done it. We made our own "oiler" with a gallon container, a hand pump, and a long piece of copper tubing with the end somewhat flattened. It takes some maneuvering from both ends and you may not be able to reach the whole thing depending on the boom type.
Thanks for the replies. There are no inspection panels or access points. I can get a look at one chain with the back boom cover off, and a peak the other end of it from gap between the booms. Chain looks OK & somewhat lubed from what I can see, except a little rusty at both ends. The other chain inside second boom is not visible at all. I get the point about not over lubing, but since I am new to the machine and do not know its history, I figure it would be good to it out thouroughly. While I have a fair bit of experiance with machines, this is first one with telescoping boom. Is chain failure on these common? To what extent do these chains support the verticle component of load?
I've personally never seen a chain fail. That is not to say that it doesn't happen.
If anyone is curious, I think I found out how to do this. One has to remove the telescoping cylinder out the back of boom to get at chains. Kind of a pain, but better than having to dissasemble boom, which is what I thought I might have to do. The number of times various Cat manuals refered to other pupblications and pages to get to the two lines of text and a vauge picture of cylinder & chain removal...they could have at least given a detailed description of process. But I guess we all know they really don't want anyone but their dealers to be working on the machines they make.
That was my #1 gripe with Cat publications, you've got to bounce all through various places in SIS to actually read the procedure. Maybe SIS 2.0 has improved on that?