I have a 1979 D5 caterpillar. I'm attaching some pic of what I'm seeing, but when pumping grease to tighten the track in wont move. grease starting coming out of a seal, and the spring is not straight. Can anyone offer advice.
pic 1 show where the grease was leaking out. Pic 2: is the good side. Pic 3: the not so straight spring & shaft. Pic 4 shows how far the track is stretched currently. Im feeling like I need to take a link out or new chain. thanks in advance
looks to me like the track is out all the way... that's why it won't go any further. link out.. or new chain like you stated.
Looks like your tensioner arm is Maxxed out to its travel limit. Time to do a pressure clean on your tracks,find the join/link pin and remove a track segment so you can get the adjuster back down its travel rail and get pressure against the front idler again. good luck.
If and when you do split the tracks, check your rollers,that back 1 in pic 3 looks dry.
I kind of thought that is what was going on. So how does one take a link out. Can it be done in the field or do I need to pull it to the shop (which would require a truck)? What tools are needed to take the pin out and what steps need to take place to remove the link without it falling apart on me? Last, how do I know if I should take a link out or that the chain needs replacing? This is a loaded post, but I would appreciate any and all help on this matter. Best Regard! Muddyriver
Your tracks are likely split link, if so just take them off and transport to a track shop. This is an expensive economical repair as the shorter chains will adjust but the worn pitch will chew up the sprockets fast. Undercarrage all works together and gives best results when the parts are all worn evenly. Later Bob
To take a link out. rather than beat on stuck pins. what I do is remove two pads and cut 1/2 of each link right in two parts. you will have removed a pin & bushing and 1/2 of two links. bolt one pad to the 1/2 links remaining and the weld the 1/2 links together to make a solid link and weld the spliced link to the pad. Ive shortened lots tracks on all sizes of machines in this manner. its pretty fast and it works.
removing a link don't change the pitch. some dozers have more links and some have fewer. its the internal wear in the pins and bushings that change the geometery. the links grow farther apart and only the tips of the sprocket make contact. worn bushings have a larger gap between the pads. I once was the mechanic on a road job. they had a old D7 E. the track on one side was so stretched the pad was beating on one of the blade pins. So I shortened that track. Afterward the foreman wanted me to shorten the other side. He thought the one side having fewer links made the dozer track faster on that side? I just gave him the horse laugh.