Hi guys, I have heard that water accumulates in the swing gearbox. So i pulled the belly pan off the undercarriage, to expose the hydraulic mechanism sending the oil to the drive motors. I also found an access port into bottom of the swing gearcase. I loosened it a bit and about a pint of water drained out. If i took the cover off completely grease would have poured out. My question is, are there any good ideas out there dealing with this water collection issue. I imagine it is condensation. I was told that i could install spacer washers under the inspection cover, but fear all the grease would leak out. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Ken
I think as long as the grease looks good and is covering the gear surfaces and your draining the water out at least twice a year it should be ok. I've never tried the spacer washer idea but it seems like when the grease temp rises it would definately leak out. I can't remember exactly but on my cat excavators I think the book says to add grease to fill the pan high enough to lube the gears but if its squeazing out the joint between house and carbody its too high and you gotta drain some out. Is a volvo similar? Somebody with a volvo manual could shed some light on this. If you get into deep water and flood the grease pan you need to change the grease. I cleaned the old grease out on a 225 once and boy did it make a mess. I took the drain plate off. I opened the top cap and had someone else turn the house while i used a clean grade stake to push the grease out. Sprayed everything clean with diesel. Then while still turning the house added new grease. alot of grease. I'd be interested to know how many machines ever get the grease changed and opinions on if its needed. Just my humble opinion. This reminds me I need to check my 235C, that otta be fun.
On the Volvos the manual says to take of the small cover between the hoist rams and clear any acess grease at service time, not sure if every time or just the big services! I remember them tell us this on a Volvo training corse for the B series when they first came out! i should have my notes from the corse to hand somewhere! I'l check and get back to you. cps.
That grease usually never gets checked or changed unless the big bearing breaks, the swing machinery breaks or the machine is stuck in deep water. I tested several machines where the grease was almost completely dry and the pinion gear vibrated as it pulled metal off the ring gear. I used to tell customers to install a fitting in the cap between the boom cylinders and put a couple tubes in while turning the house at least once a year. Even then they usually didn't do it.
also, to add my 2 cents, the water comes in from the deck left clogged w/grease,soil and decaying leaves on units stored outside . water drains through hyd swivel boot. had a neglected hitatchi with a belly full of ice that the operator bullyed through w/the swing pinion and the crushed ice squeesing between the mesh crushed the lower seal on the swing gearbox. the resulting mess was noticed during a period of thaw before distroying the swingbox. to this day, the deck is kept spackle knife clean. c/l