We try to do them every big PM. This D6 was obviously more than ready, the material that was in it was something akin to concrete. It's only damp because the tractor was pressure-washed before it was brought into the shop. All the sections of the guard were exactly the same - full to the top. I shudder to think what would've happened if the belly guard had hit a decent-sized rock - that would surely have been the oil pan cracked. This is also the reason to be really careful when lowering guards that haven't been down in a while because you have no idea how heavy they're gonna be...........
lol.. been there done that.. on a steel wheeled Bomag at the county landfill, BY MYSELF.. I laid under it to "lower it down".. BIG MISTAKE.!! That sucker hit me so hard, it drove me into all that garbage.. I was trapped for about what seemed like an hour.. Lol I finally dug myself out & found the problem.. Dirty Racor up in the belly of the beast..{check that while its down,Lol.} I brought back help, w/ a jack, when she went back together..{fixed the problem}
Besides that it'll make them run hot. Just no way to avoid it, sometimes you have to drop them and clean them out...and find all the tools you've dropped since last time.
I am sorry to report that I have never done that on my own iron. It seems like something to add to the PM program. I have dropped a belly pan on a Mountain Logger ML200 skidder by myself on myself. My experience was exactly the same the pump guy's... I had no clue at the time. I am sure that it was found to be hysterical by the crew. It is a little amusing now to me... 40 years later! It was a good learning experience. Don't screw with **** that might kill you, if you don't know what your doing.
Sometimes you can wrap a come-a-long around the belly pan and hood, then ratchet it down after you get the bolts out. Not much room under some dozers with a floor jack and fatbelly mechanic under there.
That's the way I always did it if not able to get a fork truck to reach it and even then always made sure to be well out of the way when taking every bolt off! And don't assume the one bolt left is actually going to be holding the weight. Another thing out to get you are the couter weights on some machines! Bolts can be rusted solid and snap off before turning. At least most of them are close eough to the rear to get a fork truck under them. But then you have to hope the fork truck hoist cylinder don't fail at the worng time!
You want to be careful on dropping and cleaning one from a land fill, {syringes}.
Looks like the belly pan on my 953 when we have to drop it.. A forklift with fork extensions works really well in letting the pans down and re-installing them. Nige what's the story with the missing track pad on that D6?
Good eye!!
Komatsu kindly put a trapdoor in my 155 crankcase guard . Must have led to the guard being looted , there was not one tool in there , only thing of any use was the motor serial number plate . Worst one I have done was a driveshaft / gearbox guard on a TD5 inter . Left it off once along with the crankcase guard , paid a price for that with a cracked oil pump shaft housing .
"Borrowed" for another tractor that lost one and we didn't have a spare in the Warehouse.
The rear belly plates on conventional style tractors were a real pain with the wishbone getting in the way
Belly pans also suck up oil and fuel leaks so be careful when burning or welding .( ask me how I know)
We bought a 955 to resale and sold it without doing any thing to it. It ran and worked ok but the place that bought it pulled the pan and it had a hole rubbed throught the oil pan from stuff in the belly pan. The dirt had sealed the hole up agin because it didnt leak to bad.
Much the same as the come along, most of our work utes have electric winches... we run the cable under the guard and attach it to the opposite side track.
I have replaced engine oil pans on three machines due to dirt buildup in the belly pans rubbing through And of course it’s a great chance to inspect and maybe catch issues I only wish the manufacturers would stop trying to be helpful with hooks and hinges on the things.
I do kinda like queenslander said. I have a cable made up that I run under the machine and hook onto something on the other side and then it helps to put a block between cable and pan and then hook to crane winch off of service truck.
When I put a belly pan back on, I usually stick an allthread stud in one or two frame holes, makes it easier to get it lined up, less chance of the pan sliding off the jack while putting bolts in.
I get some dirt in my belly pans, but get a lot more twigs and leaves since I've been doing mostly tree clearing. I worry about fires, and carry water and fire extinguisher. Cedar needles are the worst....land on manifold and get smoldering. Not unusual to have to put it out a couple of times a day. Sometimes I hose down the belly pans before starting work.
That explains why the trans case had been cracked and welded on my 955H. Never thought about that happening. Thought they had ran it with no pans. I drop it and clean it as needed.
Why drop belly pans, you say? So that when you jack them back up into place, you crush the bottom of the oil pan and get to replace that too!! Just like I did yesterday. (it was on a skid steer though).
Oh yes, anything imaginable will be in the belly pans if landfill machines.. When I was subcontracting for a local landfill company I told the owner we need to drop all the pans and wash the machines every fall before freeze up. He never would get it done.. Had a few times at -30 having to drop pans to access a blown hose or WHY, pans would be frozen on, heat with a tiger torch till the pan falls off, then proceed into the archeological chipping of frozen matter. I'd just charge the hell out of him to remind him why I wanted to clean the machines before it froze. I don't miss working on that junk!!
I never minded dropping belly pans. It's just a necessary evil. But the pans I hated to drop the most were on scrappers. You had to get real inventive trying to put them back up.
That's every dozer that comes to our shop lol.
I drop the pan down on wood blocks till you have a little clearance ,paint A line up mark on track or tire and on the ground . Then move machine till you have enough room to do what you want to do. When done pull back over it till marks line up ,and jack it up ,gets you pretty close.