Track and turning issues

[Eli]

Hello all, I have a 440 icd crawler, recently I tried to turn on a tight corner and it felt like it jumped over a rock with a bang noise and I lost my left steer, I was able to drive it back under the carport to check everything, I removed the covers on top of the clutches on both sides and everything seems intact, as I pull the steering levers everything works inside but the left handle has a lot longer "sweep" than the right side, another problem that I may start another tread is that the right side track came off the middle bottom rollers and I'm having issues with adjusting it.
The machine is in poor condition, I rescued it from under a tree sitting for years and by the amount of welding done to many areas I can tell it was abused.
I did spend a lot of time servicing and using it but it need a lot more work.
So question is, can something snap inside that make it stop steering? The band seems intact and grabbing the drum when pulling on the lever.
Oil is present in both sides but both assemblies are dry, either way oil will not stop it from turning all of a sudden.
Any info is appreciated before I go and remove clutch housing.

[Lavoy]

IF it won't transmit power, the driveshaft on that side broke.
Lavoy

[Eli]

It drives straight just fine and it turns right, when I pull the left lever it stops but won't turn left.

[Jim B]

When you pull a lever the steering clutch on that side disengages and the opposite side has to drive to make the turn.

You say it turns right, which requires the right side to stop driving and the left side has to drive. So, when you pull the left lever to turn left and it stops, that means the problem is in the right side.

Since it stops traveling when you pull the left lever a broken shaft on the right side, as Lavoy mentioned, is likely.

[Eli]

I'm not following, when I pull the left lever the band activates and locks the left side making the right track spin and go left and vice versa.
Right now pulling on the left lever just stops the machine and pulling the right goes right so left track still spinning.
Also it drives straight normally, I would guess if one side was broken it will want to drive in circles, no?

[Eli]

I guess I pretty much repeated what you wrote but question is still wouldn't it drive in circles if one side is broken?

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

It'll drift slowly towards the busted side. Not really a turn.

You are describing a broken right side drive.

The broken side track still moves from ground drag on the pads.

Stan

[Lavoy]

Right side clutch is shot.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

That'd be my first thought. When the clutch pack gives up the ghost, it makes quite a loud noise then quits. Both the driving and the noise.

I have done such when popping stumps.

A final (final, get it?) proof is go find a big tree and push at it and see if both tracks spin. If only one does, you know the one that stops has no drive any longer.

I suggest rebuilding both sides at the same time.

I further suggest you get the clutch parts from Lavoy There are many poor parts out there, and if you get some you'll be redoing the job in short order.

Stan

[Eli]

OK got it, I'll get ready to take both apart and investigate, either way I need to replace both seals, I hope I can find the shaft if i find that it is also damaged.
Thank you!

[Lavoy]

I would normally have everything in stock.
Lavoy

[Eli]

That's good to know, it looks like I'm in over my head with this machine, the track tensioners are stuck, more than half the pads are very loose, undercarriage is worn out and hyd. Cylinders are leaking, I don't know where to start cause I can't afford a complete rebuild right now.
Funny thing is I moved it yesterday close to my garage so I can start working on it and it steers normally now? Why? What can get stuck for a little and go back to normal?

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Going back to your original post, you mention a long sweep of a steering lever after the problem showed up. But now it's back to working. That makes me think the throwout got stuck and left the clutch pack disengaged. Rustiness can do odd things. There is spring pressure normally holding the clutch pack engaged so that force may well have eventually overcome the stickiness and returned things back to normal.

The action is for the lever to come back lightly until it contacts the throwout and then become stiffer. As you pull the lever back against the springs it opens up space between the fibers and the steels in the clutch pack. That removes the drive force from the track. When adjusted properly, once the pack is released the brake band engages the outside of the clutch drum. That stops the track. Then the lever force greatly increases as there is no further motion once the brake has engaged and motion of the lever stops.

The noise I mentioned before occurs when the fiber discs in the clutch pack wear so thin that the pressure of the springs becomes too low to allow proper friction between the fibers and the steels. Then the fibers give it up completely with a loud noise and drive on that side is lost permanently. Well, lost permanently until someone rebuilds the clutch pack.

In this case things went back to working so that can't be worn out fiber discs.

Stan

[Eli]

Thanks Stan, I'll have to get in there and check everything, this is a very big can of worms, everything that will be touched on this crawler will need to be replaced or welded, I have to try to figure out how slowly repair this thing so it will last me.
Any ideas on the stuck track tensioner? I posted another tread on Friday and no responses.

[jimmydiesel]

Moved