worn bushings

[Eric.MacLeod]

the bushings are worn pretty bad on my 1958 420c , is it possible to mig weld the bushing to give it a little more life or am i wasting my time? a few are down to the pin, i could cover pin with a thin piece of copper than rosette weld around it, not looking to restore it just play around with it a little.. thanks Eric

[jclem40c]

Eric, Don't waste your time welding bushings. Not worth the effort, causes more grief than good. Leads to increased expense ie, sprockets, idlers etc. Shop around, contact Lavoy he'll splain you the right way!

John

[jdemaris]

the bushings are worn pretty bad on my 1958 420c , is it possible to mig weld the bushing to give it a little more life or am i wasting my time? a few are down to the pin, i could cover pin with a thin piece of copper than rosette weld around it, not looking to restore it just play around with it a little.. thanks Eric

If they are not broken through yet, you can turn the pins and bushings and get a lot more use out of them. But, it you're paying someone to do it, the labor is the same as if you were putting in new ones. In fact, some people might even charge you more if they're not making any money on the sale of the pins/busings. I had mine turned by a farmer down the road awhile back and he charged $150 per track.

[Lavoy]

What people often do not realize, is that the wear you see on the outside is not really the critical wear. Not that it isn't a factor, it is, just not the main one. The critical dimension is the internal wear which affects the pitch of the track. The only way to fix that is to turn or replace the bushings. Turning on these small diameter pins and bushings is a waste of time as far as I am concerned, unless you have no other option. Turning will do nothing to remove the snake in the track, you still have the same wear, just on the other side. It shortens the track up, and gets it back in pitch for the most part, but that is it. The other thing is believe it or not, the pins and bushings wear on the back side as well. So, even with freshly turned pins and bushings, you will already have wear in the track in addition to the sloppiness of the track. If you have a crawler prone to derailing, turning wil do nothing to alleviate this.
If you have a show machine, or are not using it much, turning the pins and bushings will definitely get you by for a long time.
I think you will find that most shops will charge you more to turn than install new. If they don't, then they only have one price, and are not discounting the new install price. It is quite a bit more time consuming to turn than to install new. With new, the old ones fall in the crate, and you chuck them. If you turn, you have to dig out every single pin and bushing depending on tooling type, get it in the right orientation and clock position and try to make sure it stays there. With new, you just put it in. My guess would be at least a 50% increase in labor time to turn vs replace, but I have not turned any, so don't know for sure.
Lavoy

[Eric.MacLeod]

ok thanks you saved me alot of welding, im not to sure where i can get new pins and bushings put in up here in maine but i guess i can ask some of the older shops for there input, after christmas i should have money enough to finish this dozer! wife first tractor second you know the story, thanks..Eric