Pins and bushings

[AllenS]

How hard is it to replace the pins and bushings? What tools would I need? Has anybody else tried this?

[Willyr]

My first 420 I had the pins and bushings done. I found a fellow whom did both tracks for $75 ea.

The pin press was a c shaped press. The ram was driven with an electric motor. You laid the chain across the press and the ram was under the diameter of the pin. Probably took the fellow an hour or so to press out the old and then press in the new.



You can do what I did. Go to some one in your area that works on modern bulldozers. Ask them if they have a press that will work with your small chain.

[AllenS]

Thank you for the picture, Willy. I was thinking about laying a hydraulic jack on its side with a home made jig to set the chain in. I wonder what tonnage jack that I would need to press the pins and bushings out of the 40C tracks. I have a machinist friend who could make any size diameter and length push pins to use.

[vtjoe]

just a thought.... if the hyd tank is 10-12 inches tall then (especially) the cylinder is behind it then it must be 5" or probably 6" dia I have heard it takes 20-25 tons great picture!!!........ food for thought -- hope someone can EVENTUALLY come up with at least materials for a pins and bushings job
..........who is WTC

[Willyr]

I googled "pin press for bulldozer tracks".

The image wasnt the one I was looking for, yet it was close enough. The unit in that image is rated at 150 tons. It came from a site named WTC Machinery. The pin driver needs to mount rigidly to the jack ram. Otherwise it will slip and become a lethal projectile. So you have been warned.

There are other versions of the press. Yet these presses are any where from one thousand to five thousand dollars.

What you need is a porta-power press that works horizontally. The far end of the press needs a hole for the pin to come out of. The press I have seen used was like a bicycle fork made from cast iron? The ends of the fork folded up 90 degrees. The other end of the casting (I am pretty sure it was hardened) attached to the cylinder. The casting was about 20 inches long. The driving cylinder was at least 4 inches bore.

Just a moment I will try to draw the press using microsoft paint.



Mind you this is from memory and is not to scale. Your machinist friend can do the calculations to make sure its strong enough.

Hope this helps.

PS sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way at first with the assumption.

[AllenS]

I have two pieces of heavy duty steel 36" long that I was thinking about using for the bottom rails. They were used to bolt railroad rails together. There are six 1" holes in each one that I could use hardened bolts in for any application that I came up with. Plus welding for extra strength.

I love being retired.

[440 iron popper]

Hi,

Here is the tool they use where I work to do track jobs on the field. I work for a CAT Dealer and the tool box will always go out with a field service technician... For Safety and to avoid misuse of tooling. I think it is not the kind of tool you can rent... It is good to remove a master pin to split the track to get to a roller, remove a sprocket, maybe change of a couple of pins or bushings. These things are heavy! But The best option for a whole rebuild is to bring your tracks to a shop equipped with a track press. In both cases you'll have to spend some $$$ but with the high pressures required to get those pins and bushings out you better let it to pros and avoid getting hurt. Just my 2 cents.

[Lavoy]

The tool in the pic is a master pin press only and is not designed for pin and bushing replacement. A track press has a saddle that the links sit in, and then receivers that hold the back side. You can not just press the pins and bushings in with a tool or setup like in the pic, there is no way to maintain side to side dimension on the links.
I tried to do exactly what you want to do many, many years ago. Got one pin out, then loaded the rails up and took them to a track shop. My press is an obsolete toy by todays standards, and it is a 60 ton.
The master pin press in the pic was quoted to me many years ago for I beleve $8000. A true track press was $125,000 at the same time, and that did not include tooling.
Lavoy

[monzanick]

So i'm a auto tech by trade. not really sure about track pins and stuff but would a balljoint press work for this? they use 'em on big rigs for pins also.

anyone have an idea?

[whiteclipse16]

My guess would be definitely not.
It takes a pretty large press for this job.

[Tigerhaze]

I tried a portable ball joint press made for cars and trucks on a master pin (not a standard pin) on my 2010 and wasn't able to budge it. This was a master pin that had been removed in the recent past and was not rsuted in. A standard pin would be even tougher to press out.

FYI, if you start thinking about making something to press them out, read some of the archived posts about safety issues. Pressing out pins (other than a master pin) is a dangerous undertaking.