First Time Reattaching a Slipped Track

[Tigerhaze]

For those of you not aware from my other posts, my 2010 crawler loader slipped a track in December. This post is to give an idea to others on what works (and what doesn't). Sorry about the length and number of pictures, but I figurerd more is better since it is hard to describe it all in a few words.

The right track slipped off the front idler while making a sharp turn on a gentle slope and wedged inside between the track frame and the crawler frame, just beneath the right loader arm.



Because it happened just prior to Christmas, I had to let it sit for a couple of weeks. I attempted to use the loader bucket and a log to keep it out of the mud (man I wish the backhoe had been attached). You can see in the picutres that the ground was pretty soggy and the crawler had sunk into the mud. We then received several severe ice storms (1/2"+) and then 8 to 12 inches of snow; the track froze into the ground so I had to wait until it thawed (and let the crawler sink deeper) to pull out the track.

My plan of attack (since I thought the master link was stuck) was to pull the back of the track beneath the sprocket and to the outside of the trackframe and then pull the track forward to free it from the frame in the front. I used my trusty old 8N tractor with boom to assist, but otherwise did this work by myself.

I first had to jack up the crawler, which was not an easy task on soft ground. I first dug around the rear of the backhoe bracket and PTO box to allow the 12-ton bottle jack to fit underneath. I quickly learned that not only do you need to support the 12-ton bottle jacks with large stones (which would sink a foot into the ground before bearing weight) but that you really need two jacks- one used to maximum height and the other to start on a lower portion of the frame. That way I could "leapfrog" them until I got I the rollers and sprocket high enough to pull the track out.



After several attempts I was finally able to pull the rear of the track out away from the trackframe using a logging chain and the 8N:





As you can see in the next pic, the jacks were having a hard time staying upright in the soft ground:



I then had to leave the crawler until the following weekend, and came back to it the next weekend. The crawler had sunk further into the ground and the bottom rollers were resting on the track.



After jacking up the rear of the crawler (again), I then pulled the track from the front using the 8N and logging chain to unwedge it from the crawler frame, front idler, and track frame:



Once the track was free and outside of the track frame, I used a come-along to retract the hydraulic adjuster after loosening the pressure relief bolt- it may not be the right way to retract it but it wouldn't budge otherwise. You can see the grease discharging from the bolt hole.





I then had to leave again and come back the following weekend to try and put the track back on (I live an hour away from the crawler). The crawler had sunk again so I attempted to jack it up but the ground was really soft this time:



I quickly realized the ground was so soft and that I would have little chance of raising the undercarriage and aligning the track with the rollers. I then drove the crawler off the slope onto firmer flat ground. I wouldn't recommend that usually, but I knew the ground was soft silts and clays with no rock so the final drive and sprocket would not be damaged.



I was then able to easily jack the front and rear ends of the crawler off the ground:



The next step was to scrape out all of the adhered clay and soil from the rollers and sprocket after pulling that move. I then used the 8N to lift the track into place.



I really couldn't get the track aligned well that way and also realized the master link was loose (the pin was cut from a roller and the snap ring was gone):



I then split the track and draped it over the idler and sprocket with the boom. I tried to connect the track using the come-along near the top and front idler, but realized it wasn't going to meet up:





I then got some sage advice from Bill Wattson and Lavoy's previous posts to line up the tracks at the sprocket, which required jacking the crawler up again (do you realize I was sick of that by now?) and dragging the track rails under the rollers to line it up:



I then lined up the track at the sprocket and used the come-along to pull the slack up and align the master link:





As you can see by lining it up at the sprocket I was able to slip in the master link pin by hand:



That was about it; now I can use the crawler again. I didn't even have any problems with the steering clutches sticking after all that time:



It wasn't the easiest task by myself, but at least I know I can do it. You definitely need to have mechanical help lifting the track as it is darn heavy. My legs, arms, and back were a little sore more than once. I'm glad it is over now and hope this helps someone trying this in the future.

[lastchancegarage]

Great series of shots! Picture tells a thousand words. Glad your ordeal is over. The track frozen in the mud had to be the low point (next to it sinking deeper) . After what I went through getting my master link out, I was impressed that you could slide a new one in by hand. Good job. Now it's time to have some fun, eh?

Scott

[wwattson]

Double that on the pictures. Great shots!! Good job on figuring it out too. It was a lot easier to see what you were up against with the pictures. Boy, what a mess! Hope I never throw one like that.

[bighamlin]

Great pictures - that really tell the story. I would love to know everything about preventing this.

Thanks
Paul

[Lavoy]

Man, when you do it, you do it up right, no just rolling it off the sprocket a little bit.
Lavoy

[hunter41mag]

You definately had a big problem to overcome. Working on something that far from where you live more than likely caused a few extra trips to get what you needed. Good to see that it back running.
Now the big question is what caused the track to come off and to make sure it does not happen again.

[Tigerhaze]

Lavoy, I tried to roll it back towards the sprocket but I was on some uneven ground and was afraid I would roll off the track and cause worse problems so I just decided to make sure it was right.

The distance to my place is always a little bit of an obstacle but I just made sure I brought what I thought I would need to get the job done, and just waited until the next time if I didn't have what I needed.

As for keeping it from slipping off again, I copied this from my other post in the "Early Model" forum. Obviously my worn undercarrige is a big factor, but I think these were the other contributing factors:

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My track slipped off while on a slight sideslope and while pulling a turn with the steering lever. My undercarriage (mainly rail height) is worn so I am sure it is a factor. My hydraulic track tensioners work but they slowly leak down.

I have notice that my problems keeping them on have been (excluding the contributing factors of excessive wear and proper tensioning):

-Going too fast over rough terrain (slips out from underneath bottom rollers)
-Approaching slopes (even slight ones) at an angle as opposed to perpendicular
-Excessive tight turns, especially on slight slopes

Unfortunately I was doing all three when mine came off. There is a very distinct noise (the track gets "grumpy" and starts clanking) when it is close to jumping. I can usually catch it in time but this particular time I let it go too far and paid for it. I am a lot more careful now about that.
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[Little John]

Thank goodness for the Ford backup tractor. I've had to rely on mine in the past. Looks like you had quite a time but now both you and the JD are well again. Thanks for the pictures and verbalization of your trials.

[Oldhousehugger]

OK

I don't have any pictures but I know the feeling.

I was digging a ditch with my little D20 Komatsu with worn out tracks. I was down by the creek working on the outlet of the drainage ditch I was digging when I backed around and over a pile of dirt in the trench when I heard an unusual clank and got that shuddery grindy crunchy bad sound when something aint right. I was ass down 45 degrees backwards into the ditch and the left track had decided to come off the inside of the front idler wheel. The back of the machine was 4 feet down into the narrow ditch. The swamp pads were jammed tight against the left side of the chassis next to the radiator.
It was 90 degrees and 100% humidity. It was starting to rain. We had been having floods every couple of weeks and where I was would be under 5 feet of water if the rain really started to come down. Needless to say I was uncomfortable and mad.

I was 2 hours from the shop. I was by my self. I had some tools with me but no big jacks. No dry clothes. And no raincoat.

Years ago I had broken off a final drive housing on an old JD 2 popper and that was a mess but we were near the house and were able to drag it to the shop and fix it. However, I had never had to remount a thrown track by myself but figured it wasn’t that difficult. I was forgetting how heavy the track was. Luckily the track hadn’t come completely off the front idler yet. I released the tensioner and got the track to sag by jumping on it. Slipping and sliding in the mud. I tried prying and jacking, tooing and froeing. I cut wedges with the chainsaw and tried driving them between the track and the chassis. No worky. I tried pulling with my 4 ton come-along hooked to the blade and a piece of log chain wrapped around the trunnion and thru the web of the track. No worky. Nothing worked. It kept raining. I was soaked, caked with mud, and sweating like a pig. I was pissed and not a little bit discouraged. Then I noticed that the sprocket had managed to gather an extra link of the chain and that’s where lots of my slack was gone to. I hadn't packed a lunch.

Suffice it to say that after 4 hours of pointless dithering I came upon the idea of raising the front of the machine with the blade and removing the inner stone guard by the front wheel. In desperation I figured this would allow the track to slide back onto the wheel without binding the stone guard. Next with down pressure on the blade I ever so gently at full throttle eased her further back down the slope with the left clutch pulled. Backing down to the left forced the left track to align with the track rollers and allowed the track rollers to pick up the rails again and force the track back onto the idler wheel. Luckily I had enough room to back carefully down the ditch until the track flopped back into line. When I finally got it lined up I was smack in the middle of the creek in the rain.

I can not tell you how relieved I was that the track was back on, that the creek did not rise, that nothing was apparently broken, and that the rain had slowed to drizzle.

I retensioned the track and drove to the top of the bank where I reinstalled the stone guard.

I worked the rest of the day with one eye on the left track and one eye on the thunder heads above. Some days are better than others. At least I got it out before another flood hit. It could have been way worse.
It's come off one more time since. Always like a sly dog stealing your lunch when you're not watching. At least the next time it didn't take me 4 hours to figure out what to do with fingers crossed. I debate about buying new rails at 3000 for the pair and keep the tracks tighter than I want. What else can you do?

[Tigerhaze]

I like your sly dog analogy- I have been paying attention to my tracks since as well. I had the opposite side slip off ( to the outside) about a month ago. It didn't take near as long this time because I knew what needed to be done. I need to get a slightly bigger wheel tractor or get my Bobcat fixed to maneuver around those heavy tracks.

I pay real close attention to any funnny sounds or vibrations now, and have cuaght it a few times getting off track. It sucks to have worn undercarriage, but I knew that when I got it.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Yes, it does suck, doesn't it? Too much slop in too many places. It doesn't even help much to increase the tension, either. As soon as there's something funny with the ground the tracks are on, the slop will occur anyway and - pop - goes the track!

Stan

[Oldhousehugger]

Komatsu D20 vs JD 40 thrown track memories.
When your rails are badly worn there is less depth to engage the rib on the idler wheel. But if your rollers are badly worn also then the rails have a little more depth to engage with to keep straight. I decided to change all my rollers on the Komatsu because several were so worn that the rail had cut clear thru the lip on the side of them and made nice steel rings of what was cut off.
Any how no good deed goes unpunished and even though the machine rides a lot smoother and makes a lot less racket on hard ground I guess the deeper lip on the worn out rollers helped keep the worn out rails lined up to a certain extent.
I'm shopping for a newer set of rails to fit a 87 Komatsu D20 37 link. I wonder if anyone knows of a source near the DFW TX area. I called Larry’s Dozer Parts in Elm Mott TX and they are good guys but I would like to find slightly used if possible. (Cheaper)

I remember when I broke that right final drive housing on my brothers and my old JD 40 I was digging tree stumps out of a hedgerow in Granby Conn. in 1971. We had tensioned the tracks as tight as we dared but somehow it got off at the sprocket and pop that’s all she wrote. We didn’t know about chain stretch and turning bushings etc. It wouldn’t have mattered because we couldn’t have afforded it anyway. Miraculously I was able to buy a new Factory casting from John Deere to replace it. I guess those days are ancient history.

Just an aside. We found that dozer in the bottom of a trench silo half covered with silage where it had died several years before. Some farmers have the attitude during corn season that if it’s broke don’t fix it. Bury it and get a new one. Anyway my brother Dave was working for the guy and after some negotiations Roger, the owner, told us if we could get it out of there we could have it but we had to get it out of his yard right then. I guess he was sick of trying to farm with it. Our gain.

After dragging it onto and off of a trailer, it sat in my parents driveway for about 2 weeks while our buddies Chip and Jimmie and Dave and I tore the frozen brakes and clutch packs apart and rebuilt the carb. It’s so cool when you fix a carb and reinstall it and the thing fires right up. We repainted it with the right colors, but with paint brushes cause that’s all we had. Anyway the four of us kept that little dozer busy for a whole summer. It just fit in the back of an old 47 Ford 1 ton flat bed we had named Cisco after the Cisco kid.
I know this is ancient history but hey this is a John Deere Dozer group and it’s the only John Deere Dozer story I’ve got. We sold that old Dozer to a guy named Calvin Ennis who was in the firewood business and as far as I know he may still be using it.

[VT350C]

We all know this feeling...I have to say, after repacking my track tensioners and replacing all 8 small idler guide plates, I have never dropped a track...Both of these repairs are probably less than $200 total if you DIY...I had the plates made at a local machine shop...