Track rollers and sprocket

[scatpak60]

I am new to track dozers but have ran pedestal mounted 120 Ton cranes for 30 years. I have some knowledge of heavy equipment. Recently I purchased a 1998 450GLT with 4,040 hours. I knew before purchase that it needed some undercarriage work. 3 bottom rollers bearings were gone...as in roller flopping on shaft. So far I have changed 4 rollers, 2 on each side. Going to change 4 more. Again 2 on each side. I have a set of new drive sprockets. The ones on machine are sharp on the tips but no apparent "cup" wore into one side of the tooth. My question is if I change all the bottom rollers and the drive sprockets can I realistically get 4-500 hrs out of the machine undercarriage?? The track/rail shows signs of wear but the bushings are not wore through. They have wear on one side. I do not want to change or "turn bushings" on rails because of cost and what I am doing with dozer. I am doing all the work myself. I purchased the dozer for 14,000 ( probably to much?) thinking I could do some minor repairs then use for brush clearing on 26 acres of cutover(machine has a large root rake attached to blade). Then resell when finished. I know that the worn track will wear the sprocket faster and vice versa but do you think I can get 4-500 hrs of life?? What about lower rollers? Does the fact that I will eventually have all new lower rollers on a used chain affect anything adversely?? Thank you everyone in advance !!!

[Al Swearengen]

I did complete Berco SALT chains and sprockets on my 450 for about $3200 several years back. You could probably get those hours with new sprockets...dunno how bad your chains are though, so it's simply a guess that they have some realistic life still in them. At best, you will simply ruin new sprockets and cause abnormal wear on the rest of the new components.

What you would be selling is a mess for the next guy at a reduced price because of it. Personally, I'd bite the bullet and get new stuff now...piece of mind as well as get a better price when you do sell.

[scatpak60]

Yes I understand, hate to really do it that way myself but wanted to keep cost down on repairs and just use the dozer. The rollers are 100 a piece and pair of sprockets were around 200. As far as the chain I really don't know how to tell what is considered wear and extreme wear on pins/bushings. I never did find a "master" link on chain as in a split link. So I am assuming there is a particular pin you press out somewhere.

[Lavoy]

Rollers will add value when you sell it, as has been said, the new sprockets will be likely trashed. I would put rollers on it, and run the sprockets if you can.
Lavoy

[scatpak60]

My thought was to change all 12 rollers on bottom and sprocket. Have been replacing several loose bolts on track pads with new ones also.
I noticed on the pin "boss" (side of link) of track links some wear is there. This because of wore out rollers and riding on top of something?? As I said 2 rollers on each side there were no guts left in them. The 2 closest to rear sprocket.
What do I look for on the idler in front?
I noticed (on the idler) that the surface appears flat on each side but there is a metal lip that is rolled off the edge approx. 1/16 inch or less. Is this an issue??
I would love to have a set of rails but my budget won't allow at this point. Just trying to get my 26 or so acres cleaned up. No pushing stumps.
One more thing......can anyone tell me the torque values needed for the lower roller bolts and drive sprocket bolts????
Just a bit of info on the roller change out. I had read before I started that broken bolts were common. So far broken none. Using a 1/2 inch drive impact set at 90-100 psi hammer them just to see if they would turn. None. Then applied heat to the head of bolt, close to cherry red. Then applied a small amount of heat to the side of frame. By then the head of bolt not cherry red now. Lowered pressure on impact 80-90 and hammered a little at a time. Soon as the bolt "winked" or moved just a bit I stopped and went to another bolt. Bolts had no signs of galling or twisting.
Again Thanks...there is a wealth of info on this forum !!!

[scatpak60]

Does anyone know the torque values to put on the roller bolts and track pad bolts ??

[Jack-the-Ripper]

I had to use a 1" air impact wrench set on #4 to remove the pad bolts. As I recall I tightened using the 1" again set on #1 setting and maybe 90 psi. I usually stop one or two bangs past the stop of any noticeable rotation. If they loosen, they're easy enough to retighten. I don't think a 1/2" impact is enough to properly tighten any tractor bolts.

A track rail link as a "pin" on one end and a "bushing" on the other. They rub on each other "inside the chain" as well as wear against the sprocket, making the chain get longer. At some point it gets worn long enough that the rollers hit the top of the sprocket teeth (with the attendant loud clunk) until something breaks. Also worn track and guide rollers and idler tend to make the track annoyingly more prone to come off in a tight turn. You have to gage how much trouble it is to remount the track in the fields vs doing the repair once in the shop.

It seems you have nothing to lose by running the old sprockets and rails until something breaks. If the job gets done with no trouble, you won. If it breaks, you do the repairs at that time. I think you will have roller and sprocket clunky conflicts sooner with the new sprockets, another reason not to mount them.

[scatpak60]

I needed to get the machine running for a project on the farm so I went ahead and changed all 12 rollers and the rear sprocket at this time. Have opereated about 20 hrs so far without any issues or bad noises. My plan is to change out the chain in a couple of months.
I never did find a split link/master link in chain so I changed sprocket without splitting chain. I posted procedure I used in another topic. Not a bad job.
Thanks for everyones help and input !