Track Adjuster Seals

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Track Adjuster Seals

Post by CuttingEdge » Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:02 pm

After my surgery tomorrow they said no lifting, so I cannot do any logging for a week or so, so I bought some seals to redo my hydraulic track adjusters on my bulldozer while I can't do anything with it. I know it is a dumb question for those that have done this many times, but I never have. The Service Manual shows specialized tools to do this, but surely it can be done without them right?

Anything special to be wary of, or tricks to getting them to properly seat?

I have been fighting these track adjusters for 2 years and I just want them fixed and fixed right! I'm thinking with all that pressure, one little thing wrong and they won't work.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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Lavoy
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by Lavoy » Mon Oct 23, 2017 8:26 am

Depends on style, but either can be done without the tool, but have to be really careful, especially if you have the leather cups, they will nick easily if not careful. I usually hone the bore on the cylinder too to remove any rust of crud.
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Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
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CuttingEdge
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by CuttingEdge » Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:25 am

Okay, I was planning on honing.

I was told by the parts guy my seals are the $15 seal kit and not the $35 ones, so while I do not know what that means in terms of rubber versus leather, I hope to pick them up when I get out of the hospital today.

I was also told by another guy that slipping a feeler gauge around the rod will slip the seal into the bore. Not sure if that is good advice or not, but that was what I was told.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by Lavoy » Tue Oct 24, 2017 7:55 am

Feeler gauge works, just be careful to not cut the leather with it. I use a little thicker one so the edge is not so sharp.
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Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
Owner and moderator www.jdcrawlers.com

pondhogvt
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by pondhogvt » Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:33 am

your taking that cuttingedge to extreme with surgery,, hope all went well Travis,, I too usually hone the cylinder,, no special tools needed...you should have the heavy plastic type seal on your 350D..clean everything well.. rugged plastic but it slides on the rod pretty easy if you put it in hot water for a minute..tap water hot not boiling...did you get the outside dirt and dust seal too.. if so put in last.. it will slide over the tube then pound it into the recess after the main seal and rod are into the cylinder.. after honing just a little grease on cylinder to help get started... if your tube is extremely rusted as most are you can slide the dust seal over the tube from the grease end because it is shorter distance to avoid a tear,, just pus it up beyond the chrome then do main seal slide it in and then push the dirt seal back down.. you will see quite easy..

you should see the new 350C I just picked up,, so clean and straight,, I might try to sell whole instead of parting.. I really think hour meter is correct at 3100hrs and I never believe those things, but looking over the frame and blade it has just not been used much.. to bad it has the all angle-manual blade... hope everything went well Mark.
350 loader,350c dozer winch and arch,450c winch and arch,450e winch and arch,D37p komatsu lgp dozer,D85 Komatsu dozer,D8k Caterpillar.

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CuttingEdge
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by CuttingEdge » Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:11 am

Okay, I think I understand regarding the track adjuster seals, yes they are heavy plastic seals, with a steel/rubber seal, and the kit included a new check ball. I will see how it goes, though I am not sure how far I will get today. It is pouring rain out right now and I am still pretty sore from surgery. It is not everyday a person gets their throat slit and they survive.

As for the 350C...you HAVE to part it out, what happens if I ever need a 350 reverser for my 350D? :-) I can't use a 350 straight or B because I need the ports that send the oil back to steering clutches! Lavoy says he does not have a 350C or 350D intact reverser either! (Not that anything is wrong with mine now, I got it fixed and its a nice running tractor, but I can see issues with it down the road).

The biggest issue I have left after the track adjusters are fixed on getting this dozer fixed up to 100%, is the blade, the control lever is all worn out, and the pivot points on the blade are all sloppy. Most of it I can do myself by welding and line boring, but its a matter of removing the blade, and what good is a bulldozer without a blade...especially in New England right before winter sets in? I need it to push snow.

I am still up in the air on what to do about the control lever. For a few hundred bucks I can buy a whole new control valve from Supply Center and have an extra port, but it won't be factory; four levers instead of a 1 lever for the 6 way blade. Or as Lavoy once suggested, just weld and drill the existing control lever and rebuild it via new roll pins. That is cheaper, but does not give me an extra hydraulic remote. Decisions, decisions.

Oh and at some point it would be nice to have working LED work lights on this thing that way I can plow snow in the dark. Then I will get the fuzzy dice!! :-)
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

dtoots1
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by dtoots1 » Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:25 am

re: pivot points on hydraulic controls.....
i went to lowes/home depot and obtained some small brass and aluminum tubing that the pins just fit into....if enough slop from worn levers tubing will fit or ream to fit the tubing in tight.....that fixed a 2010 with 2 control handles....seems easier and quicker than welding shut and trying to drill back out.
leastways fairly easy to replace....

speaking of that....my jd440 has the clamps type grips on the 6 way levers....3 in a row....they seem to tend to slip and cleaning off oil and tightening only helps for a short time.....what options are there on fixing that?????....they each kinda grip a tube that operates inside under the dash

dtoots1

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CuttingEdge
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by CuttingEdge » Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:53 pm

As the logging industry losses more and more money (about 1/3 less then what we were making 3 years ago), we are getting by on less and less. We are finding things breaking that never have before. Part of that is running old equipment; my skidder is a 1979, and I am 43 years old and born in 1974...this is tired iron, but I cannot afford $250,000 skidders to get out $70 a cord wood. No way.

Case in point is the winch control. last winter a spring broke inside that caused the winch to constantly winch inward when it was revved up. That meant trying to drive through snow, over stumps and rocks, through mud and streams, all the while releasing and winching in the cable before it winched the load so hard against the back of the skidder it would break the cable. That was tough, all for a $100 spring in the control. We never had that break before.

And the slop in the steering linkage...oh my...so it is in my best interest to find a way to tighten up hydraulic linkages.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

B Town
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Re: Track Adjuster Seals

Post by B Town » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:04 pm

When applicable, i will drill the clevis holes out, oversized. Just enough to true up the sloop, yet leave enough meat in the clevis. Sometimes i will use metric drills with metric pins/bolts. Larger sized pins have a larger surface area and result in less psi, ie-wear. As i said only when circumstances allow.

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