450c rear crossbar

[reb]

I have pulled the track,sprockets and bottom rollers off of my new machine. I am going to replace those parts and I am looking at my rear crossbar. It is worn where it goes thru the track frame and the track frame is worn some where the bar goes thru. Do I need to pull the bar off and weld it up then turn it in my lathe? What about the bores of the holes where the bar goes thru? They are enlarged. Is this something I need to do now or could I put on new undercarriage and run the machine for a while, fixing the rear crossbar this winter when I have more time?







Also my final drives look different from each other. The one on the right has a lip protruding down but the one on the left does not. Is the one on the left just worn down or are they from different machines? The left side undercarriage has a lot more wear than the right.




Finally what is the piece that is welded on to the loader frame above the top idler? (with the big hole in it) It is on both sides.

Thanks,
Ross/Nebraska

[digitup]

You will find that it is not just the cross bar but also the saddles that it sits in that are wore .A common problem is that the one side is worn out more than the other . turning one way more is never noticed till it it lopsided .I know where a 550 is that is worn out on the right side it had a side dump bucket on it and the right track and drive took one hell of a beating .Digitup.

[reb]

Do I need to fix this now or can it wait until after harvest. I want to use the machine for 20 hours or so pushing small 4-5 inch trees out. It looks like the slop would force the front crossbar to take most of the stress. I dont want to break something but I dont have much extra time before harvest to build it up/turn it down.
Ross

[CatD8RII]

is that bracket for the backhoe rops?? the standard rops mounts on the top of the loader frame (which you have the brackets for as well). but i thought the backhoe rops came down the side of the loader and mounted in a rubber bushing.

[CatD8RII]

The track frame saddles are still availible from Deere i think theyre about 300 a side, which isnt too bad considering the only alternative would be to line bore them which is really expensive. I think youve got the right idea about building up and turning down the bar itself unless you could find a good used one somewhere. Personally i'd do the repair now only because youre that far into the repair. Youd probably be ok running the machine for just the small amount you want to (it obviously was run like this for a while) but you never know, the loader is going to put alot of strain on that track frame with the weight transfer it causes, and with all that slop in the back crossbar the front crossbar is gonna take alot more abuse.

[reb]

Ive been thinking about welding a pipe between the two holes so there would be more contact area. If I can get it centered okay I dont think I would need to build up the shaft or the bore. What do you think?

[CatD8RII]

Dont see why it wouldnt work. The track frame will be that much lower than it used to be in relation to the crossbar but i dont think that it matters much. It may wear out the pipe faster depending on how hard the pipe is but it still sounds like a good temparary fix to get you dozing before winter.