How much grease on track rollers and front idler

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JD40c
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How much grease on track rollers and front idler

Post by JD40c » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:26 pm

I finally found a couple tubes of JD corn head grease and picked up a good quality Lincoln Automotive pistol grip-type grease gun (full size, not one of the compact ones). So as to not damage whatever remains of the roller seals, care to hazard a guess as to how many pumps of grease I should shoot into each roller and the front idlers? The gun looks to have a normal size piston in it.

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Post by Lavoy » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:34 pm

I have put anywhere from 6 pumps to half a cartridge in a roller before. Best bet is to keep pumping slowly until resistance is felt, and then quit. If you have bad roller seals, you will hear some hissing or popping as the grease pushes the air out. In this case, the seal is already damaged, and you really can't hurt anything.
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Post by SmallTime » Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:07 am

Hey, while on the subject.......is there more than one size button zirt adapter? The one I got from deere wont fit the top carrier roller on the 1010, everything else is fine. Was thinking about grinding it down but thought I better ask first.

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Post by rvbarkley » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:15 am

Yes, there are at least two sizes. Not sure what they are without measuring but when I picked one up for my MC it was too big. Had to return and order smaller. Smaller was a lot cheaper as I recall. Might be able to change the zert so they are all the same, cheaper than having to have two size adapters.

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Oct 14, 2005 7:55 am

Hi,

I pump a few stokes and then use a scribe (or awl, doesn't matter) on the ball to let the air out. I repeat this until I get lube oil back out instead of air, at which point the thing is half full of oil. :)

I'm still using 140 weight from a 5 gallon can dad had from the late 1960's, so the things don't take much. You do have to add some once in a while, as the seals are designed more to keep the dirt out than keep the oil in, so some always wanders out while you're using the machine.

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Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
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Post by Lavoy » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:28 am

There are two different sizes of button head fitting. Originally MC and 3 roller 40 used the large head, but the replacment zerks you get now have the small head.
All the rest of them used the small fitting (5/8" I think).
To grease a tip idler, you need to remove the longest bolt holding the cap on. This hole is bored all the way through the roller to the center. When the roller is full, grease will push out this hole, then reinstall the bolt. The roller cap is designed so that you have to remove the bolt to get the grease gun end on the button head fitting so you can not over fill the idler. If you do it put too much pressure internally the idler will not turn.
This is of course one idiot that ground the side of the button head fitting off to get enough clearance to get it on without the bolt removed. Seems to me I,,,, I mean he, did this while cussing the stupid engineer that didn't design it right in the first place.
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Post by SmallTime » Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:51 am

:lol: :lol: Thats pretty funny Lavoy. My problem is a bit different, I understand taking the bolt out, that makes alot of sense,I probably woudnt have thought about that.
Lets see, I hope I can explain this. My problem is that the cap on the roller is made with a raised teardrop shaped ridge protecting the button. My grease adapter is the right size to fit the button but because of this ridge around it, there is not enough room for it to slip over to grease it. Seems the grease zirk adapter is to fat, so yea Im actually thinking about grinding the adapter down. Am I missing something?

Just read the other post on grease, would there be a problem replacing these zirks on the upper rollers since I think they are fairly safe from breakage due to the ridge on the cap and it being at the top of the track?

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Post by Lavoy » Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:31 am

I just ran into the same problem as you this week. The adapter that tried to use was round, it was used on a TD9 crawler that does not have that ring. I went and grabbed a different grease gun that has an end that came from Deere, and both sides are milled off flat so there is clearance for it to slide past the ring when the bolt is removed.
Should really be no problem putting a regular zerk in there. Probably only arguement for leaving it as a button head is that someone may grab just any old grease gun and pump regular gun grease in there. Regular gun grease is too thick, and can stick the roller, especially in cold weather. Also if you don't take the bolt out, it will lock the idler up from too much pressure.
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Post by SmallTime » Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:54 pm

Ok, thanks. Im glad you see the problem. I think I may see how much meat there is on the adapter and grind it. It came from deere but of course they didnt build them with old machines in mind. About the other grease, at work we use regular ol grease on the dozers. They are all much newer and Cats so I wonder if that's the difference. I should switch I guess since it gets cold here in the winter, what can I use thats common from NAPA, Im a little limited unless I mail order. Would lithium work?

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Post by JD40c » Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:28 pm

Lavoy, does this "long bolt" apply to 40C's? I didn't see anything like that on the front idler other than the shaft nut on one end and the buttonhead grease zerk on the other, and what looked like a small setscrew and nut that I assume keeps the idler axle from spinning.

Greased everything well today (6 pumps on all rollers and front idlers). The pistol-grip style gun I bought is just the ticket. Quicker than a lever type and plenty of pressure.

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Post by Lavoy » Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:08 pm

Best thing to use in idler is corn head grease. If you can find a supplier that handles it, the correct grease is called "Track and roller grease, or Track Roller grease". It is obsolete from Deere, but the equivalent is corn head grease. If you are in an area that they raise corn, pretty much any ag dealer of any brand should have it.

Jeremy,
We are referring to the upper idler, not front idler. If I remember correctly yours is a 4 roller, but I seldom remember correctly.
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Post by JD40c » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:26 pm

Ah. Yeah, mine is a 4 roller, no track return roller.

This is the greasegun I picked up:

Image

John Deere Corn Head grease goes by the part number AN102562.
Last edited by JD40c on Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Lavoy » Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:33 am

That is what I use.
If anyone needs one, I have a couple new grease gun ends with the hose.
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:56 am

Lavoy wrote: Probably only arguement for leaving it as a button head is that someone may grab just any old grease gun and pump regular gun grease in there. Regular gun grease is too thick, and can stick the roller, especially in cold weather. Lavoy
Yes, good point. In our case, it was just dad and I who would use the machine or grease it, and we both knew which grease gun was loaded with the proper grease. ;)

These days, it's just me, myself and I who'll do anything with the old girl. I suppose one day, I'll have to instruct the grandkids on the care and feeding of old Deeres, as one of them will wind up with the poor old thing (they're not old enough to do anything more than ride on grandpa's lap once in a while).

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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Clarification

Post by bighamlin » Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:45 am

Quite a alot to get straight. So, am I to interpret this;

Use only cornhead grease on both the 5 rollers (1010 c) and upper idler?

Can I use the cornhead grease on the track tension or anywhere else?

If I go to a pistol type grease gun, will it delelop enough pressure to adjust the track tension?

I am just trying to make things clear and simple, reducing the number of grease guns and types of grease in addition to the ones I allready use.

Thanks
Paul

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