D5B Final Drive Leak, I think.

Hard to tell by the photos, but I didn't see anything alarming in the oil, it does appear like the oil hasn't been changed for many hours which also makes what you did see to not be overly alarming...Just normal wear over an extend period would allow fine metallic particles to accumulate. Metal wears over time even when protected with oils. That's my 2cts. which is about what my opinion is worth.

That was my take as well, but this is the first final drive oil I’ve ever examined. Based on many other indicators relating to maintenance on this tractor, I am not surprised to think that oil has run a very long time. When I get the oil changed in the other final drive, I will have changed all fluids and filters on this machine.

I’m curious to hear what others think.

Thanks for your feedback.

A flush out with diesel wont do it any harm. Oil is cheap. I would get it hot and change it again.

I have put a few pictures up of some final drives I have done in Shop Talk, there would be D5's in it also the C spanner getting a day out, most of the video's well all of the video's I have seen of F/drive work have been absolute shockers, the Redneck ones are a scream as it's all very good blowing off the sprocket but its the build up including the adjustment that sets the job up to last, you could make yourself a C spanner, the correct spanner used to cost in the U.K. around £450 some years ago, I know the Facom C spanners are NO use and any tube put on them just snaps them, the OTC stuff is good and worth the cost, I have tried the flush out thing but think it best to just fill with fresh oil and drain out again after a couple of days work.

All above discussion of oil change on final drive is for the right side. That is the one that has shown some leakage. Yesterday I changed the left final drive oil.

The oil in the left side had the same blob of metal particles mixed with oil stuck to the magnet on the drain plug. What was different was I found more of this same material was sitting in the bottom of the drive housing than I noticed on the right side. I also found some metal slivers (very thin pieces maybe 1/8" long) in the bottom of my pan. There were about 10-12 of these that I noticed. None of these were on the magnet and not sure why. In this case I did use some diesel to flush through the housing to wash out some of the gunk. That was helpful, but I'm sure I didn't get all of it. Best I could do was feel with my finger though the drain hole. It was decidedly better after the flush than before. (Writing this, it occurs to me I should have used some of the stuff they make you drink before a colonoscopy. That would surely have removed everything, maybe even the gears.)

I do plan to make a short run and then change the oil again in both final drives.

Tctractors, I'm still relatively new to this forum and wasn't aware of the Shop Talk portion of the forum. I will definitely take a look there and see what I can learn before I attempt the bearing adjustment. I'm leaning toward breaking the track, but I am also concerned with how difficult it may be to put the track back together. It looks to me like the wrench may fit on that slotted nut with some pads removed, but it will be on at an angle and not straight on. We'll see. My wrench is due today but I'm about to be out of town for a few days, so it will have to wait a while. Oh, the OTC tool I ordered is #7309 and the price through Amazon was $309 US, including shipping to me. I hope it's OK to share that info on the forum.

Costnsg said:

None of these were on the magnet and not sure why.

Click to expand...

The magnetic plug only has a certain capacity to hold on to metallic debris. Once that capacity is reached it cannot hold any more and the particles will fall to the bottom of the compartment.

Costnsg said:

Best I could do was feel with my finger though the drain hole.

Click to expand...

A magnet on a flexible stalk might have been somewhat of a help, but changing the oil and then pulling the plug again after a short time should help. Why not get a "spare" plug then you could pull the installed one out and fit a clean plug without having to drain all of the oil.?

Nige,

I added drain plugs to the order I was just putting together. Thanks for the suggestion. Although, I think for the next time, coming soon, I will go ahead and drain all the oil to help clear more of that gunk out. After that, I like the idea to check & clean the plugs occasionally without draining all the oil. Hopefully, I'll be fast enough to save most of it, anyway.

I did try a magnet but the one I had handy was on a telescoping, but straight shaft. It didn't work at all.

I also ordered fill plugs and gaskets. Seems the last owner intended to tighten the fill plugs enough to go without a gasket. From the look of the square recesses in the plugs, it was done that way as a matter of practice. I had a hard time getting those fill plugs out. Looked like someone before me resorted to a hammer and chisel. I ended up using a stout impact wrench to get them loose.

Whoever picks up this dozer after me will get something shown a little more TLC.

The stars aligned today and I had assembled everything I though I'd need to do that final drive bearing adjustment. So, I went ahead and executed the procedure as outlined in the manual to adjust the bearings. I went with the separate the track option and I think it went OK. Took me most of the day, though.

I broke the track at the rear (took this idea from RC, thank you), then pulled the tractor forward a bit to give myself room to work and jacked up the right rear to get the sprocket clear of track. I was able to remove the dust cover and the lock and the slotted nut loosened easily (no cheater needed). Next I tried to tighten the smaller nut at the end of the shaft (smaller = 2 3/16" socket). I was not able to tighten that nut at all. My cheap harbor freight 1" breaker bar now has a permanent bend. Anyway, then I tightened the big slotted nut with my new spanner wrench and a cheater pipe to approximately the torque value specified. It felt fairly tight at that point and definitely tighter than as found. As per procedure I then turned the nut a further 3" plus a bit to allow the lock to reinstall. At that point I feel it was quite tight and certainly tighter than the 350 ft-# spec'd in the procedure.

Next task was to put the track back together and that took a few minutes. I backed the tractor up to the starting position and used a farm tractor to pull the top of the track back to a position where I could almost put the master link back together. At that point I had to detach the chain in order to get it out of my way. Before that, however, I used a couple of 2" ratchet straps to pull the track together on the bottom side so my way was clear to install the track pad and bolts into the master link. It wasn't a terrible job. The ratchet straps that I used have a bent plate at the ends that will just barely fit between the track pads and I put one on either side of the rails. With that, a couple of taps with a hammer got the master link all aligned and the rest was easy.

I don't know yet whether this will have any effect on my final drive leak, but I expect to know soon. Not decided yet whether I want to do the other side now.

Oh, one more thing...I did this as a one man job, but it would have been nice to have someone to watch for me while I moved dozer and farm tractor. Otherwise, I managed just fine without assistance.

I love to hear it only took a couple of minutes to put the alligator plates back together! Keen to hear how it works out

I didn’t say a couple of minutes! Haha. More like an hour to get it all lined up and the bolts installed.

Did you jack up the Tractor so the sprocket was clear of the track and rotor the sprocket around to check adjustments, on the tension of the adjuster collar it is common for the Service Manual to only say "Take a 5ft length of pipe and place on your C spanner" not to post a Ft lbs target that you cannot register with a C spanner???

Yes, sir. I did jack up the tractor to clear the track and rotate the sprocket. Knowing I couldn't precisely measure the torque, I marked a 9 ft pipe in 1 ft increments. With the pipe on the spanner wrench max lever arm was 10 ft and my weight being 150 lbs, I used the distance and my weight to approximate the torque applied. I was not able to achieve the 2400 ft-lbs specified in the procedure (no heavy friends around), but realistically did get close to 1500. I feel fairly comfortable I got somewhat close to the 350 ft-lbs on the retightening step. From there moving another 3" (corresponds to about 2 notches on the nut) was fairly straightforward. I probably had about 3 1/2" total to get the lock back on the nut. At that point it was pretty tight, I think. Since I was shooting for a certain movement, I was less focused on the torque, but I'd say in excess of 1000 ft-lbs.

I'm open to any other questions. Never did this before, so I'm happy to hear feedback.

The rear track frame track guide needs replacing.

RC, thanks and I am aware. I'm just planning to live with that for a while, at least. The left side is no better. Is there a serious regret for letting this wait? I do so want to get my side shields on the tractor and do a little work with it and a little less work on it.