Removing swing gear box

[225]

I purchase a Cat 225 with the swing gear box lower bearing out. Is there any trick to getting it out of the machine, the old owner said he was unable to remove it. Looks like he has all the bolts out, could it be rusted in,do they fit tight? Thanks for any help

[willie59]

Yes, they generally fit tight in the mounting, otherwise, the swing action will stress the bolts. May also have some dowel pins to prevent movement that would work bolts loose. Not all, but some have some threaded holes in the mounting flange to run a bolt into and assist in removal.

[bobcatmechanic]

call your cat house and ask for service and talk to them. If its a good house they will give you the procedure for removing it. Also the mechanic may tell you what he uses being pry bars pullers hoist or what ever he can get in their

[225]

I read the service manual on removal and it pretty simple, put 3 half inch lifting eyes in case remove 8 bolts pull out. Installation says to never seize part going into the deck plate, so that tells me it could be froze in that bore. Weight is 1400 pounds, if it is stuck lifting only on it may not do it. The lifting eyes are only 1/2 inch so you cant get to crazy with them. Looked under mach. and you can not see the pinion, hoping to. put a bottle jack on bottom of pinion. Could i cut a hole in the bottom shield so i could get to the pinion, weld back shut when done ? Thanks

[John C.]

Those things are just tight and since yours still is, means its in decent shape. The last time I worked on a 225 I was replacing a swing bearing so I don't know about the reducer. As Atco says, there is almost always a couple of jacking bolt holes. Use some air pressure and make sure there are no hidden holes. If they are there you will have to run a tap in them before trying a bolt.

What I used to do on Komatsu boxes was hook up the crane and put a little strain on the line and then manually snap them back and forth. If it doesn't move, put a little more strain on and try again. I have also taken a big bar that weighs about forty pounds and pop the house area a little on each side of the reducer. Sometimes that little bit of shock vibration will loosen things up a bit.

You don't want to cut the pinion tub, especially from below. They usually have a bunch of water in them and a shower in greasy water is in no way a comfortable thing to do.

Good Luck!

[bobcatmechanic]

yeah its bad enough to wash greasy water off your hands takes about 10 washes with good soap. hate to see a bath in that stuff. with a 1400 lb weight to it i would say a lift is in order or another hoe. as said clean really good and look for any more bolts that were not taken out or forcing holes to use. do the lifting eye holes go all the way through the case or are the blind drilled and tapped holes. if they go all the way through you may be able to use them like forcing bolt holes just be careful not to break the case by putting to much pressure on them.

[225]

I took off a 6" diameter inspection cover on the dirt shield under the machine and no water. I would like to put and inspection camera in the hole to look ring gear and pinion over. hope ring gear is ok. The gear box weighs 1400#,my shop hoist is 2000#capacity,by the time it trys to lift the gear box not much cap. left to pull on gear box. Have a 5000# forklift but i will be out on the end of the forks so not much lift capacity there,maybe try to use both. Thats why i wanted to get to the pinion underneath the machine, a 12 ton jack is alot of lift. I will try to get some pictures posted. Thanks alot