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metal particles in gear oil from final drives in takeuchi tl140

skata

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i changed the oil in my final drives on a 06 takeuchi tl140 with 700 hours. this was the second time i changed oil. old oil came out frothy...with air bubbles. and the old oil had lot of metal "glitter" in it. i installed new oil and ran for a bit and drained it out, and replaced with new oil. ran another few hours and replaced oil again. still see "glitter" in the drained oil.
should i be concerned? running 75w-90 oil. would thicker oil provide more protection?
 

fast_st

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Glitter can be misleading without an oil test, could be left over anti-sieze or actual wear metal, I have to drain my loader axles and know there will be some debris, my plan is to drain them hot, run it all through a filter a few times and then put it back in. Going for removal of 95% of all the trash. I removed handfuls before and finished up with a 4x diesel rinse but I know there will be junk.

Foamed up and agitated is good, means it'll mix up all the stuff that's lingering around.
 

skata

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i dont see where anti seize would come from, and why it would still be around after several oil changes.
how hard is it to remove the hub cover to inspect the gears and bearings? can i do it without removing the track/sprocket?
 

Tones

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The hub cover can be removed without stripping anything else but be very very carefull when reassembling. If it's the type of cover that's retained with a wire loop, there is a ball bearing on the end of the sun gear shaft that can fall out. You'll never know until you move the machine and bingo you will have more steel than you know what to with. If you change the oil every time you do an engine service it should be OK. Changing to a synthetic oil may give a better life span.If you are super concerned start doing oil sampling. It will tell you if the problem gets worse- more parts per million.
 
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skata

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The hub cover can be removed without stripping anything else but be very very carefull when reassembling. If it's the type of cover that's retained with a wire loop, there is a ball bearing on the end of the sun gear shaft that can fall out. You'll never know until you move the machine and bingo you will have more steel than you know what to with. If you change the oil every time you do an engine service it should be OK. Changing to a synthetic oil may give a better life span.If you are super concerned start doing oil sampling. It will tell you if the problem gets worse- more parts per million.

there were 2 different drive motors used, right? earlier models had the smaller drive motor you're talking about, which i believe the smaller tl130 machines use also??
like this?

LLCppJn.jpg




anyways, i have this style drive.

9q0bZMK.jpg


so if i remove this cover, nothing will fall out? will i need a new seal?
i guess part of the reason i'm concerned is that one of the drive motors was replaced under warranty when the machine was almost new. dealer said there was a bearing clearance issue problem with the drive motors at the time.
i'm also not fond of the 500 hour hub oil change intervals. i will change more frequently.
i'll change the oil again soon to see if the metal glitter is better or worse.
oh and i'm familiar with lots of metal! i had a jcb axle where some snap rings inside the hubs let go and the center drive gear ground against the inside hub cover. i ended up machining the snap ring grooves deeper and cleaned things up and no issues since.
 

fast_st

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Now, one thing I like to do on non-filtered or even filtered oil. Look at your inspection plug if its wet when in operation, see if there's clearance between the plug and moving parts, if so, find some small neodymium magnets smaller than the diameter of the plug threads by a bit, drill or machine a small pocket in the plug and epoxy in a small magnet, this will give you some fantastic particle inspection capabilities.
 

Swannny

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I like to flush out the final drives with lots of diesel fluid, followed by some gear oil, then fill with fresh gear oil.
 

skata

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I changed the oil last year. There's maybe 100 hours max on this oil. Almost 1000 hours on machine. I just drained it. See the video and tell me what you think.

 

Theweldor

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I would pop that cover off of there and check the bearings and gears. Sure looks like something is about to come apart.
 

skata

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I would pop that cover off of there and check the bearings and gears. Sure looks like something is about to come apart.
I assume just take off the bolts on the cover? What type of seal is behind it, and can it be reused? Are there planetary rebuild kits?
 

John C.

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Looks like a slow grind to me. There are two schools of thought on this. What little I've done with skid steers showed that most final drives are throw aways when problems come up. I would suggest getting a parts book and then pricing out the parts that wear. Thrust washers for the gears in the planet carrier, main seal, thrust bearings on the main hub and the seals. Then price out a complete final. You might be better off with the complete final and then run the one on the machine till it locks up.
 

skata

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So, either plan to buy new finals, or send it to ritchie brothers? Lol
How much do these finals cost? Best place to buy finals or parts for them?
 

skata

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.
 

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skata

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..
 

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skata

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There is a weird pattern on the teeth of the outer gears. And those outer gears wore the housing on each side a little bit. Most everything else looks fine.
 

skata

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Ok. Looked a little closer, and the outer housing teeth are worn a little. Slightly pitted.
 

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skata

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At this point, I think I may just put it back together and try to run a good oil, instead of just regular store bought gear oil.
What if I use cat fdao oil? Or is there anything better?
 

John C.

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You might get a parts diagram of the monster and see if there are any thrust washers that are supposed to be between the planet gear carrier plate. You should not have those kinds of wear marks on that plate on the forth photo and the seventh photo.
 

skata

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No thrust washers shown in the service or parts manual.
 

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