New to me 955K

[FW190D9]

Thanks for the tips! Thats exactly why I said it should be interesting. Most of the exhaust nuts are corroded away. I knew right away that they were bound to break off. Im hoping I can do all this without disturbing the injection pump. Gonna be tight.
Evan Q.

 

[kshansen]

Thanks for the tips! Thats exactly why I said it should be interesting. Most of the exhaust nuts are corroded away. I knew right away that they were bound to break off. Im hoping I can do all this without disturbing the injection pump. Gonna be tight.
Evan Q.

I did this on a 3306 in a loader a couple years back and did not remove the pump, thnk I did remove the injector lines. On the 3306 the manifold mount holes are actually slots with large thick washers under the nuts. All but the one at the front cover of the engine are vertical, that one is horizontal. So you just loosen then up good and lift the flywheel end of the manifold and slid it towards the back of engine to remove.

Same thing when reinstalling. You can install gaskets washers and nuts then carefully slip manifold in place.

Looks like yours; has two different length studs. 7 of the 7S6719 and one of the 8M1871( this is a shorter one). Nuts are 1B5355 and washers are 8M7145. Just noticed that that manifold uses lock plates with the nuts. I would replace the 1B5355 nuts with the 2N2766 locking nuts like the newer 3306 uses and forget about those lock plates.

 

[AllDodge]

Had to replace my manifold shortly after getting it, was able to remove without removing the pump. Did have a few snap off, only one was a real bear

 

[DMiller]

For some reason if you have a stud break and use a TIG to weld a nut to it then allow it to cool they seem to back right out. I do not have such extravagance use a wire feed and have almost as good luck.

 

[FW190D9]

The Tig I have here at the shop worked great on all the broken 3/8th bolts on the radiator blocks. Its a miller synchrowave 250 mig/stick combo. I am planning on getting another to keep at the ranch now that Ive got all this old iron to piddle with. Need to get a good gas axe as well. I figure once I get all the cylinders re-packed where its parked outside, Ill back it into the ranch barn so I can do the exhaust inside. Gonna be kinda warm down there this summer.
E.

 

[kshansen]

For some reason if you have a stud break and use a TIG to weld a nut to it then allow it to cool they seem to back right out. I do not have such extravagance use a wire feed and have almost as good luck.

The 3306 I did I used my little wire feed 120 volt Lincoln on it. Liked using that as I was able to get right in there without worrying about touching anything I did not want to make sparks on! A couple of the studs needed two or three tries but in the end all came out.

I did the same trick getting a couple broken bolts out of the manifold of a little Kubota in a skidsteer. I find that using a slightly larger nut works a bit better as you can put the heat to it with out melting the nut as bad.

 

[FW190D9]

Did you use flux core wire on the little lincoln mig? I have the same little lincoln 120v welder, just dont wanna mess with carting an argon tank around.

E.

 

[AllDodge]

To remove the studs on my motor, I used flux core wire mig.
Have one which gave me a lot of trouble, but to remove, I welded a hawser on to the flush stud, then welded a nut on the washer. This applied enough heat to remove it. Was using a 220V Hobart but a 120 should have no issue, because I could not able to turn the heat that high

 

[FW190D9]

Got to head down to the ranch with the wifey for a few days. Had alot of other stuff to do so didnt get time to wrench on the 955. I did manage to fire it up and let it warm before trundling around the compound and moving a bit of dirt around. Happy to report the cooling system is working well under load. Stayed in the green after 30 min of working it, even with 99 deg ambient temps. Also managed to put new decals on the nose. It just looks "right" now. I decided to give it a name as well. Both my sister and one of my daughters have cats that are named Mo. So I decided to name my CAT "Mo" as well. My daughter even made me a decal for it. Snapped a few pics. I keep the arms up on the support pole as it keeps my lift cylinders from leaking so much. Still need to put those new seals in.

Evan Q.

 

[FW190D9]

So here's a question for you guys with experience. Mo is the first tracked vehicle I have driven with a pedal steer. The old D7F I used to run was a lever steer. When I first backed Mo off the trailer, I was pushing the pedals hard enough to engage the brakes which work fine. I didnt know that lightly pushing the pedals was supposed to disengage the steering clutches allowing the machine to veer. When I tested it today, I had it about 95% throttle, in 2nd gear and when I lightly pressed each pedal it would veer in the appropriate direction(but not alot, only a slight veer). When I fully depressed the pedal, it would brake the track and turn tight like I believe it should. My question is how much should the machine veer in this situation? i.e. 95% throttle and 2nd gear. It only veered a little bit, not alot. Visualize like 2 degrees over 50yrds or so. It did veer a bit more when climbing an incline, but still not alot. When I dug the blade in hard in 1st, it would spin the tracks and when I pushed each pedal in(first 3 inches of travel, not braking) , it would spin the other track. This confirms that the steering clutches are working but it just seems to me like it should veer a bit more when only one track is powered. My fear is that the clutches are not fully disengaging forcing me to use more brake to turn thereby wearing the brakes prematurely. I have not done any work to the steering system other than to top off the oil level and clean out the suction screen which was pretty clogged up. Anybody got any insight on this or am I just barking at shadows?

 

[CavinJim]

Barking at shadows. When you are going straight on flat ground, there's not much incentive to turn. Pushing, say, the right pedal in enough to disengage the clutch won't do much. The left side will drive it almost straight--with just a little bit of veering as you've noted. But, if you are going up or down an incline things will be a bit different since our old friend Gravity will provide some steering torque. If you are going uphill (in my experience a bit more than a gentle grade) and press the right pedal just enough to disengage the right clutch then the left track will drive it into a turn to the right (the right side is wanting to stop as it's being pulled back downhill by gravity). Going downhill the situation is reversed. If the hill is steep enough that there's some engine braking, disengaging the right side will allow that side to overrun the left and it'll steer to the left. At least that's what is supposed to happen--but I've never been brave enough to check it out! It all boils down to rolling resistance. A tracked machine going straight wants to keep going straight.

With my 955 going on level ground I have to engage the brake on the side I want to turn towards. It is possible to finesse the turn by letting the brake slip and do a gradual turn (and that really depends on what it's setting on--loose ground steers more easily). But I tend to prefer a more herky-jerky turn and lock the brake briefly then let off completely. End result is the same, but to me a locked brake isn't wearing as much as a slipping brake. If anyone has suggestions on that, I'm all ears! But what you're describing, FW, is exactly what I've experienced.

 

[hvy 1ton]

That's how it should operate normally. That said, it wouldn't hurt to go through adjusting the steering clutch/brake on both sides since who knows the last time it was done. To test the clutches are disengaging, get up to speed and push both pedals far enough to to disengage the clutches but not hit the brakes, it should coast to a stop in a straight line.

 

[FW190D9]

Guys, Thanks a bunch. That explains a alot! Sounds like she is operating like she was meant to. The several hours I have operated this maching have been exactly that, herky-jerky turn with briefly locked brakes. Just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.
E.

 

[DMiller]

That is the one aspect a hydro has over a direct drive, can feather controls much easier.

 

[kshansen]

Did you use flux core wire on the little lincoln mig? I have the same little lincoln 120v welder, just dont wanna mess with carting an argon tank around.

E.

Sorry I missed that question, but Alldodge answered it for me! Yes I just used the flux core as at that time I had not sprung for the gas kit.

PS: Nice looking machine!

 

[FW190D9]

Well its too hot down here to dive this puppy much so I went ahead and tore into the hydraulics. Managed to pull both lift cylinder pistons for seal replacement as they were leaking pretty good. Since the arms are supported on the pole, I pushed both pins out(they came out easily as they were well greased), and supported the rams in a more or less horizontal position by using straps over the loader arms. The bolts holding the fronts of the cylinders in were pretty dang tight. They just laughed at my wimpy 3/4" harbor freight impact gun. Went to home depot and got a 10' piece of gas pipe to use a cheater. Worked a treat. I then backed the bolts a couple of turns out and disconnected the hydraulic hard lines from the mounts (where they transition from flex to hard line) to allow the cylinder head to move forward. Fired it up(did I say how nice it is to have a working glow plug system?) and gently bumped the lift control until the pistons were at the stops. A quick bump and both heads moved out of the cylinders until they hit the loosened bolts. I then wrapped a strap thru the pin end of the piston and tied it to the Kubota and gently backed up until each one popped free of the bore while still being suspended by the straps. I missed the bucket placement on the first one so it made a bit of a mess. Second one I caught most of the fluid. Id like to rebuild them myself but I gotta go back to CAT anyway as they gave me the wrong seal kit. Might see how much they want to just replace the seals. Once I get these done Ill tackle the tilt cylinders.
PIcs
Evan Q.

 

[kshansen]

Might see how much they want to just replace the seals. Once I get these done Ill tackle the tilt cylinders.
PIcs
Evan Q.

Might be worth it as those nuts holding the pistons on are a little bit more than finger tight!

Just hope that those cylinders are not like a couple I had to rebuild over the years. Seems in some applications the threaded end of the ram will bottom out in the cylinder and some operators don't know that and will slam them down pretty hard. Then what happens is the end of the ram will get ever so slightly mushroomed. To the eye it looks fine, but...... when you try to remove the big nuts they turn off a couple turns then get tight on the expanded threads.

If that happens what we have done is to very carefully torched the nut off then take the rams to a machine shop and have them re-cut the threads where they are mushroomed. Another option would be to figure out where the nyloc will end on the nut and grind away the threads that would be outside of the nyloc. Seems some rams did come made that way from the factory as I recall a few with a short un-threaded end on the ram.

 

[FW190D9]

Great advice Kshansen. Ill check the threaded ends closely.
Evan Q.

 

[kshansen]

Great advice Kshansen. Ill check the threaded ends closely.
Evan Q.

Problem is sometimes the distortion is not readily visible and you only realize it when the nut starts to turn easy and then gets tight on the expanded threads. Should add that out of the dozens I probably worked on only recall a hand full at the most with the problem. So fingers are crossed that this will not be the case on your's.

 

[DMiller]

So long as the nylock can function should not come loose, for that matter if need be and you don't plan on reentering those cylinders, peen a small dent on the threads so they cannot unscrew without significant effort after assembled.

Input shaft nut on Fuller transmissions would be peened into side grooves to lock them in place, a bear to get loose but the nut is always softer than the shaft.