What do you use on under carrriage bolts

[Bala]

Track shoes, sprockets, carrier rollers, what do you use on the bolt threads,

thread locker?, antisieze?,

interested as to what those who have experience consider the best options

 

[TOM V]

I generally use copper antiseize compound in spray form so you could shoot it in the threaded holes besides putting it on the bolt threads, I have used 242 loctite not for vibration but to seal the threads. The undercarraige I just finished I used antiseize on bottom roll fasteners and loctite on the sprocket fasteners. I just always do it that way.

 

[grandpa]

I use anti seize.... think it should be a law, when building a new machine everything put together with anti seize.... any thing thats meant to come apart..

 

[EZ TRBO]

Anti Seize all the way. Grew up with my grandpa, dad and uncle swearing by the stuff and it drives me nuts seeing guys put things back together without wire wheeling a bolt and just putting back on the machine. And next time...it don't come off. All of our undercarraige componets gets AS'ed and 3 years later when installing new....the bolts all came off with the 3/4" impact and saved. Few years ago, putting tracks back on after fixing adjustment seal on front ideler i got my hand caught between 2 pads and was stuck there for bout 20 mins. Torch was WAY to hot too quick to even attempt that way but I told them grab the socket and wrench...them bolts have never seize on them. It came off no issues.
Trbo

 

[Nige]

On track shoe bolts - black (graphite) anti-sieze under the bolt head and on the thread. As Tom V said on another thread the other day, if the shoes or links are new take the paint off the back of them first.
On roller bolts - copper anti-seize after having run a tap into the threded hole first to clean it out.
Sprocket segment bolts - whatever the service manual procedure calls for.

Based on personal experience I'm always a bit wary of what torque to put on a bolt when the procedure in the manual doesn't call for putting anti-sieze on it. You have to back the torque way down and you're never sure what tension you're putting on the bolt.

 

[rare ss]

CAT copper anti-seize, same as Nige clean the threads first and torque to correct spec's with the faces nice and clean, no paint, dirt or rust

We used to use a RAD gun for torquing and removing bolts, 3600lbft got most bolts out as long as they had plenty of spunk on them to start with, it should be a punishable crime if people assemble lower track roller bolts without some form of anti-seize

 

[garp]

We mix some anti-sieze and 80-90. make a soup in a pail and dip all the bolts. the oily mix stays wet in there a lot longer than just anti-sieze alone.

 

[Bala]

thanks all for the replys,

i am antisieze fan, I have no experience i undercarriage work, the guys here loctite the track shoes and sprockets, but then i realised they only use WD40 on the track rolller bolts. no wonder the machines break track roller bolts.

Juts thought I would check with others on here, I will leave the sprocket and track shoes but they will be pulling the track roller bolts back out to antisieze them,

thanks again

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...I always found one of the problems with disassembly of machines constantly working in salt water was that the bolts were often too long and the exposed threads rusted and galled when backing out. It made a huge difference to repair times when we started measureing thread depth on through holes such as rock gaurd and roller bolts and cutting off bolts so they remained one thread inside...or maybe Cat. has done the right thing by all fitters and now makes the holes in track frames blind?

I was also very anal about this on cutting edge bolts. Anything I hate is grovelling around in the mud under a scraper gas axing bolts because the threads are sticking through. If you measure and cut so the threads are flush with the nut or one thread back inside you can generaly blurt them off no trouble even if the nuts are pretty worn...and Cat. anti-sieze of course, the copper stuff, that goes without saying.

Cheers.

 

[qball]

so, anti-seize is used for more than just door handles?

 

[Nige]

so, anti-seize is used for more than just door handles?

For door handles, lock mechanisms, seat rails, seat suspension mechanisms, etc, (even the rubber seals around doors) I would always use aerosol dry graphite lube. Anything sticky you use in these areas will just cause dust & dirt to stick to whatever you are trying to lubricate. Then your lube becomes something akin to grinding compound and causes more trouble than it fixes IMO.

Picking up on scrub pullers comments about bolt lengths I always try to find the exact correct length of bolt (if one exists) so that when it's assembled there is no more than 1 thread poking through the nut. I don't like leaving the bolts short in the nut because then you stand the risk of the threads tearing over time and then the GET loosens. Nobody like having to go back to re-tighten or replace GET hardware. In a lot of cases we're using bolt part numbers that are different than what the Parts Book quotes but it works for us.

Bala - I would say if your guys are using Loctite on track shoe bolts then those bolts will be undertightened and run the risk of loosening over time, expecially if the shoes are a bit on the wide side. You really need anti-seize both on the thread and under the bolt head (lots of people forget that) plus the torque specified in the manual to make sure you have the correct tension on the bolt.

 

[Bala]

good points about the bolt lengths, I picked up on that when they were disassembling.

there are some very inexperienced qualified tradesmen In the workshop i run, and although i dont have eme experience i have a lot of general experince. i would say the loctite has come about because they did not use antiseize so the bolts come loose, on the machines we have there have been a lot of track roller bolts broken, pain to get out, they just consider it normal but again not antisieze so the bolts come loos and break. I have lots of this sort of thing to deal with.

The have always done track shoe bolts by hand, 2 or 3 guys for hours with breaker bar and pipe undoing bolts. I bought them a 1/2" air rattle gun and a 1" electric rattle gun. One comment was "life is good now"

 

[mitch504]

Nige, you just gotta know Qball, he doesn't use the antiseize on the door latch mechanism, he uses it on the Handles of other peoples machines.

 

[CM1995]

As Tom V said on another thread the other day, if the shoes or links are new take the paint off the back of them first.

:thumbsup Yep, that's good advice. I learned it the hard way...

 

[Bala]

they take the paint off so thats good,

the other thing I reallised they were doing when fitting the sprocket bolts with loctite: They put the loctite on then put the bolt in, buzzed them up with the new 1/2" rattle gun and when they were all in tensioned them, so i explained how the loctite has already gone off and that when they tension they are breaking the loctite,

 

[Zed]

The best stuff I have ever used on undercarriage bolts was Stockholm Tar. One of my bosses told me about it years ago when we were due to change a heap of load rollers on a demag H255. I'd never heard of it but he swore it was the best stuff, previously we always had problems with the nuts seized, then having to gas axe them to remove roller. Demags have a bolt/ nut setup through the track frame, and the nut had a plate welded to the side so it didn't turn when tensioning. We had used anti seize before but still had dramas. Like mentioned before in this thread, there was always some bolt thread protruding after the nut, totally exposed. So before this shutdown, we bought 2 x 4 litre tins of Stockholm tar, and before installing the bolts we dip the whole bolt into the tin, and because its liquid. its quick and easy. I remember next time we had to change rollers on that machine, not 1 nut was seized and it was a breeze. I was amazed at how good it was. Anti seize is good, but I'd recommend stockholm tar to anyone.

 

[Zed]

Correction... I had heard of Stockholm Tar before, but it was something we used on our horses hoof's when I was growing up. I'd just never heard of it being used in this application...

 

[OldandWorn]

the other thing I reallised they were doing when fitting the sprocket bolts with loctite: They put the loctite on then put the bolt in, buzzed them up with the new 1/2" rattle gun and when they were all in tensioned them, so i explained how the loctite has already gone off and that when they tension they are breaking the loctite,

Yeah...not good.

 

[CM1995]

Zed, I've never heard of Stockholm Tar. After tooling around the 'net I see that it's derived from pine tree sap, interesting. Learn something new every day.:Cowboy

There is a pine stump "distillery" in South Alabama that I pass going to the Gulf, I just thought they make pine rosin for baseball teams and Pine Sol sent.

 

[Zed]

Well I grew up around horses and we used it alot to paint on our horses hoofs, to keep them healthy (not sure how it works but my grandfather told us to do it, and he's an expert horseman).
When my boss told me to get some for this shut, I kinda raised an eyebrow... But he convinced me it was great stuff. We'd had so many dramas before I thought it couldn't hurt so we tried it.
I might have a look on the net about it myself now...