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Some Days You Eat The Bear.......

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
A year and change ago I bought my first dozer. Spent the winter going through it. It had rubbed the tracks on both hydraulic cylinders for blade angle. The pivot points beneath the tractor were allowing a bit of motion. Some research revealed that the tractor was built with 15" wide shoes. Mine has 16". There isn't much clearance anyway, the 1/2" eaten up by the wide track it seemed too much. Reggie, worlds most experienced crawler mechanic said give in, cut the shoes inside. I looked into "The Expander" a pin system that tightens up worn bores. Cost was substantial.
I ultimately discovered my recent undercarriage had been installed without refurbishing the guides that center the front idler. I reworked these, and had at least 1" clearance.

We have had a couple days of bitter cold weather here. I figured it might be last chance to skid some trees before everything went permanently soft. Here and there I was knocking the tops off ruts formed in the warm weather. I thought a couple times I was noticing sideways motion in the blade. I gauge this by looking at the cylinders from the seat. If the gaps are even, all is well. They seemed even. Minutes later the blade moved sideways. It was obvious something was wrong!

Sure enough, one of the pivot pins is missing. They are held in place by a bolt. In this case the bolt had a lock nut, one of those crowned compressed two wrenches to tighten it nuts.

I have no explanation, nut, bolt, and 1.75" diameter pin are gone. The right track has damaged the hydraulic cylinder.

Oh well!

Willie
 

Hobbytime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
709
Location
usa
I think your tittle is backwards.. It should read" some days the bear eats you"...
yeah its a b-tch when your trying to get work done and the equipment has other things in mind..
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Been there done that save the cylinder part. Have had master pin roll out of rail, had bucket cylinder pin back the retainer bolts out and fall out with a load going up, lost a hitched drag rig behind a 951 as the pin retainer cotter pin got dragged until the bent half broke away then it fell out. Not a pretty sight anytime!!
 

Hobbytime

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
709
Location
usa
A few years back the farmer that hays my fields was on a steep hill and the pin that holds the chopper on the back of the tractor popped out( I think he didnt put the saftey pin in the keep the pin in place) well down the hill through the hedge row and many rolls down the road..complete loss of that chopper and wagon...luckily noone got hurt by the run away wagon...
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
I've had a terrible time over the years with lynch pins on three point hitch. They tend to get broken, bent, and pull out. I believe my constant need to get farther into brush is at the cause. This crawler pin I haven't figured out. The bolt that locks the pin in place is 1/2" grade 8, with a locking nut. The other side, done at the same time is tight. I haven't been under the tractor since the pins were replaced last April. I've put on a lot of hours since.

Willie
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
The blade angle cylinder is damaged. New is $2000, Used is $1000 so far. Rebuild is estimated at $1000. If anybody knows of a used cylinder for Dresser TD7G at a favorable price, I'd be interested.

Willie
 

ben46a

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
Messages
773
Location
Waverley NS/Fort Mac AB
You may save some money if you talk to montreal tractor north of the border. They are a large dealer of used parts in eastern Canada, and well, the dollar exchange is very favorable to you as well. just a thought! I don't think it would be a very long drive for you either.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
You may save some money if you talk to montreal tractor north of the border. They are a large dealer of used parts in eastern Canada, and well, the dollar exchange is very favorable to you as well. just a thought! I don't think it would be a very long drive for you either.

Thank you. It isn't far. I'll look into it. The Trump travel ban to terrorist countries? Is Canada included?
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
I went to their web site. No Dresser. No matches. Damn! I was up for a road trip! To Hell with Donald!

Willie
 

davo727

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
165
Location
N of Houston Texas
Occupation
Aircraft mechanic
Some days youre riding your mountain bike in Montana and you come around a corner and hit a grizzly and then youre all done.
 

Terryz

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
64
Location
jeffersonville, ny
There are quite a few independent hydraulic machine shops around that can fabricate and replace the barrel on your cylinder. Cylinder Services in Rochester, NY comes to mind.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
A local young man has become disenchanted with working for the monopoly trash hauler in their subsidiary hydraulic shop. He went on his own. Good for him, bad for me, most of their customers were also disenchanted with the shop. He has one big calcium carbonate processor using up much of his time. I've waited all week for him to find time to look at it and order materials.

I once did business with New Hampshire Hydraulics. They took months to order a valve from a manufacturer. I gave up on them.

Reed's Hydraulics in Gansvoort NY I was very pleased with. They did several cylinders for me. I was doing a simple repack on a cylinder. We couldn't get the piston nut off. I called them. "Bring it down!" he said. I made the point it was a long drive, I needed a nut removed. Would I have to leave it, or could they do it, so I could take it home? "Sure!" he said. I got there, he wanted me to drop it off. I reminded him of the phone conversation. He reluctantly tried to remove the nut. After breaking three sockets, he admitted the former owner was his boss. He had bought him out. The former owner took with him all the SAE tools, leaving only Chinese junk. Leave it till later, he'd order a good socket. I could pick it up another day.

I came home with my cylinder. Calling from the road, I talked to Town Line Equipment in NH. It was afternoon, but they agreed if I could get it to them by 4:00, they would do it while I waited. Driving across VT from NY, I got there at 4:10. By 5:30 I was on my way home with a functional cylinder.

I'm at the mercy of big customers. The shops can't refuse them. Little people get service when big customers run out of things to do. Before he can decide what to order, he has to run out of other work. After he orders raw material for my cylinder, I then have to wait until he runs out of work again. It is spring, every earthmover in the northeast is preparing for the construction season.

Willie
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Somewhat discouraged. The hydraulic rebuilder is young, my son's age. He seems to find plenty of time to text. none to evaluate what my cylinder needs, and order materials. Completion date out there somewhere.

Willie
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Update: A good friend 40 miles away called me to say he found a "retired" gentleman with big machine shop able, and willing to rebuild my cylinder. Picking up my friend, I went to this fellow. He had several farm tractors waiting for his attention, he took one look at my cylinder, and said I thought it was leaking. I can't fix that.

Willie
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,040
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
The blade angle cylinder Right side was damaged by the track. 1 of two pins attaching the C arm under the belly of the crawler fell out, allowing the C arm to move sideways. The track dented the tube.

The hydraulic rebuilder dismantled it, but has such a backlog of regular customer's work he admits he doesn't know when he'll be able to get to it. He tells me its got some damage to the piston, but that is repairable. For reasons I can't explain, he reassembled it before I picked it up. He's a one man operation, and there must have been 20 cylinders on pallets outside his door. How many might have been inside, I don't know. He devotes three days a week to a huge quarry. Things don't look hopeful.

Honed, Drawn Over Mandrel tube is readily available. U tube videos show precision machinists adding ports each end, honing the inside to true it up after welding them in, and shaping to match the old on the gland nut end. The base from the old cylinder is welded in. Distortion is less a concern there because the piston stops a couple inches from the weld. I believe the skill I don't have covered is machining.

Willie
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Is better to keep work assembled even if just loosely as is too easy to set aside and lose the small parts. I was a mechanic many moons ago following the same thought line.
 
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