Cat 977L

[Cat977]

Gotta say Chris one heck of a Parade piece. Its nice that it lives on! Kudos for putting a new heart in it! The kids must go wild over it, yea dads too I bet. Nice conversation piece at a show. Just needs a trailer for the folks to ride on. I'll wager the local farmers have you on speed dial! Anyhow I love a smooth ride at my age and my old Buick LeSaber has those nice tall side walls. Makes you feel like your still on the couch at home.
I was wondering are yours made to be high flotation if you reduce the air pressure?

 

[charles walton]

Nice loader with the winch,I would love to have one on my little 941.

 

[ChrisUK]

Ready for the big reveal, we will soon see what mechanical mayhem has been going on inside.
Excessive play in both sprocket hubs and when I look inside through the filler hole the big reduction gear moves the same amount as the sprocket hub. Plenty of sparkles in the oil when I drained both final drives but no chunks of metal so fingers crossed
More pics to follow at weekend
Chris

 

[AllDodge]

Hi Chris and fellow HvEq members,
I have a 977K with a broken recoil spring too. Got a replacement for $250. Now for the hard part. I’ll use a cutter tip on the bad spring and remove the entire assembly. First time messing with the death spring. Any advise greatly welcome.

Safest way for DIY removal is OxAxe the coils until all tension is gone, then take it apart

 

[ChrisUK]

Both sides pulled down today, top pinions are ok which is a relief. Has had previous surgery prior to my ownership. The smaller intermediate gear and matching bull gear are complete toast. Both sides require new main bearings and seals.
Not as bad as it could have been !
Chris

 

[charles walton]

Both sides pulled down today, top pinions are ok which is a relief. Has had previous surgery prior to my ownership. The smaller intermediate gear and matching bull gear are complete toast. Both sides require new main bearings and seals.
Not as bad as it could have been !
Chris
View attachment 239937 View attachment 239938 View attachment 239939 View attachment 239940

Those bull gears are not cheap!

 

[Cat977]

Looks like that bearing sat in a water puddle for awhile. Reminds me I need to give my 977L a Spring oil covering engine heating run back and forth. That machine needs rails/tracks soo bad I'm afraid to turn it.
Keep up the great work on the disassembly pictures!

 

[ChrisUK]

Looks like that bearing sat in a water puddle for awhile. Reminds me I need to give my 977L a Spring oil covering engine heating run back and forth. That machine needs rails soo bad I'm afraid to turn it.
Sorry about those gears Chris!
Thankfully you found the problem before it found you!
Good Work!

Cheers, yes it could have been a lot worse. I must say that without the services, advice and help of @tctractors I would not got this far this quickly. Chris

 

[DMiller]

One missed point is it did not grenade, had the teeth sheared could have destroyed a lot more

 

[ChrisUK]

Looks like someone has been in here with the welder before. Hub and bull gear will make a good table

 

[DMiller]

Most likely welded inside the last bearing race to make removal easier.

 

[Nige]

I must say that without the services, advice and help of @tctractors I would not got this far this quickly. Chris

You have a good man helping you. Please tell him I said hello.

 

[ChrisUK]

You have a good man helping you. Please tell him I said hello.

I will do Nige

 

[ChrisUK]

Not much to to report, awaiting some bearings and seals that were not available in stock. Have had a bit of luck though, the place where the hub came from had a bull gear hiding in the store room so had that also. Saved a lot of searching !
Soon be ready for another visit from “The Firm” to get it all built up correctly.
Cheers Chris.

 

[ChrisUK]

Clean casings, and some bits in the freezer. One of the new bearings mounted on the hub too, small amount of progress but heading in the right direction I hope.
Cheers Chris.

 

[DMiller]

Looking like progress

 

[ChrisUK]

A visit from The Firm today and some fair progress, just need some sprocket segments. Seem to be thin on the ground here, 3 - 5 week wait from one supplier.

 

[ChrisUK]

Final drives filled with oil, transmission magnetic screen cleaned out, filter swapped and transmission filled with oil too.
On to removing the studs now, welded some hefty nuts onto the studs and got at them with the inch drive impact gun.
Feels like I am heading in the right direction now
Thanks must go to @tctractors for all the work, advice and help so far, cheers Tony
Chris.

 

[Cat977]

Excellent pictures Chris! The resolution is the best I've seen. Looks like the machines sat in some pretty damp places. Petty flaky corrosion. Too bad it's such an excellent machine. All the nice extras on that one. I'm still Jealous!
Best of Luck
Shawn

 

[ChrisUK]

Excellent pictures Chris! The resolution is the best I've seen. Looks like the machines sat in some pretty damp places. Petty flaky corrosion. Too bad it's such an excellent machine. All the nice extras on that one. I'm still Jealous!
Best of Luck
Shawn

Thanks Shawn, yes I agree with you about the corrosion, I guess working most of its life in forestry and lack of cleaning / maintenance has taken its toll.
Chris