Cat 301.8 Radiator removal

Hi All, I have to remove the radiator from my excavator but I can't get it out. The bolts and hoses seem to be holding it in place. The operation and maintenance manual gives no real direction. If anyone has done this and can give a idea of how to do it I would appreciate it Or if they have a copy of the workshop manual.

stevetasmania said:

Hi All, I have to remove the radiator from my excavator but I can't get it out. The bolts and hoses seem to be holding it in place. The operation and maintenance manual gives no real direction. If anyone has done this and can give a idea of how to do it I would appreciate it Or if they have a copy of the workshop manual.

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I've just had a look at the D&A for the radiator on a 301.8 and there's nothing that looks complicated.

If the bolts and hoses are holding it in place, remove the bolts and disconnect the hoses. What am I missing?

Like CM says there appears to be nothing difficult or requiring anything special in the way of tooling to remove the radiator on this model. Start by removing the hood, draining the coolant and aso draining the hydraulic oil. The RH rear corner protector has to come off then remove the RH side panel. Once that is done you are into disconnecting hoses, etc, and removing some supports & the fan guard.

I know this thread is nearly 3 months old, but I've just Googled about removing the radiator on the same machine. What the op said it true. The manual is a joke and hides the real truth of getting this damn thing out.

Cmark & Nige,
saying remove this, remove that is easy, but believe me, accessing some of the bolts and hoses is more like an art, or you have to have had previous experience of getting it out. I've removed everything I can find access to and now I'm at the stage of trying to figure out what I can disconnect next and how the hell to get to it. These small machines can be absolute pigs to work on. Funny thing is I did manage to get the radiator out quite a few years ago but now I've forgot how I managed it LOL.

I've been maintaining my gear for years, and I do the lot, including line boring, hydraulic motor/pump stripdown, 2 slew ring changes (after a certain dealer completely f8%k4d up the first one), whatever. So I'm no stranger to this stuff and my machinery is small stuff so getting into confined spaces is normal maintenance and repairs for me.

You guys are correct, without having tried the job there may appear to be nothing difficult, but once you get to the forward side of the radiator you'd see why both him and myself start pulling our hair out a little bit.

OK, so much for:

there appears to be nothing difficult

My re-cored radiator is now installed. I came across the exact same problem the op experienced and it's caused by a plain stupid design flaw by the manufacturer. On the 2 sides of the radiator are soldered 2 C-channels. These 2 C-channels slot into 2 slightly wider C-channels that get bolted to the floor.

I'll refer to these C-channels as the radiator C-channels (soldered onto the radiator) and the floor C-channels (the wider ones bolted to the floor).

The forward floor C-channel also holds the silver oil cooler which sits on the outside of the engine radiator. There are 2 threaded nuts welded to the inside of the forward floor C-channel and this is where the problem lies. These welded-on nuts are too far forward and prevent the radiator C-channel from sliding out of the forward floor C-channel, it's a completely dumb design mistake which should be picked up in cad when they design things. If these weld on nuts were just 10mm further to the rear of the machine, problem solved.

I only realised this when I "somehow" got the radiator out after lots of cursing as to why it was being held in place. I'd say what allowed it to come out was tilting the rear side of the radiator towards the right of the machine (moving outwards). This would have allowed the inner side of the forward radiator C-channel to pop outside of the forward floor C-channel.

Getting the radiator back in !!!
The forward floor C-channel is fixed to the floor by a bolt, just like the rear floor C-channel. However, unlike the rear floor C-channel where you put a bolt in from the top, the forward floor C-channel has a welded nut, and you access the bolt from UNDERNEATH where the exhaust muffler is. So I removed the now free standing forward floor C-channel and fitted the radiator to this while out of the excavator. That in itself was awkward and required the use of a long G-clamp and a large screwdriver to pry the radiator C-channel into the floor C-channel. Remember those stupidly positioned oil cooler weld on nuts mean you have to put the 2 C-channels at an angle to each other, which causes the radiator C-channel to sit slightly proud of the floor C-channel and thus it won't just slide in.

After I'd got that done and bolted together I could install them as a unit.

All I can say after this, is the manual is a joke, even if those wrongly positioned weld on nuts weren't a problem.