289C front idler problem

Im running 9 of the 289C's down in central texas and i keep having problems with the bearings on the front idlers going out . ive replaced 4 of em in the last week in a half n probably 20 in the last 3 months. i intially thought that we were running the tracks to tight so i loosened them up to where there was about an 2" of slack (was at about 1") when i did that, they didnt go fail as fast, but then the tracks come off to easly n putting those tracks back on is getting really old even though ive got i down to a science! cat is payin for them but im just sick of the down time. anyone else have this problem? what can i do different ?

Cat has no expanation :Banghead. or answer for how to prevent it.

we are in very hot, dry, dusty, and pretty rocky terrain and they are ran like theres no tommarow for 8.5 hrs a day every week day!

I wish I had some info to help you. I find this interesting b/c I just demoed one of these and asked if the salesman/dealership knew of any problems and nothing was mentioned. I was actually leaning toward the Cat, because I was assured their undercarriage issues had been resolved if you buy the newer rigid undercarriage. Do you have any other likes or dislikes with the machines?

muff, i still think they are great machines and they have lots of pushing power, just a bit rougher than my 297c but still pretty nice most of my operators love the comfort of the cabs expecially when that AC is working! which brings up another point, the AC condencers are a huge pain to access for cleaning. other than that i love them and the service that cat has provided for me.
i think part of my problem mite be the extreme conditions we are in, and the amount of abbuse the machines get. other than the idlers going out i cant say that we are having many problems with them, occasionally we have a wiring harness go out or somthing of that nature but im running 11 skidsteers on this project so its kinda expected to have some problems. on the idlers that are going out, its only happening to about 4-5 of the machines, its as if the replacment idler bearings arent as high of quality. most of these machines are 08-09 and i didnt start having problems with the idler bearings till i got them to about 700 hrs.

Tgrimm, Thanks for the useful info. Trying to decide between the new T770 and 289/299C.

Tgrimm, When replacing the bearings it is essential to not damage that front idlers seal replacing the track. Most times I work in the dust and have found that cramming as much red lithium grease in there as possible helps with longevity. I would also take a cat bearing set to local bearing shop and get a bulk discount on cones and races from timken, good product, doesn't say cat so it much cheaper. Might look into bair aluminum main idlers hear they handle abuse much better and if you have a bearing go out it may save the wheel as the plastic wears so fast it makes the back lock ring useless thus costing you much more for the repair. Preachin to the choir but I thought I'd put it out there...

I have a cat 299c. I've had issues with throwing tracks since day one. I bought new tripple idlers for the front (replacing doubles that came on it). I went through 4 or 5 of them failing on me. They would turn red hot and the bearings were failing. Some of them failed with less than an hour on them. Cat finally said the parts were defective. I finally got 2 that lasted about 6 months before they failed. I got new triple idlers for the back recently and am going through the same dance. We have gone through about 5 of them failing. Johnson Machinery gave me a rental machine to use finally since I kept having the same part issues. They mentioned my tracks were tensioned too tight. I told them that I got over 3000 hours on the original single and double idlers that came on the machine and I tightened up the tracks as tight as I could because we constantly had issues with throwing the tracks.

One thing you might want to look at is the level of the rollers, on hard ground if you're putting new idlers on with used rollers, and/or if the track frames have any bow to them from hard knocks, the idlers may be carrying all the load on them when the bucket is full? If you were on soft ground of course everything will to a degree seek it's own level. Just a thought.

If you're using the single wheel idlers you might consider drilling to the center and threading for a pipe plug, every so often screw a zerk in and give it a couple pumps of grease?

lantraxco said:

One thing you might want to look at is the level of the rollers, on hard ground if you're putting new idlers on with used rollers, and/or if the track frames have any bow to them from hard knocks, the idlers may be carrying all the load on them when the bucket is full? If you were on soft ground of course everything will to a degree seek it's own level. Just a thought.

If you're using the single wheel idlers you might consider drilling to the center and threading for a pipe plug, every so often screw a zerk in and give it a couple pumps of grease?

Click to expand...

I "upgraded" to the triple idlers to help keep the tracks on. I had the issues when I just replaced the front 2 about 6 months ago, and had the same problems when I replaced the axles, rear idlers, and boggies a month ago. My original idlers lasted over 3000 hours and I never had an issue with the bearings burning up. I noticed another guy on this website has been having the same issues. I don't know why CAT hasn't recalled and fixed the problems yet. It's crazy that I have got over 10 bad triple idlers and this poor other guy has got over 20 bad ones.

I'm having the same issues with my 299c triple idlers. I've gone through about 10 idlers. I only have 1 machine and the down time is killing me. Were you able to get anyone from CAT to help out? I'm also sick of the downtime and don't want to ever have to replace another one of these because of defective bearings or manufacturing.

Who manufactures these for CAT? Bobcat and CNH use Berco, but I am not sure who CAT uses to supply their undercarriage parts.

KSSS said:

Who manufactures these for CAT? Bobcat and CNH use Berco, but I am not sure who CAT uses to supply their undercarriage parts.

Click to expand...

Hey KSSS, just saw this thread. CAT also uses Berco. I just replaced a front idler on my TR320 and bought one from Prowler. Half the price with the same warranty and they got it to me in a three days. CASE was a week out. They didn't list one for the TR, but it's the same one as the 450. We'll see how it holds up.

JNB said:

Hey KSSS, just saw this thread. CAT also uses Berco. I just replaced a front idler on my TR320 and bought one from Prowler. Half the price with the same warranty and they got it to me in a three days. CASE was a week out. They didn't list one for the TR, but it's the same one as the 450. We'll see how it holds up.

Click to expand...

How did your prowler idler hold up?

The Prowler idlers and sprockets worked out fine. Wish I could say the same for the case. Thankfully that thing is long gone.

JNB said:

The Prowler idlers and sprockets worked out fine. Wish I could say the same for the case. Thankfully that thing is long gone.

Click to expand...

Can I ask what problems you had with you TR320?

You can do a search under my user name, but wimpy drive motors, poorly thought out wire and hose routing leading to blown hoses and random shutdowns...fire, just to name a few. I have a wonderful wife and five children...and getting rid of that machine may still be the single best day of my life.