Cat 988B heating issue

Queenslander · Mar 12, 2020

I’ve never had an issue buying ELC... here, it is no dearer than some of the offerings at Supercheap Auto at $110 for 20 litres of premix.
I see the ELI concentrate is around $200 for 4 litres but haven’t found a dilution rate yet.

ajginger · Mar 12, 2020

Yesterday I ordered 6 × 20 L drums of premix cat coolant. It Should fill the 105 Litre system and give me some spare as a top-up mix. ( $ 670.00 AU )

When it gets here, I intend to run the machine with rainwater for 15-20 mins two times to flush the system, before filling it with the coolant again.

ajginger · Mar 13, 2020

New gages, fan belts & Full Torque dash light assembly arrived in the mail today.

I didnt know these electric gages register temps witout even being hooked up ?

ajginger · Mar 13, 2020

Ok.... got the gages and full torque light in.

Question :

Why do the bottom two gage needles flick right over to the far right when I turn on the key to test them ?

The other gages flick to where they should with key on and motor not started/run yet.

Edit : I answered my own question about the bottom right gage at least
( engine oil pressure )
The wire was off the pressure sender down at the motor.

Dont know about the fuel pressure gage though ..... its wire seemed ok at the sender.

Nige · Mar 13, 2020

I've sent you the Electrical Schematic just in case you want to start tracing wiring for anything.
Check your PM's.

ajginger · Mar 14, 2020

Nige said:
I've sent you the Electrical Schematic just in case you want to start tracing wiring for anything.
Check your PM's.

Thanks again Nige.

ajginger · Mar 18, 2020

finally got the seal kits to repair the badly leaking lift rams.....
Very helpfull to have a little loader to pull the heavy rod/piston out of the cylinder.

Nige · Mar 18, 2020

Is that support under the bucket steel.? It’s hard to see what it is on a phone. A lot of weight up there, what with the bucket and the lift arms.

Check the rods carefully for dings and scratches, otherwise you could tear the new seals out pdq.

kshansen · Mar 18, 2020

Nige said:
Is that support under the bucket steel.? It’s hard to see what it is on a phone. A lot of weight up there, what with the bucket and the lift arms.

Check the rods carefully for dings and scratches, otherwise you could tear the new seals out pdq.

We always used a heavy wall pipe under the center tube between the two arms and let the bucket be in full dump position. Believe we also had the pipe holding the arms up chained to the large lifting rings on front of frame. Also worked as much from the outside as possible.

This was in a shop with very thick concrete floor so there was no chance of the pipe punching a hole through it. Also kept cones up to try to keep people from under the raised load, key word is "try"! Despite these and other precautions still was not the most comfortable job.

ajginger · Mar 18, 2020

The bucket support is a piece of 100 pound railway line...... it is driven into the ground about a foot so the bottom cant kick out and the top sits into the recess of the bottom bucket pin mount. The bucket sits very solid in this position.
It was tested in full float mode to make double sure it sat secure several times before anyone got under it.

kshansen · Mar 18, 2020

ajginger said:
View attachment 213030 The bucket support is a piece of 100 pound railway line...... it is driven into the ground about a foot so the bottom cant kick out and the top sits into the recess of the bottom bucket pin mount. The bucket sits very solid in this position.
It was tested in full float mode to make double sure it sat secure several times before anyone got under it.

That makes me feel a little better. In the first picture I was thinking it was just a 6X6 wooden pole.

I'm not familiar with railroad track so have to reserve judgment on the strength of that, would it be right to assume it is not brittle type of steel?

ajginger · Mar 18, 2020

kshansen said:
That makes me feel a little better. In the first picture I was thinking it was just a 6X6 wooden pole.

I'm not familiar with railroad track so have to reserve judgment on the strength of that, would it be right to assume it is not brittle type of steel?

Some can be brittle if it is a certain grade.
This stuff has enough hardness to be very strong but not brittle.

I wouldnt use it if it was a cold winter though.......dont know how it would go with that much weight & being frozen cold.

ajginger · Mar 19, 2020

This big ugly home made spanner with a 12 foot length of 60 pound railway line as a lever still required a bucket pushdown from the the old cat 922b loader to get the 4 inch nut moving.
( 3 men swinging off the end couldnt budge it )

Nige · Mar 19, 2020

Check the Nyloc insert in the nut closely. The nut can re reused but if the insert looks anything like dodgy (imprint of a screw thread in the nylon) then get everything really clean and throw a good dose of Loctite at the threads of the nut. You’ll have to work fast tightening it once you get the nut screwed on the rod though.

Thought. Will the eye of the lift cylinder rod fit into the tow bar socket of the 988.? If it will, slot it in there, block it up level, and use your small Jingaling loader to provide the push on the end of the spanner to tighten the nut.

kshansen · Mar 19, 2020

Too late now for this one but if doing another it might pay to mark the nut and the end of rod, maybe with a little dot from a center punch. Then when you reassemble it just tighten till those marks are lined up again and you should be close to the original torque.

This of course assumes you use same piston, rod and nut and there was no sign of any problem from it being not tight to begin with!

ajginger · Mar 19, 2020

Nige said:
Check the Nyloc insert in the nut closely. The nut can re reused but if the insert looks anything like dodgy (imprint of a screw thread in the nylon) then get everything really clean and throw a good dose of Loctite at the threads of the nut. You’ll have to work fast tightening it once you get the nut screwed on the rod though.

Thought. Will the eye of the lift cylinder rod fit into the tow bar socket of the 988.? If it will, slot it in there, block it up level, and use your small Jingaling loader to provide the push on the end of the spanner to tighten the nut.

I tried to get the rod end into the towbar but unfortunately it just wont go in properly.
I have done the nut back up by reversing the spanner on the setup in the picture and pushing down with the 922b loader.

Now the fun of getting the new piston seal to go back into the cylinder.

Nige · Mar 19, 2020

Lots of lubricant and patience.
At least in your climate you won't be battling the cold and have to install seals of a consistency somewhat akin to concrete........

ajginger · Mar 19, 2020

kshansen said:
Too late now for this one but if doing another it might pay to mark the nut and the end of rod, maybe with a little dot from a center punch. Then when you reassemble it just tighten till those marks are lined up again and you should be close to the original torque.

This of course assumes you use same piston, rod and nut and there was no sign of any problem from it being not tight to begin with!

This is a very good suggestion ...... I thought of the same thing myself.... AFTER ..... I already re-assembled the the thing. ( damn )

Will be doing the next ram like this though.

I wish there was an easy calculation to do that would tell me the torque pressure I have applied to the nut.

To get a final test measurement, after pushing down with the endloader on the end of the long bar about half turn from hand tight :

I took the long bar off the spanner & put the right hand side end of 922b endloader ( 12 ton ) bucket on the spanner about 24 inches from the nut and pushed down till it lifted the right hand front tyre up off the ground ( about 3 ton ) without the nut moving ( tightening any more ).

Anyone here good at the math on how much torque was applied by this final test ?

3 ton pressure 24 inches from nut = .......

Nige · Mar 19, 2020

ajginger said:
I took the long bar off the spanner & put the right hand side end of 922b endloader ( 12 ton ) bucket on the spanner about 24 inches from the nut and pushed down till it lifted the right hand front tyre up off the ground ( about 3 ton ) without the nut moving ( tightening any more ).

Anyone here good at the math on how much torque was applied by this final test ? 3 ton pressure 24 inches from nut = .......

3 tons@ 2ft = 6 tons @ 1 foot.
Therefore 12000 ft.lbs. which sounds a bit on the high side. I think you'll probably have got it pretty tight though.........

ajginger · Mar 19, 2020

Nige said:
3 tons@ 2ft = 6 tons @ 1 foot.
Therefore 12000 ft.lbs. which sounds a bit on the high side. I think you'll probably have got it pretty tight though.........

Woo....12,000 ft pounds.....

The manual only allows 3000 ft pnds +/- 300.
I might have over done it then cause before the final test, I pushed the end of the 12 foot long bar ( 180 pounds in itself ) another half turn with the loader bucket after two men swinging off the end to hand tighten the nut .

Hope over tightning doesn't mean

Cat 988B heating issue

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