140m down again

[20/80]

Hello everyone, having some problems with our 140m, over the course of the summer we have encountered quite a bit of down time with this machine countless transmission troubles, steering malfunctions, right side articulating ram failure, than broke and pushed up into the engine cracked oil pan, we finally got all this fixed and today while doing a pm on the machine while changing the oil in the tandems we found round center links from the drive chain laying on the bottom of the tandem, both sides, can anyone tell me what would cause the chains to fail? could there be something else inside the tandem that caused this, any ideas? this is a $10000 dollar fix! :Banghead

 

[Radrock]

How old is the machine? One thing I can think of is turning all of the time with the differential locked. Mine is a 2010 and I had a hard time learning not to use the modulator when changing directions. Just flip the switch and go. I did notice that it is rough shifting when doing otherwise. We have only had this machine for a year and I have only been operating it for 6 months but ran them for 40 years

 

[20/80]

How old is the machine? One thing I can think of is turning all of the time with the differential locked. Mine is a 2010 and I had a hard time learning not to use the modulator when changing directions. Just flip the switch and go. I did notice that it is rough shifting when doing otherwise. We have only had this machine for a year and I have only been operating it for 6 months but ran them for 40 years

I think its a 2008 or 2009, I think the operator on locks the diff when turning, the older cats stayed locked all the time, the operator didn't here any noises coming from the tandems, just noticed the round chain links torn from the chain laying on the bottom of the tandem, other side is the same, is this a common problem?

 

[Nige]

I think its a 2008 or 2009, I think the operator on locks the diff when turning, the older cats stayed locked all the time, the operator didn't here any noises coming from the tandems, just noticed the round chain links torn from the chain laying on the bottom of the tandem, other side is the same, is this a common problem?

Not unless you turn with the differential locked..................

 

[Radrock]

I think its a 2008 or 2009, I think the operator on locks the diff when turning, the older cats stayed locked all the time, the operator didn't here any noises coming from the tandems, just noticed the round chain links torn from the chain laying on the bottom of the tandem, other side is the same, is this a common problem?

I haven't seen it happen. Cat graders has had differential locks since they came out with the g models. It was also when they came out with articulated rear too so the radious of a turn was much sharper. The old 99E's took a half acre to turn around haha. I have broken a chain before but usually one with lots of hours on it.

 

[20/80]

I haven't seen it happen. Cat graders has had differential locks since they came out with the g models. It was also when they came out with articulated rear too so the radious of a turn was much sharper. The old 99E's took a half acre to turn around haha. I have broken a chain before but usually one with lots of hours on it.

The machine has around 5 to 6000 hours on it, the chain pins are still there its the chrome round pieces that go over the pins that the drive sprocket fits into to drive the wheels have broken off, not all of them but quite a few long strips on the chain, both sides, we all tend to forget that we are locked up from time to time when we go to turn, I have never seen this happen before to a chain, any ideas?

 

[Radrock]

The machine has around 5 to 6000 hours on it, the chain pins are still there its the chrome round pieces that go over the pins that the drive sprocket fits into to drive the wheels have broken off, not all of them but quite a few long strips on the chain, both sides, we all tend to forget that we are locked up from time to time when we go to turn, I have never seen this happen before to a chain, any ideas?

Well it could be a manufacturing defect but that would be very hard to prove with that many hours. One other thought. Are you using the same size tires and matched on both sides. Our company used to use recaps and I proved to them that all tires are not created equal. A general tire was 7 inches difference in circumference from Goodyear tire. I blew it off the rim in 2 minutes when working in flint rock. Mismatched tires could very well do the same thing to the chains.

 

[20/80]

Well it could be a manufacturing defect but that would be very hard to prove with that many hours. One other thought. Are you using the same size tires and matched on both sides. Our company used to use recaps and I proved to them that all tires are not created equal. A general tire was 7 inches difference in circumference from Goodyear tire. I blew it off the rim in 2 minutes when working in flint rock. Mismatched tires could very well do the same thing to the chains.

Yes they are rethread tires, some are Goodyear, General, Michelin casings all have the same thread pattern, has never been a problem on my 140h but maybe on these new m graders, or one our two of the rear tires are different, I will check it out, thanks

 

[Radrock]

Yes they are rethread tires, some are Goodyear, General, Michelin casings all have the same thread pattern, has never been a problem on my 140h but maybe on these new m graders, or one our two of the rear tires are different, I will check it out, thanks

raise the tires up off of the ground and then measure around each of them. My experience has shown me that a General Tire is about 7" larger in circumference. And that can be a large reason for your problem.

 

[20/80]

raise the tires up off of the ground and then measure around each of them. My experience has shown me that a General Tire is about 7" larger in circumference. And that can be a large reason for your problem.

Thanks, I will check the brand on all the casings. I will let you know, thanks again

 

[20/80]

raise the tires up off of the ground and then measure around each of them. My experience has shown me that a General Tire is about 7" larger in circumference. And that can be a large reason for your problem.

Tires were all the same size and make, The good news is Cat is going good for the chains the bad news is another issue has been found, there is metal filings in the hyd lines and filter, what would cause this?:deadhorse

 

[Mobiltech]

Tires were all the same size and make, The good news is Cat is going good for the chains the bad news is another issue has been found, there is metal filings in the hyd lines and filter, what would cause this?:deadhorse

Could the filings be from the articulation cylinder failure?
Also is the cylinder failure related to the drive chain failure due to a high turning load from locked diff.

 

[Nige]

Tires were all the same size and make, The good news is Cat is going good for the chains the bad news is another issue has been found, there is metal filings in the hyd lines and filter, what would cause this?

Got any photos of the metal that was pulled out of the filter..? What was the reason why anyone went looking in there anyway, there must have been one.

What filter part number are you using..? There was a change a while ago and IIRC the springs in the bypass relief valve have to been changed to successfully use the new Part Number (old P/N is no longer available).

 

[20/80]

Could the filings be from the articulation cylinder failure?
Also is the cylinder failure related to the drive chain failure due to a high turning load from locked diff.

The cylinder still worked the eye broke off at the end of the ram, I did ask the operator about turning locked in he said 99% of the time he unlocked the diff, I checked my chains in the 140h with 9000+ hrs using the diff all the time and sometimes forgetting to unlock when turning and there was not a mark on them, they just looked like new, do you think the pump is on its way out?

 

[20/80]

Got any photos of the metal that was pulled out of the filter..? What was the reason why anyone went looking in there anyway, there must have been one.

What filter part number are you using..? There was a change a while ago and IIRC the springs in the bypass relief valve have to been changed to successfully use the new Part Number (old P/N is no longer available).

My understanding is that they were doing a pm on the machine, that's how they noticed the chain problem, they were changing the hyd filter and found some little flakes on the filter which of course led them to look harder, finding more filings they took off a couple of hyd hoses and found more traces, leading them to believe the system may be contaminated, we were using the same type of filter that the machine came with, don't know the filter number right off hand, sorry I don't have any pictures. any ideas? thanks