A few caterpillar 289d???'s

[277]

I own a 2015 Caterpillar 289d XPS Hi-flow machine. I bought it used and it had 3015 hours. I believe it has every option available for that year, if that matters in any of the questions.
I was reading the older posts on ride and torsion axle issues with grease. I took off all 8 bolts on both sides of the torsion axles and removed all 8 grease fittings. I then used my grease gun clean out tool on all 8 and the were all good. None required any cleaning. I then took about a 4" long nail (since it is longer than my clean out tool) and stuck it in all 8 grease holes. It went all the way in on 4 of the holes, but only about 3 inches in in the remaining 4 holes.
I put everything back together and squirted 3 rounds of grease in all 8 zerks.
Is that normal? Am I looking for issues? Reason I ask is because I think it rides rough on paved surfaces, but not on on dirt/gravel. It may also be because I have never owned block pattern tracks on any previous skid steer.

 

[Reuben Frazier]

Block pattern tracks just ride rough, theirs no way around that lol so I think your fine. I took a brand new set off just because they rode like crapola, I never gave much thought about their ride quality but I will certainly do it on my future purchases.

 

[CM1995]

CTL's are going to ride rough on pavement as they are not designed to run on a hard surface, hence the tracks.

Just make sure those zerks are taking grease and coming out on the outside and inside of the pin bosses on the track frame. Those pins take a lot of grease and should stay wet as they take a lot of movement.

 

[Nige]

I agree. 3 shots of grease per fitting doesn’t seem anything like enough to me. Clean grease should be coming out everywhere by the time you stop greasing each fitting.

Regarding the different depths of the holes in the axles. Maybe the deep ones send grease to the inside and the shallower ones send grease to the outside.?

 

[CM1995]

Regarding the different depths of the holes in the axles. Maybe the deep ones send grease to the inside and the shallower ones send grease to the outside.?

Nige that's correct.

Both our 279's run around with grease all around those pins. Can't stress how important it is to keep them greased for the life of the machine.

One of our 279's. Notice the grease around the track frame pins.

 

[277]

After looking further into it today, I just realized the seat was air ride and I had it bottomed out!☺ Much better after airing up.

Thanks for the replies!