atgreene
Senior Member
My main bucket pin on the Takeuchi has had some play for a while now. I have greased it religiously, but assumed that the pin and bushings had worn with 1400 hours on it. The thumb also runs on the same pin, so last fall I tried to drive the pin out and had no luck.
The guy who built the quick coupler, main pin, thumb, ripper, clean-up bucket, skeleton bucket and hd digging bucket told me to run it for as long as I could stand the slop, as there's no point in replacing pins and bushings until they are completely worn out.
On Tuesday I finally found out that the bushings weren't worn. While cleaning up a jobsite with the clean-up bucket, the coupler suddenly tore free from the boom. The bucket and coupler hung from the dog-bone. NOT a good feeling.
I hauled the machine back to the manufacturer and with the aid of a cutting torch, they disassembled everything. The main pin was actually broken in two places, and had been for some time. One break was at a grease hole, the other inside the thumb bushing. On a good note, all the bushings were tight and full of grease. Evidently the reason I could not drive the pin out was because it was broken and was hiiting the bushings as I tried to drive it out.
The lesson in all this, just because the manufacturer says not to worry about something, don't hesitate to look into it for yourself. A broken main pin may not always present itself with the typical symptoms. The only way to have found it was to have taken it apart with the torch, and at the time, I went with his advice to run it, as everything would have to be replaced anyway.
I know some of the experts out there who have never broken anything will say I abused the machine, feel free to bash away. I just wanted to pass on my experience so as to help others avoid the same mistake.
BTW, the estimated repair bill is $2400.00
The guy who built the quick coupler, main pin, thumb, ripper, clean-up bucket, skeleton bucket and hd digging bucket told me to run it for as long as I could stand the slop, as there's no point in replacing pins and bushings until they are completely worn out.
On Tuesday I finally found out that the bushings weren't worn. While cleaning up a jobsite with the clean-up bucket, the coupler suddenly tore free from the boom. The bucket and coupler hung from the dog-bone. NOT a good feeling.
I hauled the machine back to the manufacturer and with the aid of a cutting torch, they disassembled everything. The main pin was actually broken in two places, and had been for some time. One break was at a grease hole, the other inside the thumb bushing. On a good note, all the bushings were tight and full of grease. Evidently the reason I could not drive the pin out was because it was broken and was hiiting the bushings as I tried to drive it out.
The lesson in all this, just because the manufacturer says not to worry about something, don't hesitate to look into it for yourself. A broken main pin may not always present itself with the typical symptoms. The only way to have found it was to have taken it apart with the torch, and at the time, I went with his advice to run it, as everything would have to be replaced anyway.
I know some of the experts out there who have never broken anything will say I abused the machine, feel free to bash away. I just wanted to pass on my experience so as to help others avoid the same mistake.
BTW, the estimated repair bill is $2400.00
