Cat 289C......few u/c questions

[Justin Voisine]

Hi Everybody, Im new to the site. I have done lots of reading here and decided to finally sign up. I have a couple questions about the undercarriage on my 289c ctl I purchased a few months ago. I noticed the track on the left side seems to be tipped outward(sprocket away from frame) more so then the left side. I assumed it may be a bent torsion axle but all the pictures Ive seen of bent axles it seems to make the tracks tip inward towards the machine. I dont see how the axle could of bent the other way but could be I suppose. Is there anything else that could cause this? Also....the caps with 2 bolts and grease fittings for the axles, is there supposed to be shims behind those caps? The rear caps on both sides have 2 thin shims between the caps and track frames. I can spin the shims by hand so theres a gap between caps and track frame. The front ones dont appear to have any shims but Id have to clean it up good to say for sure. Looking at the cat website I dont see them in the parts manual and my service book doesnt show them either, it only shows a spacer between the track frame and axle. I will be swapping the tracks out soon so if theres some stuff I could take a look at while Im in there let me know. Thanks!

 

[ih100]

Can you post a few pictures so we know exactly what we’re looking at? The plate should be bolted directly onto the end of the torsion bar. Measure the gap between the track and machine frame at three or four points to make sure it’s not an optical illusion, same with the sprocket to frame both sides. This sounds like an interesting problem, looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.

 

[Justin Voisine]

Can you post a few pictures so we know exactly what we’re looking at? The plate should be bolted directly onto the end of the torsion bar. Measure the gap between the track and machine frame at three or four points to make sure it’s not an optical illusion, same with the sprocket to frame both sides. This sounds like an interesting problem, looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.

I will get some pictures next time I am at the machine. With the machine jacked up in the air I can push the track assembly in and out slightly. I think thats why there is some shims located between the plate (item 1 on pic)and torsion bar, to take up some of the slack. If these shims are not supposed to be there then I am wondering if when the torsion bars were replaced , if they forgot to install the spacers(item 2 in photo) that go between the back side of track frame and torsion bar. Thanks for the help