Caterpillar 426 Series II?

[DGODGR]

So. Another “few” questions for all of you.

After fixing the hose and filling the hydraulic tank with fluid, I started the backhoe up. It had been plugged in for about 2-1/2 hours at that point. All I had time to do was let it run for a bit while I picked up all tools, tarp I was laying on, and get empty buckets and other junk into the garbage area in detached garage.

Then I just had time to move it from where it was parked to where I normally keep it near the barn. This level ground area is close to barn door which is good for plugging it in when it’s cold. Then it was time to take off for other family stuff.

When I was moving it the backhoe seemed to be easing or weeping to one side. If sitting in the driver’s seat, and looking back at the hoe, it was slowly easing or weeping to the left. Now, that same side is where I replaced the hydraulic line to the directional cylinder.

Is there something else that keeps the hoe steady from going side to side?

Could a pin have broken? Or something similar? And then that created more stress on that old hydraulic line?

When the hydraulic failure happened I heard a somewhat loud ping or bang. Then the fluid started spraying. I just thought that was the initial rupture and fluid under big pressure hitting the underside of the cab floor.

Now I have been working with clay. Because it’s so cold, some of the clay is freezing to the bucket. So this is just a guess, but there has to be a good bit of extra weight in the clay on that bucket and arm. 40-60 lbs maybe? Just guessing. Could be much more.

Not sure. But. Maybe it will all settle out tomorrow after I have had a chance to slowly use the hoe by moving it to both sides after it is warmed up in this cold.

But while moving it, it seemed to slowly seep to low side of machine. Which was the low side of hill I was driving on.

Let me know if you have an experience with a hoe doing that while moving and you think there is something else wrong. Or not.

Thanks again.

From what you have written I think that what you are experiencing is called "drift". Make sure you cycle the hoe for a bit to make sure that you have purged all the air from the system. If air is not the issue I would guess that the swing cylinder/s may need to be repacked. A fairly common issue with these machines is that the nut that holds the piston onto the rod end will sometimes come loose. When that happens the hoe will "wag" back and forth with gravity like when going over rough terrain.
If everything is as it should be the 40-60# (and probably a lot more) would not cause the hoe to drift when traveling. IMO, the most common cause would be swing cylinder seals (would be fixed with rebuild/new seals, etc.) assuming that you have purged the air.

 

[gasifier]

From what you have written I think that what you are experiencing is called "drift". Make sure you cycle the hoe for a bit to make sure that you have purged all the air from the system. If air is not the issue I would guess that the swing cylinder/s may need to be repacked. A fairly common issue with these machines is that the nut that holds the piston onto the rod end will sometimes come loose. When that happens the hoe will "wag" back and forth with gravity like when going over rough terrain.
If everything is as it should be the 40-60# (and probably a lot more) would not cause the hoe to drift when traveling. IMO, the most common cause would be swing cylinder seals (would be fixed with rebuild/new seals, etc.) assuming that you have purged the air.

Thanks. I’m hoping it just needs to be worked to get fluid all through everything and air back to the tank. Will find out tomorrow. Looks like it won’t be as cold as last few days. 20s in the morning. Yea!

I do need to get that frozen clay off the bucket. And out of front loader bucket. Ugh!

 

[gasifier]

How many members on this site? Anyone know? Curious here.

 

[gasifier]

The “drifting of the hoe to one side has stopped now that I slowly worked it first thing. Apparently had to get the fluid through everything and force the air back to the tank. Learning something new each time I use it.


Thanks again.

 

[edgephoto]

I should have looked at the manual before I stated 12 gallons. I have gone through 2 buckets and still need a little more to top it off. I also have been replacing all my hoses and repacked or rebuilt every cylinder. So I have lost fluid during this process. Not really concerned because once done I will have more or less flushed things. At the very least the old fluid will have been diluted significantly. The fluid that was in there was clean and not showing signs of water.

Have you had success with your seat?

 

[gasifier]

I should have looked at the manual before I stated 12 gallons. I have gone through 2 buckets and still need a little more to top it off. I also have been replacing all my hoses and repacked or rebuilt every cylinder. So I have lost fluid during this process. Not really concerned because once done I will have more or less flushed things. At the very least the old fluid will have been diluted significantly. The fluid that was in there was clean and not showing signs of water.

Have you had success with your seat?

Haven’t done anything to it yet. I have been working on a good size dirt project and trying to get as much of it done as I can before any deep snow comes. If we get a big snow storm, I’m afraid I’ll be done until things dry up after spring thaw. I can still get it around okay, but it’s gummy. Hopefully I’ll find the time soon.

 

[edgephoto]

You actually use your machine? I thought we all bought them so we can work on them and post our problems here.

We keep going from cold to warm. Getting annoying. Once mud season is over in the spring I need to get up to my land and start clearing for a house and a rifle range.

 

[gasifier]

You actually use your machine? I thought we all bought them so we can work on them and post our problems here.

We keep going from cold to warm. Getting annoying. Once mud season is over in the spring I need to get up to my land and start clearing for a house and a rifle range.

LOL I have been fortunate enough to have some colder temperatures that froze the top of the ground up. Not much frost down very far. But just enough to keep me up and traveling just fine. Moved a good bit of clay and dirt over the last few weeks. I forgot to check the hour meter when I got out of the 426 this afternoon, but I know I have put a good amount of hours on it the last couple weeks. Several regular days off and took an extra one when conditions were just right. Hoping any significant snow holds off for 3-4 more weeks. Is that too much to ask for this time of the year?

 

[gasifier]

I had to go out to the barn so I stopped at the 426. When I bought it there was 5497 hours.

And now there is 5533 hours.

36 hours of work in 11 days since getting it. Not bad for this time of year.

 

[edgephoto]

You can clean up that gauge face with some toothpaste. Mine were so cloudy they were near impossible to read. Since I had the dash at the house while I was welding I took an afternoon when work was quiet to polish them. I did not go crazy. I just wanted to be able to read them.

 

[gasifier]

You can clean up that gauge face with some toothpaste. Mine were so cloudy they were near impossible to read. Since I had the dash at the house while I was welding I took an afternoon when work was quiet to polish them. I did not go crazy. I just wanted to be able to read them.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try. What I don’t get is the scratches. ? It looks like scratches anyway. How do you scratch up the surfaces of your gauges? I Yi Yi. LOL

 

[edgephoto]

Some idiot probably scraped them when they had ice on them or something. You can try sanding them with 400, 800, 1200 and then polishing with rubbing compound and finally toothpaste. You can also use a headlight restoration kit. The scratches won't go away by polishing but things will clear up. The sanding will get rid of them.

I made a small polishing wheel by chucking a bolt in my drill and wrapping a rag around that so it would polish. Made it go quick.

I hate not being able to easily see gauges. Hour meter is not crucial but temp, and others are.

 

[gasifier]

Some big buckets were moved today.

 

[gasifier]

That leaning Ash tree in the picture on the left was torn out of the ground two days ago. It was in a place I need to put stuff and too close to several other trees anyway. I left it laying on the ground with roots exposed. Today as I went to put it on the burn pile I thought to myself. I wonder if I could save that by transplanting it now. It has been cold, below freezing the whole time. So maybe. So I dug a hole and manhandled it into place. Then while holding it upwards I managed to get some big chunks of clay and topsoil around it enough to hole it upright. Then used the hoe to bury the roots. A couple things going for it is it was in hibernation mode. The clay/dirt I put over it is full of frozen water. And it’s right on the pond’s edge now, so it should get plenty of water. I beat it up pretty bad though. Some bark roughed up. Roots roughed up. Hopefully it makes it. We will see this spring if it can survive it.

 

[gasifier]

The joy of working with clay in the cold!

Once every couple hours a fifteen minute cleaning helps. What a workout with this heavy duty bar!

 

[gasifier]

I have managed to put 73 hours on the CAT ……Not bad for a little over three weeks in January.

 

[Tinkerer]

We used to put diesel fuel in buckets that were frozen up like yours.
sometimes wood too.
Then set it on fire. Worked like a magic charm.

 

[gasifier]

The 426 did not want to start today. Tried it a couple times but then decided I needed to get some other stuff done and try this on a day when it’s not -33 at 6AM! So I pulled both the batteries out and brought them into the garage to get them both charged up 100%. And it’s 48 degrees in there too. So that will help. Currently 11 out there now.

 

[edgephoto]

You might consider a couple things. One is battery warming blankets and the other is adding a charging port. This way you can put the batteries on charge without having to open the battery box. If you use heavy enough cables it can act as a jump start point.

When I worked at a dealer in the 80s we serviced the Ford diesels. Pushing a big rack body into the shop was not fun so we made jump start rig. We took a hand truck and mounted 2 huge batteries on it and a maintainer. It was kept plugged in so the maintainer would keep the batteries topped off. When we need to start a truck or even a car we just wheeled the setup to the vehicle and connected the cables. Boom car would crank.

You could put a plug like tow trucks use so you just plug it in, start the backhoe and unplug.

At some point you should measure the voltage drop on your starter circuit. Make sure you do not have a loss due to bad connection or corroded cable, etc. This is easy and you will know if things are 100%. In my case is cranked and started fine when warm but a bit slow on a cold crank. Cold as in sitting overnight, not arctic winter cold. I had voltage drops of 2.5 volts on the ground side and almost 1 volt on the positive side. Cleaning connections made it less but it was still high. New cables solved the problem. Cranked like a new starter and batteries were installed. Cables looked fine but obviously not. I did not cut them open.

 

[DGODGR]

Cold like that would have me looking for more than just warm, fully charged, batteries. If your machine is equipped with (2) batteries (part of a cold weather package) you should also have a block heater and -33F qualifies as a good reason to plug that block heater in. Battery blankets would also be well advised and maybe even on the tranny and/or hydraulic tank......Or just park it inside a shop.