Chain adjustment on a NH LS170

[tmc_31]

Hello all,

I recently bought a 2002 New Holland Ls170 Skid. It has about 2400 hrs on it. This afternoon, I was picking up prickly pear in a field when the skid suddenly would only roll about 5' forward or backward. It felt like it was binding. I took the chain cover off and found a (approximately) 1-1/4" dia. X 3/16" thick washer between the rear chain and sprocket. The washer was pretty well mangled. Also a 3/8"X3-1/4" bolt was laying in the bottom of the chain box. As far as I can see, no damage to anything other than the washer and bolt. The bolt is a grade 5 hardware item, but the washer will have to be ordered. The bolt and washer retains the brake rotors to a spline shaft. I am going to try and cut a new washer from some A36 steel shaft that I have as the original seems to be pretty soft.

My first question is, how do you determine if the chains are adjusted properly (they seem to have a lot of slack in them) and how do you adjust the chains?

Second question, what is the "industry standard" life of a skid loader in hours?

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Monte1255]

I've got an LS 170 2008 model, might be a little different, but I've never had to adjust the chains ..........ever. My skid Loader is already got over 2500 hrs. on it and been through the first cutting edge on the bucket already. However it is not uncommon for NH loaders to go a good 8,000 to 10,000 hrs without any adjustment to the chains and the engines seem to hang right in there with ya too up through that 8,000 hr range. Others may feel differently, but I absolutely will not buy a different brand. Prior to the 170, I had a 565 NH with 8500 hrs on it, and we worked that one hard! pushing dirt, logs, rock, silage, feeding cows every day, and anything else you could think of.
Recently purchased a used LX865 for use in the woods, but only time will tell on that one, every owner treats their machine differently, It's got 3450 hrs. on it but starts up decent and runs good with plenty of power, seems to be a good one so far.....

 

[tmc_31]

Thanks for the response Monte, I was able to find and download a PDF of the service manual for my LS170. In it was a pretty good description of how to check the slack in the chains and adjust if necessary.

I realize that it is impossible to hit on a magic number for the service life of a skid steer (or any other piece of motorized construction equipment for that matter). However I think that the 8k-10k hours life you suggest is not unreasonable if a person takes care of his equipment. Since this number is for a life cycle cost analysis to be used in figuring out what rate I need to bill the machine out at, it only needs to be a reasonable guess anyway. I read on another forum that on ag tractors it was not uncommon to use 10k with a 60% maintenance factor (you will spend 60% of the original cost of the tractor for maintenance over the life of the tractor). I suspect that a skid loader will have a little tougher life than an ag tractor, so I may lean more toward the 8k mark for a service life estimate.

Thanks for your help,

Tim

 

[Monte1255]

Are you also figuring your cost/hr. to reflect your depreciation,ins, and interest on the loan as well? (strictly speaking only of the machine cost/hr. here, not other business related expenses)

 

[tmc_31]

Hi Monte,

Yes, I am considering all those things and value of the tractor at trade-in. I will also account for inflation in the cost of fuel, oil and other maintenance items.

Some years ago I did a similar analysis on a D3500 Ram pick-up. I was shocked at the total cost of ownership. That analysis was based on 350k miles in ten years of ownership. It wound up being about $0.80/mile. Wound up selling that truck at 323k and 10 years. Makes you wonder how people can afford to run equipment.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[durallymax]

Hi Monte,

Yes, I am considering all those things and value of the tractor at trade-in. I will also account for inflation in the cost of fuel, oil and other maintenance items.

Some years ago I did a similar analysis on a D3500 Ram pick-up. I was shocked at the total cost of ownership. That analysis was based on 350k miles in ten years of ownership. It wound up being about $0.80/mile. Wound up selling that truck at 323k and 10 years. Makes you wonder how people can afford to run equipment.

Thanks,

Tim

It's all about what you do with it. Stuff like our big Self propelled forage harvesters cost upwards of $250-$300/hour with most of that being depreciation. Service life of one of them is only considered 4,000-5,000hours due to their conditions they are run in. Most are on their last owner at 4,000+ hours.

As for the older LS170s. They were tough and simple. We have near 10,000 on one right now. Put 9,000 hours of those hours on it within a few years time, but then retired it to occasional work. Engine at 6,000hours, turbo at 9,300. I couldn't believe that turbo lasted that long. Our workers start it at full throttle and shut it off at full throttle. Glow plugs also do not exist to them.

Our two other ls170s we have are also very reliable. Only problem we have is with the power attachment plate. Since we run in manure a lot, corrosion is an issue. So we relocate the box and solenoids to inside the right fender and re plumb all of the hoses. Costs a couple hundred bucks all said and done, but cheaper than all of the repairs. all of the problems that we have had on these two have been operator inflicted. We do replace enough fuel pumps, starters and battery cables(probably because we replace so many starters). But those are partly because our operators do not wait for glowplugs. Also replace a lot of the roll pins that hold the latch pins in.

Life of a skid steer really does depend on the operator and what you are doing. our LS180 was destroyed in only a few thousand hours, but that is because we used it for feeding back then. The thing is, most people just do get the hours on them. Farms scraping manure put the most hours on them it seems. its not uncommon to put 3,000+hrs per year on them.

As for the drive motors, with the tires on there is an allowable amount of rotation for the one tire before the other moves. 5/8" sticks in my head but i could be wrong. Just loosed the bolts on the flange and slide the axles apart from each other to tighten chains.

 

[wuntunearlybko]

Thanks for the response Monte, I was able to find and download a PDF of the service manual for my LS170. In it was a pretty good description of how to check the slack in the chains and adjust if necessary

any chance you would share the PDf or did you purchase it? just curious as i would like to know/have the reference as well.

thanks for helping if you can.
-cutts-

 

[tmc_31]

Thanks again guys for your insights, my skid steer has about 2500 hours on it now. I use it for all kinds of things, including grubbing mesquite, removing prickly pear, digging, spreading dirt and other material and like a fork-lift moving large pole sections and cross-arm assemblies around stadiums in my sports lighting business. Generally I am the only one that runs it. I hope that, with good and regular maintenance and a little luck, it will last out to 8000 hours or more. It may get 200-300 hours of use per year.

wuntunearlybko, I found the service manual for this at Trade Bit, it was less than $30.00. Here is the link.

http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/2417005-new-holland-ls160-ls170-skid-steer-loader

I am sure it is a reproduction, but it seems well done and complete.


Tim

 

[wuntunearlybko]

oh ok, awesome thanks. gonna order one today!

-cutts-