How NOT to change track adjuster spring

[wagspe208]

OK, I am a do it myself sort of guy. A guy who never says quit. At times that does not serve me well. Oh, well.
So, I cut the old broken spring out. Cut half the coils, it came right out.
I figured hell, I don't need a big ass press.... I have a high lift. I took a stump, put the one end of the assembly on the stump, lowered the bucket on the other end with some square tube in betweeen the teeth. Had the GF on the high lift working the bucket. I was holding the spring assy to line it up. No dice. It lifted the front of the loader off the ground. Well, I just need more weight. Scoop a heaping bucket of dirt, back to line up. Same deal. F me.
Ok, call a buddy... he has a 20 ton press. Set it all up. The press had been abused to say the least. Well, we are getting close. The rod is almost through the plate. 1/2" to go. The press starts looking like it is stressed. I look at my buddy... F it he says. Annother crank on the press BING, POW. LOL Bent the press. Spring just fell over. Plate went about 15'. Done! (we were off to the sides, so the spring could not hit us)
Plan C ??
I hate to have it done. Hell, I just need a big press. I'm not scared anymore. ROFL.
Suggestions?
Thanks
Wags

 

[koldsteele]

Them things will hurt ya ....I got a battle scar to prove it...
I usally carry mine to Road Machinery and let them colapse it...not sure how they do it but its not as expensive as my Life ...

 

[wagspe208]

I thought "how hard can it be"? Lol, let me tell you. Pretty hard I guess. We worked as safe as a dangerous and foolish task could be. After we had all our fingers and toes, we laughed.
Wags

 

[Lee-online]

We used to do them in out 150 ton upright press but after a few near misses we got a recoil press bench just for this purpose. It is a Cat press that we got for cost and it still cost $25K

Worth every penny. We do recoils for all our branches now.

Take your parts to your Cat dealer and they will assemble them for you. Should only charge you 1/2 hour or 1 hour at the most.

 

[AllDodge]

Gald it didn't turn out with a "hold my beer and watch this". Glad to know everyone made it through, large springs scare the heck out of me

 

[willie59]

I'm a fairly knowledgeable person, and have a pretty good feel of how to work on precarious things and do it in a safe manner that I can walk away from when I'm done, but there is no way in hell that I would mess with those things without the proper equipment. Money ain't everything, and I know when it's time to spend it with a qualified pro. Just Wow!

 

[wagspe208]

I went to a bigger press today. Just not enough travel. Was about 1" short. Oh, well. To the equipment guys it is. It was a 30 ton press. They said their other shop had a 100 ton press.
Thats big!
Gald we did not die! HA
Wags

 

[rare ss]

what size machine? you need the right gear for the job its the only way with them

on another similar topic i guy walked into our workshop one day with an dissassembled spring brake chamber from a truck asking how to put it bak together
we were like how the f&%k did you get it apart???
he then told us we knew it would go against the chassis so it wouldnt matter.. crazy stuff

 

[alrman]

This reminds me of a story also, I forget why we had to do it now, but we had to swap a recoil spring on a Cat 939C - below is a page from the service manual - see step 10, this is the last step in procedures to remove the spring - "just remove that nut" - to those without any knowlege it may be the last step they ever take!

We put this thing in a press with a pipe around the outside of it to help control the spring - that spring extended about 6-8" past the rod! I called the local Cat dealer & said there was a bit of a safety problem with this service manual - I suppose nothing was ever done about it...........

 

[wagspe208]

Yea, the "remove the nut" line is more dangerous. People would have no idea how much energy that spring has in it. At least I am almost as safe as a 20 year old cat book. ROFL
Wags

 

[mitch504]

what size machine? you need the right gear for the job its the only way with them

on another similar topic i guy walked into our workshop one day with an dissassembled spring brake chamber from a truck asking how to put it bak together
we were like how the f&%k did you get it apart???
he then told us we knew it would go against the chassis so it wouldnt matter.. crazy stuff

Us old guys(I'm really not) remember when it was normal to replace the diaphram on the spring side just like you do the service side. All you did was use the caging bolt like you are releasing the brakes; It wasn't until the '80s that they stopped making all the spring side clamp rings just like the service sides. They did it because of idiots that didn't cage the spring first.

 

[diggin02]

I don't know for sure but I would guess Chartrand in Red Bud would be able to get it together for you. Those guys like to do things cheap anyway. I see you are from Waterloo. I'm over by Carlyle.