interesting undercarriage problem !

[junior]

hi. we want to buy a used 955L , and i found one at 10K $ , but there is something interesting. the left side undercarriage is tight ok, but in the right undercarriage is loosen, the upper side of the right undercarriage is fall down to upper roller, you can see it there is a peak on the carrier roller.(the right and left photos are below) .and i want to ask if it is a problem, maybe a serious problem, because i see the same in another machines too. so some machines have this. i wonder if it is a big problem maybe transmission or anything else. can you explain please.

and what do you think about that 955L and 955L machine generally. i can only find this models cheap in this part of earth. so is it a good choice.

and one more question, in here they say different pedal types are available for 955L's. one is from bottom (or base?)(i can't choose right word), and another one is hanging (or suspended? or overhead?)(again word problem) i hope i could explain the difference. and in here the second one(hanging pedal) is more desirable. what is the difference and why hanging is better. is it so important?

and my last 2 questions; how much fuel does it needs in one day(because again in this part of earth fuel is 2$ and is only for 1 liter, or nearly 8$ for 1 gallon. we use the most expensive fuel in the world, 70% of it is tax, so it is important in here). And for soft soil what is the approx. life of new undercarriage, how many hours does it last.

thank you. i am waiting for your answers. and please forgive me for my fool english. even i am ashame while i am writing, i can't imagine your opinion

 

[dirt digger]

looks like just a tension problem....

we have a 955L that is an absolute beast...very tough machine

the problem is...and it relates to your fuel question...it burns an ENTIRE tank in 8-9 hours, somewhere around 60-70 gallons, it is just not economical to run here in the states with the price of fuel, so she has sat for that last several months (its actually for sale for $13K if you want it)....pure power though, great machine...

 

[Komatsu 150]

Our 955L has the hanging pedals which is in later machines. My understanding was that it was one of the changes to make steering easier as the L does not have power brakes. They are great machines.

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Junior

Your track is just a little loose on the right side. Nothing a few pumps of grease in the slack adjuster will not fix. Looks like the idler is still back on the frame a little, so it should have plenty of room to move to tighten the track up.

You heard it above on the fuel. That works out to about 8 gallons per hour, and at the $8.00 you quoted, that is $64 per hout just to fuel it.
I have lots of dozer experience, but not so much track loader, but on that size dozer, a new undercarriage will go 4000 to 6000 hours, with proper care and maintenace. Tha last dozer I did close to that size was a D-6R, and it ran about $35,000 for a complete U/C job, new tracks, rollers, sprocket segments, carrier rollers, and idlers. That is for Cat parts.
You can get Italian made Berco, ITM, or others usually 40% cheaper, but life on them is about half in my experience.

 

[surfer-joe]

I ran the crap out of 955K's and L's back in the seventies and can not remember anytime that I ran out of fuel in a 8-10 hour shift. They were a nice little loader for digging basements, backfilling the same, and landscaping work including loading dump trucks. But newer machines are more fuel efficient. Still, you can buy a lot of fuel for the difference in cost between a 955K and a 953 or 963.

Undercarriage life always varies depending on what you run the machine in, but in general soils, the figures given in another post here are pretty close I think including replacement cost. As these are not a high speed long distance rig, the wear isn't that bad really. Having some slack in the track between the front idler and the carrier is completely normal. On this machine, you have to have a somewhat looser track because of the way the load is carried over the front. A tight track will wear faster. You get what you pay for in U/C components not only in direct cost, but in lower downtime and life. Buy Cat!

I'd say looking at your pictures that your undercarriage has a lot of wear already, but may still go for a while. The machine doesn't look like it's been beat up, though I wonder why the boom is supported in the up position and it look's like the bucket is tied back. Does this thing run?