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Looking HARD at purchasing a 100T portable track pin press......anybody use one and have thoughts??

Monkeywithawrench

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
281
Location
New Hampshire
No I haven't ran into those kind of troubles with one yet. I've used this style pump many times in different applications and my only troubles have been only a leaking pump. They are expensive right at $3,000 but they are quick!
I have fought many a battle with GFCI's and extension cords running through snow, mud, etc. I HATE IT!!!!
Yeah, the electrics are faster.............air is more reliable (my opinion.......and experience when its wet out).
I have a Miller Airpack and my hydraulic driven compressor on the truck. Chances are one of them will work for me. I really hate playing find the fault when I want to use a tool. I even hate it when I'm chasing a wiring harness.
 

H621

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
59
Location
Cascades
I definitely can't argue on reliability your right on that. If you too get one of those adjustable blocks it is very tempting to leave an impact hanging off the adjustment bolt.... don't do it. Your noggin will thank you sometimes I just have to learn the hard way!
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
I've got one just like H621, had it for years, the older I get the better I like it, had to reseal the cylinders this past summer, have two pumps for it, an electric and an air operated pump, both came with the press I bought used many years ago.

I also have an assortment of hydraulic gear pullers that came with the press used at the time, along with a host of hollow bore cylinders, cylinder spanner wrenches and enough stuff to fill a small enclosed car trailer at the time, used every one of them over the years and looking back, the best money I ever spent and also remember everyone thinking and saying at the time I needed to be committed to a mental ward for buying it all..................today is another story, I've heard hundreds of times how great it was I bought it all and how cheap it was now looking back on what I paid.

Standing there holding the button while you press out or in a master pin or anything never gets old. The older one gets, the nicer it is to use hydraulics to do most everything, the whole hold the button or pull the lever to transmit tons of power to save wear and tear on your body, is the only way to go.

Great purchase and just remember what you paid for it, so in 30 years from now you'll get more for it used than today price new is, pretty much how things work out in the end, especially good quality tools.
 

H621

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2021
Messages
59
Location
Cascades
So is there a locking feature on the other side of the block?? Keep it from see sawing back and forth if you pressed down on the end of it?? I kind of like the positive locking action of the come along. I can see me tripping or stumbling and reaching for the end of the press and WHAM!! bad things happen..............blood, cussing, fussing, more questions about life's choices, etc. LOL
Sorry it took me so long to post but here's the ordering info. 20221208_192123.jpg 20221208_192123.jpg
 

Monkeywithawrench

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
281
Location
New Hampshire
Sorry it took me so long to post but here's the ordering info. View attachment 274455 View attachment 274455

Nice!! Thank you for looking that up and posting it. Looks like they are about $800.

MRO supply lists a LR2000 but it looks like an engine leveler.
https://www.mrosupply.com/hydraulic...O4gCU8bYJAfHm0iBWGG8HWxxYH9wl1WhoCdiwQAvD_BwE

These guys show a pic of the chain leveler.

https://www.gghyd.com/cylinders/flo...team-load-rotor-2000-lb-upc-662536001298.html

But they both have the same model number "LR2000". Gonna have to make some phone calls later this week.
 

Monkeywithawrench

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
281
Location
New Hampshire
So I got called to work on a 580K to reseal some pistons. Home owner borrowed it long term from a 'friend'. Bucket piston and outrigger piston needed to be resealed. The Home Owners son, who is quite handy (his words, not mine); tried to do it. Pin on the front bucket cylinder stuck in there good. He couldn't get the bolts off from the front. There is nothing left of the bucket on the front. The pin on out rigger was mushroomed on both ends from beating it cold with a sledge hammer. I did the front piston, used 1/2 a tank of oxy/acetylene heating the pin up to get it to move. Had been really hoping to get both done in 1 day.............NOPE!! Went home at end of day, loaded up track press. Showed up next day.......grind, grind, grind.......got one end un-mushroomed. Track press on...........7k + psi to break the 1.5" pin free. Gotta get a max pressure indicator gauge for the pump.
upload_2022-12-14_19-43-57.jpeg

Every time I use this I remember how much fun it was to HEAT and BEAT the pins.........and how sore I was the next day!! I added $300 to the bill for popping that pin out..........after trimming the mushroomed ends.
upload_2022-12-14_19-46-38.jpeg

And they decided that since I was there.......this was first thing on the first day...........Hey, would mind resealing the boom cylinder to?? Since your here.........
I had to explain to them that I don't carry seal kits for every color and variety ..........that they need to be ordered. Next week sometime........and now I'm remembering next week is almost Christmas!!! Oh boy.......
 

Simon C

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
663
Location
Rocky Mountain House , AB., Canada
Occupation
Heavy Equipment Mechanic
A press is a very handy tool. But some presses don't fit or if they do fit they are not strong enough to push or pull the pin out. I learned a technique for burning out hucks on rail cars 35 years ago . I have since removed many a 6 inch by 1.5 to 3 inch diameter pin with a plain Oxy-Acetylene torch that uses a special technique to get a hole completely through a 6 inch pin. Whether I make it right through or not there is so much of the pin center missing that a fast chilling with cold water will shrink the pin greatly. I have tapped out many with a 4 pound hammer that 50 tons would not budge. I will see if I can draw a picture that explains how it is done. The last one I did with just a torch, The shop foreman and welding foreman were ready to cut out a large section of the frame on a grader to get it out. I had it out in less than 30 min., with this technique and there was lots of big eyes.
Learned the technique in Transcona Welding Shops of C.N. Rail in 1984.
Just a couple small tricks to make it successful versus a failure.
Will see if I can post the procedure on the weekend.
Simon C
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
Gas lance is what many refer to them as.

The portable pin press also works great as a portable press for anything else, we made a plate adapter for the end, so we can press bearings off of shafts in the field as well once the shaft is off whatever it is on. It was a bear to handle, but using a crane with a basket on the end of the cable, we hoisted it up over 80 feet to then hook it to a stuck bearing on the head shaft of a grain leg because we could get new bearings, but the not the holder the bearing was in, so we had to press it off the shaft far enough to cut the balls out of the bearing and not light the belt in the leg on fire, or start the corn in the leg on fire either. That took a slotted adapter we cut with a torch to fit on the end of the press so it slid over the shaft so we could then press the bearing out away from the housing about six inches or so, after we worked a half a day to get it away from the housing about an inch to fit in my cut adapter plate, wasn't pretty, but worked great once set up. Not sure the manufacturer even thought anyone would hoist a track press over 80 feet in the air in order to use it though.

The pump also works great to prelube and make sure all the oil galley's are open and working when we overhaul engines, just hook the port a power hose up to the oil galley on an engine once its assembled and flip the engine over, take the pan off and you can see as you start the power unit up, if all the rod and main bearings are lubing like they should, along with all the rockers, also done this a few times when engine in machines I've bought had too low of oil pressure, before tear down we flipped the engine over and took the pan off, hooked the port a power up and discovered that one of the oil holes for the spray lubers was too large, shooting a large diameter of oil stream and once fixed, brought the oil pressure back up to normal operating pressure again without having to overhaul the engine, [hence the reason why the prior owner sold the machine, he didn't want to overhaul it].

The air pump we use all the time on my shop press, we made a hydraulic cylinder holder that fits my press, used a junk long cylinder, think maybe 30 inches long or so that sticks up above the press and once in, we can then shove in one push, key way broaches all the way through and have a two way air operated hydraulic cylinder. We then made another adapter to fit a shorter larger bore cylinder to it for a standard press cylinder using the same air pump for the track press to power it, built a small sided platform for it to set on at one side of the press and also remove it to use with all the hollow bore cylinders I have, that way if someone is using one power unit, we can keep going with the second air unit that came with the track press setup.

Hydraulics are literally the best invention ever designed to save a person's back and body.

The only issue we've had with the air operated pump is when it gets cold out, the silencer screen and filter will frost over and plug up and it then the pump won't work, to remedy that, we just unscrew the filter/silencer and let it bark, but have to use ear plugs instead, also had it on a few occasions, where the air lines and pump itself would freeze up due to frigid weather and be unusable and then we'd have to swap out and go with the electric pump instead till warmer weather came back or else you need a space heater aimed close enough to the air pump to keep it thawed out and working, much like any air impact wrench.
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
Nice set up and good work. I gotta say though............if a customer of mine saw me with that kind of set up trying to save a $50 pin, they would flip. My torch set up has that out in less than 5 minutes. I do the same with rail pins. It's always nice to have those kinds of tools for sure, but the expense versus the reward has never been that narrow in my world.
 

Monkeywithawrench

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2019
Messages
281
Location
New Hampshire
Exothermal lance, slice rod, brocco rod............some trade names for the lance.
Worked on an ocean going tug, commercial diver.......still have my gear for underwater cutting and welding. After all.........what is a commercial diver?? Just someone who does it under water!!! The Brocco rods are coated for working under water........any Brocco rod/ Slice rod is basically a small diameter iron powder pipe. Lit with electrical current with oxygen being fed to promote through 100% oxygen.........my mind is failing trying to describe the process.........but thats it in a nutshell.
I have slice rods...........this is sitting on the guys lawn......in pieces. And I guess he's particular about the grass. Spilled some hydraulic fluid and he had a coniption about the grass is going to get ruined. I mentioned burning a hole in the pin with the slice rod..........oh my, how will we protect the grass?? Why the f**k did you take it apart here then?? Is what I asked.
Oh well.............new pin and burning up the lawn were not cost efficient for him. Grinding the mushroom end and pressing were. And after I got it out..........this was the home owner "See!! Now you don't need to order a new pin!! You can just use the old pin." (ohhh boy!!)

Randy.................I learned something today!! Never occurred to me to put the hydraulic pump on an oil gallery!! I've plugged them into 1/8" pipe thread or put a grease coupler on them to blow out and open up clogged grease fittings before. Never thought about engine oil gallery........makes perfect sense. New TOOL FOR THE MENTAL TOOLBOX!! Nice!!
I've made up plenty of 'special wrenches' out of plate for rudder post nuts or prop shaft nuts. The tug I was on swung 88" stainless steel props, 5 bladed on 10" shafts.

The son had called me around Thanksgiving about doing this. I told him to give 3-4 weeks. Last week he texted about being hot and bothered because I wasn't jumping on this right away and getting it done. I thought they might need it for a job. Front bucket is junk........all rusted out.....not saving it. They have no plans to work it..........maybe in the spring. Took it apart on the lawn. Plenty of places off the driveway in the woods to work on it. I don't know. Then they are asking about replacing all of the hydraulic hoses. I don't mind the work..........but please put a plan together of what you want. Oh well...........it's money.
 

Simon C

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2015
Messages
663
Location
Rocky Mountain House , AB., Canada
Occupation
Heavy Equipment Mechanic
As vetech63 said how many jobs will it take to pay for these expensive tools. If i can do it with a torch or lance, that is good enough. Customers just want it fixed without all the bells and whistles. Exothermic lances work well , but sometime they will not fit where a torch will. If a guy gets the grease or as much as possible out before burning, it always goes better. Need to have a large size tin or steel plate on the ground to catch the melting pin puddle because if it lands on concrete it will pop very badly.
Handy to have someone standing behind you at 5 or 6 feet away directing air at the back of your head to stop the glasses from instantly fogging. Need good leathers and a water hose to quickly chill the big hole just put in pin to shrink it.
It can be done very fast if organized with good torch and tip and sufficient gas and oxygen.
Few of my tricks.
Simon C
 

simonsrplant

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
554
Location
Alberta CANADA
Occupation
Heavy Duty Off Road RSE
Lots of reading...
My two cents worth.
100tons isn't enough.
I've used a 150ton c frame style pin press and it struggled doing 30-40ton excavator tracks.
I don't doubt that that tonnage is capable but in some instances struggles.
I have the WTC 250 ton press.
Bought used at RB auction then spent a bit on tooling.
Couple things I'd like to share. WTC are a great outfit to deal with. Very helpful. The 250ton press is hideous in every angle except ability.
It's a two crane job and is better to have two pairs of eyes with developed brains behind them.
The more links you press the better you get and develop a system.
I've got it down pretty good now.
Good luck with your decision.
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
I've pressed many pins out over the years, not to save the 50-250 dollar pin, but to save the three weeks downtime while waiting for new pin to show up, and now with covid 19 a part of new lives, more like the six months waiting for the parts to show up might be closer to the reality of it, not to mention spending days on the phone trying to even find anyone who might be able to get it at all.

Broke an excavator pin last year, think I posed questions about it on HEF here as well, turns out its discontinue due to covid I was told, basically hasn't been made it years, so got the whole BS story about needing a newer machine, fine, how much is that pin for a brand new excavator, that same cylinder pin, totally stunned the parts and sales guys as to why I wanted, it, since it didn't fit my machine asked them again, how much is it and how soon I could get it..........turns out, it too wasn't available and couldn't be quoted a price. Now that puts a whole new spin on that concept of buying a new machine for parts availability doesn't it, shut them all up right then and there, so I told them, maybe I'll go buy a brand new different brand excavator and do the determination by if that shaft for their new machine could be bought new...............turns out I tried that too and no that cylinder pin couldn't be bought for three other brands of new excavators either, all were on back order as well or not available at all and all blamed it on Covid as to why the parts couldn't be bought new, for their brand Took months to even get the shafting to make the pin, because the bulk shafting itself was on back order and everyone blamed it on covid.

The days of just ordering the new shaft or pin and getting next day are over around here, and to have a machine shop make the pin, depending on the size takes a lot longer as well, as they say torches are faster to disassemble anything, but in the end, might end up costing the most when figuring downtime and parts unavailability so cost effective has a whole new meaning the last few years, didn't think I'd ever view it that way, but I guess the world is changing and maybe not for the better in many ways. Never thought I'd ever say myself, wait a second, can the new pin even be bought and if so how long will it take before you just torch it to pieces, or worse yet, just let it slop about six more months and when the parts finally do show up, we'll worry about it then. New age thinking I guess for a simple old problem.
 
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