MTL undercarriage repair

[ianjoub]

I wore through a hydraulic hose going to a drive motor. I had to swing the drive motor out of the way to get to the hose end. While there I decided to inspect the undercarriage. Oops, found a bunch of deferred maintenance and other 'issues'. I removed both tracks for the inspection, then ordered some parts.

 

[ianjoub]

New bogies and idlers (shafts, bearings, and wheels) including the mounting plates, new sprocket bolts, bushings, and rollers, new scrapers, wire wheeled the undercarriage, one coat of Ospho, and one coat of equipment black.

 

[ianjoub]

Question

What is best to lube the tracks for installation: Spray lube like liquid wrench or WD-40, dish soap and water, grease?

 

[Tags]

Looks like you did a real nice job with it! Spent a pretty penny on some parts too. When I would remove and r reinstall the tracks on my 287 I never used any kind of lube, unless sweat counts, just bars and a lot of effort

 

[Zewnten]

The soap to mount tires works really well or Dawn dish soap in a pinch, plus it'll clean off all the grease

 

[DIYDAVE]

Some lubrication can never hurt. Murphy's oil soap is what's used on tires...

 

[ianjoub]

I tried bead butter, dish soap and water, ended up with WD-40. 2 come alongs and a big pry bar was the magic trick for me.