My "new" D41S-3

[Sparffo]

Hi!

I bought a Komatsu D41S-3 track loader from Ireland, and i didn't get a manual for it, so now i have a lot of questions if somebody can ansver them

The machine looks good, but there where some surprices, of course when buing without trying it first...

I noticed that the reverse gear was sometimes powerless? when i put in 3R, the machine just stand still, i had to put back in neutral and then in 1R to get it moving at all:beatsme and sometimes it helps to drop the revs to idle to get the machine moving. could it be bad oil, or is there something expencive waiting to explode?

also the rear bevelgear oil looked like ice cream, maybe the machine has been swimming? :beatsme
I will now try to put in some diesel fuel with the "ice cream oil" and wash the oil compartment with that a couple of times before puting in new oil.
what oil should i use? i was thinking to put in some CAT TO4 in it.

if somebody has some literature for the machine i would be glad to buy it!

man the machine is othervise a dream to operate compared to the old MF3366 i have

My lovely wife Tiina had the chance to try the loader also :drinkup

 

[Aussie Nick]

Crikey Mate that machine has been in the wet alright. Even the gearbox oil out of my Johnson Evinrude looks less milky than that after its hit the salt half a dozen times.
I don't like the idea of the diesel as the cleaning fluid. I would be more inclined to flush it out with some new gearbox oil. The condition of the oil might explain some of your troubles...... Unless of course some of them little peoples have got in there and are having a jig and a party.

 

[stretch]

Nice machine Sparffo...yeah, I would just replace that fluid entirely. Hope she turns out to be a good worker.

 

[Sparffo]

that machine has been in the wet alright. Even the gearbox oil out of my Johnson Evinrude looks less milky than that after its hit the salt half a dozen times.

I drained the rear end, i almost cried when i saw what came out...
First came about 60 litres of plain water, after that about 50litres of thick milk shake looking oil yogourth.:Banghead
After yelling some bad word i filled her up with 50litres of diesel fluid, run back and forth a couple of times and drained her again. i had to do that three times before the diesel was looking like it should when comming out.
Then i put in fresh CAT TO4 30W, and enjoyed the less grabby and a lot better steering clutches

to morov i have to do the same with the hydraulics, the oil in there is milky thick also...

I'm quite shure this mashine has been at some flood area or maybe even been under sea water of some strange reason

The 3 gear in reverse is completly out of power, and backwards up hill it will only go in first gear.
forward is quite strong, it will go in any gear up hill. Hopefully i have time to try it on some serious work tomorov, so then i know if it has power missing forvard also.
could the clutch pack be worn out?

here is a picture from the front, the D41 cab is on the right near the D7E

 

[JimInOz]

D41

I operated a D41S in the 80s...one of the best crawler-loaders I have been on.Smooth,quiet engine,good hydraulics & I really liked the round ripper beam.
Only thing I never liked was the long bucket lever...I prefer short levers.
If I were you,I'd go thru all the oils & filters.Maybe you'll need to run new oil for a short time,then renew them again.I'd also be worried about any bearings that have been exposed to moisture.
There are many aftermarket suppliers for Komatsu parts.Here in Australia,UKW are big in that market.I think there are many others.

specs... BUCKET:1.2 m
HP: 90
ENG: 6D105 Komatsu (6.49 Ltrs)
TRANS: Hydroshift
KMH SPEEDS: F..2.4, 4.4, 7.6
R..3.0, 5.5, 9.4

I have some cheap spare S6d-95 parts here...not sure if they fit.

Jim

 

[Dirt Devil]

very nice:notworthy

 

[Wolf]

what a sweet looking machine. what kind of buildings are you gonna demolish with that. want to see some kool videos of you wrecking with it, like the videos of you getting crazy trashing that old red house you did a while back.

good luck with the new toy.

 

[Aussie Nick]

How come no-one considered the "little Peoples" theory..............Well it is possible from where this machine came.:badidea

 

[Rusted]

Sparffo, that thing has obviously been underwater for sure..there could be problems ahead there apart from the transmission (I'd be checking that out before spending ANY MORE money on it).

Good luck.

 

[Neil D]

Sparfflo
Sorry to hear about your troubles with this machine-there's a few ground rules about buying anything from the emerald isle,namely the machine is usually bought out of England and flogged to some punter. This guy generally never services the thing prefering to literally drive it into the ground where upon it is consigned to a spot behind the hedgerows until some wheeler/dealer buys it for export or catches some other poor fellow!!!!

Now I am not saying every machine is like this but take it from me we irish like to get value for money !!!

Anyway I hope theres nothing too serious with your D41s

Neil

 

[Sparffo]

This is the company that has had the machine before me:
http://www.avsquires.co.uk/services.htm

besides a lot of other things they do river dredging...
that could explain why the machine has been under water:beats me

now i got really good pictures and information from the Finnish Komatsu dealer, so i can start trouble shooting the machine. on wednesday i will get the filters to it, so then i'll change the oil and hopefully it will start working with that.
If it doesn't, then i have to start measuring the pressures in the tranny, or i will do that in any case.
to bad they didn't have the filters in Finland, otherwise i could spoil my lovely wife's weekend by changing oils in this darn machine

some videos of the machine i uploaded to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=SparalOy&p=r

 

[Turbo21835]

Whos worried about oil, we need to be concerned about the welfare of the operator in picture #3 in the first post. Gonna need more pictures to see what kind of shape shes in

 

[Sparffo]

Whos worried about oil, we need to be concerned about the welfare of the operator in picture #3 in the first post. Gonna need more pictures to see what kind of shape shes in

LOL thank god she is in good shape, but her mental shape is weakenig when I'm repairing these machines all the time...

 

[indian347]

Loader

I hope you have that loader blocked when its up ! Not good to work under. The water may have losened the clutch plates. Nice tractor good luck. Jim

 

[Sparffo]

I hope you have that loader blocked when its up !

yes! I did put the safety block on the cylinder

now i have changed all the oils, filters and even put new nuts and bolts on the b*****d! :drinkup
all that after washing it 5 hours to get it clean... The sticky stuff was a real pain in the a.. even with the heavy duty steam washer, i had it at almost boiling point to get the dirt loose, and washed back and forth when the gum moved back and forth also... talk about frustrating...

I found some really scary things in the trans filter, it looked like it had rolled in a sand box, and there were probably quite a lot of sand in the oil also. I changed the filters and cleaned the holes as good as possible.
i found also that a hose fitting was leaking quite much, so some preassure has probably escaped there, i thitened the fitting.
now it has a lot more power in reverse, but is still not like it should be, could it be the hydraulic pump for the trans that is worn out? when cold it worked actually quite good, but after 15 mins of work it started to fade.
I put CAT TO4 30W in the gearbox, so it should be good.
with a little luck the pump could be replaced with a "pirate" version, i have to take the numbers to a local hydraulic shop.

here is some pic's from the project

 

[Sparffo]

The 4-1 bucket is a handy tool, here i used it as a forklift i built a bed to wrench on, before i have been working on the dirt and it really suck...
the amount of sand is quite scary! but there wasn't any metall or fiber in the filter, maybe it has been changed recently?

 

[Sparffo]

Here the oil leak really shows! if i hadn't washed it i wouldn't found that leak! the bolts that hold those flange fittings were loose.

I found some really handy lifting straps to pull up the belly pans with! they are called strapulls (?) and are like tie-downs, but with endless magazine. so it was easy to lift those heavy metal plates and put the bolts in place!