John Canfield
Senior Member
Now have 15 hours on the machine and I'm getting more used to operating it but still a long way to go.
I've been aware of keeping a close eye on the track tension on a new machine (or with new tracks I suppose) but I wasn't going to check the tracks for another ten hours or so. I stepped on the track when I left he cab and it was loose - whoa, that ain't right. I added grease and got the tension correct and checked the other side which was fine. Something didn't smell right.
Rechecked the tension about an hour later and it was loose again, it probably drooped another 1/2" . Earlier in the day I heard a loud BANG from the machine, got out and looked around and all seemed okay. I thought maybe a rock got caught in the tracks somewhere and that was the cause of the noise but now I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the track loosening up.
When I was messing around with track tension I found another zerk I missed greasing yesterday, it was one of the pins on the boom-stick joint. It had the gray factory grease on the zerk (my grease is red) so that's how I could easily tell it was missed. Anyway My Milwaukee 18V grease gun could not force any grease in the zerk, even running on high mode. Never one issue greasing any of the other zerks on the machine. Any ideas here?
I wouldn't mind fixing it myself so I would appreciate any ideas you guys have.
I've been aware of keeping a close eye on the track tension on a new machine (or with new tracks I suppose) but I wasn't going to check the tracks for another ten hours or so. I stepped on the track when I left he cab and it was loose - whoa, that ain't right. I added grease and got the tension correct and checked the other side which was fine. Something didn't smell right.
Rechecked the tension about an hour later and it was loose again, it probably drooped another 1/2" . Earlier in the day I heard a loud BANG from the machine, got out and looked around and all seemed okay. I thought maybe a rock got caught in the tracks somewhere and that was the cause of the noise but now I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the track loosening up.
When I was messing around with track tension I found another zerk I missed greasing yesterday, it was one of the pins on the boom-stick joint. It had the gray factory grease on the zerk (my grease is red) so that's how I could easily tell it was missed. Anyway My Milwaukee 18V grease gun could not force any grease in the zerk, even running on high mode. Never one issue greasing any of the other zerks on the machine. Any ideas here?
I wouldn't mind fixing it myself so I would appreciate any ideas you guys have.