New to me Cat 289D CTL

[Metalman 55]

I have been looking for a CTL for some now & just purchased this one, a 2019 Cat 289D with 420 hrs on it. Managed to get about 3 hrs of seat time today & am impressed with it's performance so far. Any words of wisdom of what to watch for as far as problems or potential maintenance issues?

 

[Tags]

Congrats, looks like a nice clean unit. Don't let it idle and run it like you stole it.....but grease it and maintain it like you own it

 

[Cpaine]

Grease the UC “axles” every damn time you start the beast. And as said before make sure you run it hard at lease once in a while to keep the DPF from loading up! Nice rig!

 

[Metalman 55]

That was sound advise Cpaine, as after running it a few hrs I did a complete greasing & guess what the lube points right under the final drives wouldn't take grease. It has warranty for so I contacted the dealer to take care of it. Likely whoever had it for the first 420 hrs didn't grease the undercarriage as faithfully as they should have...…………. We'll figure it out.

 

[Cpaine]

That was sound advise Cpaine, as after running it a few hrs I did a complete greasing & guess what the lube points right under the final drives wouldn't take grease. It has warranty for so I contacted the dealer to take care of it. Likely whoever had it for the first 420 hrs didn't grease the undercarriage as faithfully as they should have...…………. We'll figure it out.

My 259d had around 800hrs when I bought it. It needed the axles replaced because they were shot from not greasing. It’s a solid design but when they say “grease daily” on this grease point, it’s no joke! It actually needs grease daily or maybe even twice a day.

one thing you can try is a nice DeWalt cordless grease gun (or Milwaukee) with the 10,000 psi of pressure. Didn’t help on mine as they were shot but it’s a really nice tool that I use the poop out of!
Oh and when you forget to grease the axles for a day or two and they start to clog up it will help a ton!

I am curious as to how the dealer will handle the issue in warranty. Let me know.

 

[Metalman 55]

There is a little more to the story...……..I do have a Milwaukee cordless grease gun & I started with that, but it just dead headed right away & I couldn't get it off, so I had to take a pair of vise grips & a screwdriver to pry it off & ruined the coupler in the process, so I moved on to a hand gun where I could control the pressure better. I have been buying from the Cat dealer from a few years now (only rubber tired units before this one) so have considerable history with them & they said no problem with making it right, so we will see. BTW, I didn't get the bill for the unit yet, so have some leverage!! Will keep you posted!

 

[Cpaine]

Nice.

I have been there with standard grease couplers... this coupler is the only way to go.
https://locknlube.com/products/locknlube-grease-coupler

you will wonder why all grease guns don’t ship with one after one use!

 

[Metalman 55]

Ok, further development ……...the Cat field tech came out today to try to resolve the track frame grease problem & was unable to get it to take grease. He took off the cap, then the grease nipples, then took a small 3/16" diam x 10" lg drill & & gently drilled the grease channel out to clean it, but that didn't do the trick. Next step is for them to take it back to the dealer shop & pull the track frame on both sides & make it right. They were very apologetic that an almost new machine would get shipped out with that obvious deficiency. Brian the field tech was very helpful & said that once back it should be greased every 10 hrs of operation to prevent a reoccurrence. I plan to comply with that suggestion....

 

[Cpaine]

Crappy news but sounds like they are taking care of you. That’s what counts!

thanks for the update.

 

[Nige]

Brian the field tech was very helpful & said that once back it should be greased every 10 hrs of operation to prevent a reoccurrence. I plan to comply with that suggestion....

The O&M Manual quotes "Every 10 service hours or daily". If you use the machine every day, irrespective of whether or not it clocks 10 operating hours, I'd grease it. Then greasing it becomes a habit. A bit of extra grease in that location is not going to hurt anything.

On a different tack you do have an O&M Manual I assume..? If not then this foobarb would be the ideal opportunity to tap your Cat dealer up for one.

 

[Metalman 55]

Yes Nige, one came with it, tucked in the pouch behind the seat, CD format as well.

 

[Welder Dave]

Sadly it probably won't be as reliable as your MF135 diesel despite costing many times more and being 45+ years newer.

 

[Tyler d4c]

When I got my 279 the torsion pivots where clogged I un clogged them with the porta power pump you can give that a try if you like

 

[Metalman 55]

Sadly it probably won't be as reliable as your MF135 diesel despite costing many times more and being 45+ years newer.

Yes, that's correct, but that's the price we pay for modern productive equipment I guess.

 

[CM1995]

I love our 279's and the way they ride but you have to grease those pivots daily during normal use and twice or more when it's real dusty and your running it hard. We over grease those pins just push the dirt out.

Like Nige said nothing wrong with over greasing those pins other than the minor expense of extra grease.

 

[Reuben Frazier]

Grease the axles every 4 hours or you will pay dearly for it later on,

Go ahead and spend the $100 to keep a transfer pump on hand for a spare because it will leave you stranded one day I promise. I’ve never owned a D series cat that they didn’t fail on and it was always in a bad spot way away from the trailer.

Yes warranty covers them if you took it in but warranty won’t come drag it off the job site n haul it in lol so it’s a $100 PITA ins protection plan. I kept one on hand at all times before moving to the D3’s. The new models changed design and CAT was very aware they were a problem. It’s takes 15 minutes to replace so it’s really easy.
Like others have said they seem to give less issues overall when ran hard, they don’t like being babied to much and keep any debris away from the exhaust system otherwise your good to go

 

[CM1995]

Grease the axles every 4 hours or you will pay dearly for it later on,

Go ahead and spend the $100 to keep a transfer pump on hand for a spare because it will leave you stranded one day I promise. I’ve never owned a D series cat that they didn’t fail on and it was always in a bad spot way away from the trailer.

I have a 2016 279D and a 2019 279D both bought new. The '16 has 1500 hrs and the '19 has 600 hrs on it and neither one have had an issue with a transfer pump.

The only issue I've had is a drive motor on the '16 which Cat replaced under warranty, actually 2 weeks out of warranty. We had a series of bad oil samples so there was a maintenance trail.

 

[Reuben Frazier]

I’ve had 4 and ever one has gone out, maybe it’s the Texas fuel but everyone around here has issues with them eventually. Other than an engine mount breaking on one that’s the only problem we’ve had with the 19’s and older. Great machines

 

[Metalman 55]

Nice.

I have been there with standard grease couplers... this coupler is the only way to go.
https://locknlube.com/products/locknlube-grease-coupler

you will wonder why all grease guns don’t ship with one after one use!

Got one today!

 

[CM1995]

Got one today!

Our local Komatsu dealer has started carrying Lock N Lube products - no need to mail order.