Slack adjusters on tracks?

[Truckie]

Slack adjusters on tracks?

Yesterday I tried to grease my tracks and take some slack out of my tracks and had no luck.:Banghead
When you put the grease gun on the fitting and start pumping in the grease you get 2 pumps in but they are real hard and the 3rd one it just blows out of the fitting on the grease gun. I checked the fitting on the machine and it is not blocked as far as I can tell. It is clean and you can even push the little ball in on the fitting. I tried moving the track and then pumping the track up with the same results. I even had someone in the machine and move the track while I tried to pump the grease in and no luck. So I am assuming the grease fitting is bad. I already looked up the part number and am ready to order new ones Monday morning.
What is your take on this. Anyone here ever had a problem like this before? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks. Mike
The machine is a Link Belt 240 LX it is a excavator.

 

[Squizzy246B]

Slack adjusters on tracks?

Yesterday I tried to grease my tracks and take some slack out of my tracks and had no luck.:Banghead
When you put the grease gun on the fitting and start pumping in the grease you get 2 pumps in but they are real hard and the 3rd one it just blows out of the fitting on the grease gun. I checked the fitting on the machine and it is not blocked as far as I can tell. It is clean and you can even push the little ball in on the fitting. I tried moving the track and then pumping the track up with the same results. I even had someone in the machine and move the track while I tried to pump the grease in and no luck. So I am assuming the grease fitting is bad. I already looked up the part number and am ready to order new ones Monday morning.
What is your take on this. Anyone here ever had a problem like this before? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks. Mike
The machine is a Link Belt 240 LX it is a excavator.

I'm assuming the track was lifted clear of the ground...anyways, seized adjusters are not uncommon but start with the basics. Unscrew the grease nipple and plug it into the grease gun and give it a pump.....if that works then you are looking at the adjuster.

 

[Wulf]

It could be that the idler/track tensioner piston is seized in the bore. Material may have gotten past the dust seal and rusted the piston.
You could try switching the fitting from left to right before ordering one.

 

[Deas Plant]

Slack adjuster problem.

Hi, Truckie.
This may sound like a dumb question but is there any more travel left on the adjusters? It wouldn't be the first time that tracks have become so worn that the adjusters have just plain run out of travel.

 

[richardcatdaddy]

subject

The first problem I see is,its a Link Belt,they are known to have a ajuster lock up.All the grease in the world wont help it.If you have more adjustment in one than the other you may just have a piston seized up and can fix it with some work.If its not taking grease at all it could be something as simple as a a bad fitting,or worse.Hopefully not worse,worse usually means expensive repairs.Best of luck to you.

 

[Truckie]

I'm assuming the track was lifted clear of the ground...anyways, seized adjusters are not uncommon but start with the basics. Unscrew the grease nipple and plug it into the grease gun and give it a pump.....if that works then you are looking at the adjuster.

Yes Squizzy the machine was jacked up and the track I was working on was off the ground by at least 12 inches.

It could be that the idler/track tensioner piston is seized in the bore. Material may have gotten past the dust seal and rusted the piston.
You could try switching the fitting from left to right before ordering one.

Wulf That would not surprise me a bit at all with all the mud and dust we work in. in the winter months it spends 90% of its time in sloppy water or mud.

Hi, Truckie.
This may sound like a dumb question but is there any more travel left on the adjusters? It wouldn't be the first time that tracks have become so worn that the adjusters have just plain run out of travel.

Deas Plant I checked the slide movement and called my mechanic and that was the first thing he asked me. On the idler in the center where it connects in the center and the slide is there is about 5 to 6 inches of travel left.

The first problem I see is,its a Link Belt, they are known to have a adjuster lock up. All the grease in the world wont help it. If you have more adjustment in one than the other you may just have a piston seized up and can fix it with some work. If its not taking grease at all it could be something as simple as a a bad fitting, or worse. Hopefully not worse, worse usually means expensive repairs. Best of luck to you.

Richardcatdaddy I hope that is all it is, is a bad grease fitting. This machine only had 2,000 hours on it.
I have a Link Belt 290 LX with 8,000 hours on it and just 2 weeks ago we had to rebuild a slack adjuster and replace the seals in the piston.


I hope and pray it is a bad grease fitting.
Our one so called mechanic who could not find his azz with a road map and help said it is full of grease and that is why it will not adjust. If only it was that simple.

 

[Lashlander]

Did you try to slack your track a little. Open the bypass bleeder and push your idler back. Then try to tighten it. Sometimes that will break them free.

 

[ROV Tech]

There is some good ideas above posts

I have seen rocks jammed, stop a idler coming out. So check for rocks.
Another one I have seen was the idler slides were so well worn, that the push arm on the track adjuster went up at a angle and jammed on the track frame. However this was a different machine, not familer with what you have.

Duff

 

[Truckie]

Thanks for the great advice guys. Tomorrow I will finally get a chance to take a close look, been way to busy this week.
I was talking to one of our other operators and he told me to jack up the side I want to pump up but to barley take the track off the ground. He said he had a similar problem with his machine doing this. He thinks the slack in the track might be pitting pressure on the adjuster causing my problem. So I will try this and check out what you guys have posted.
Thanks. Mike