Track question

[wingnut]

I am just wondering if its ok to lube tracks on dozers ? Will it help or hurt ? :beatsme

 

[Bandit44]

I would think unless you have something frozen up it would hurt because the oil or grease will attrack and hold the dirt and grit and cause more wear on the parts.

 

[wrenchbender]

I agree with Bandit44, no lube on dry track systems.

 

[wingnut]

I am glad I asked before I did something wrong . Thanks guys !

 

[LonestarCobra]

We used to run them thru a mud hole to shut them up if we could. I hated those dry tracks. We called them "Squeak Tracks"

 

[EZ TRBO]

A few years ago before heading to black river falls, wisconsin for some four wheeling, I was getting my quad ready to go and checking everything out. First time going up there and my cousin called me and said whatever you do, DO NOT oil your chain. The soil is very sandy up there and it will stick to it like glue. Figure same being said for track chain, enough dust and dirt get in there so no need to add some oil for it to stick to more. Great question.

Trbo

 

[John C.]

There is no way you can put oil or grease on the tracks that will do anything good or bad. Tracks are sealed or sealed and lubricated. If they are sealed and lubricated the oil is inside the links. Sealed tracks are put together with belville washers that seal the dirt out. If dirt can get into the links it because they are already worn out.

So the real question is why would you even think about it?

 

[EZ TRBO]

There is no way you can put oil or grease on the tracks that will do anything good or bad. Tracks are sealed or sealed and lubricated. If they are sealed and lubricated the oil is inside the links. Sealed tracks are put together with belville washers that seal the dirt out. If dirt can get into the links it because they are already worn out.

So the real question is why would you even think about it?

Great point John. SALT and ST tracks. Although some might think that the squeak is comming from where they can see(the spot where the two links intersect).

Trbo

 

[bill5362]

Well by reading his post (Wingnut) and the animation at the end I would have to say he wasn't sure and was wanting some help for others that might have the the answer. Some people that operate a specific machine for long period of time and get put on a different piece of equipment may not know everything the first day when in comes to specific maintenance and or the normal operation.

Wingnut as stated in the post above your tracks links could be worn out. But I have also seen some pads loosen up and cause some squeaks, usually very high pitched. Do you have any idea of the life left in the under carriage?

Bill

 

[wingnut]

Thanks for all the replys and advice guys . As you can tell , I am new in the dozer world and have questions that will be popping up from time to time , so bear with me as I learn the DOs and DONTs of being a dozer owner/operator and mechanic .
Bill 5362 , When I bought this dozer (1964 IH TD-9) the prev.owner said that the under carriage was about 750hrs. old :beatsme. They look like that they are in good shape (will post pics and get yalls oppions tomorrow, I am not a expert , thats why I am bothering yall Till I learn) But lack of operation had some links froze (sitting for several years) and I used oils , jacks , and hammers to free them up (2-3 years ago) and fixed the old girl up and put about 200hrs. on it since. But again , its been sitting up (blown engine) so I thought that it would be prevent-maintianance to just keep then lubed as I use it (when I get it going again) to help them stay freed up , but it looks like if I do that I will be asking for trouble . Thanks for keeping me on the right track guys ! Wingnut

 

[bill5362]

Wingnut, no problem you can post any question no one is born with the knowledge we ALL had to learn sometime. Definitely post some close up pics of the undercarriage, the chain links, front idlers, bottom rollers, and the rear sprockets. As a rule of thumb I would say you should be able to get 1500 to 2500 hours out of the undercarriage on a dozer of this size. There are a lot of variables, how much backing up you do, soil types, and so on.

Sounds like you have gotten the old girl in working order again, amazing what a little maintenance, and TLC will do. Sitting and not being used is very hard on these machines epically out in the weather.

Bill

 

[maddog]

I agree sometimes setting is the worst thing that can happen to these types of machines. Maybe it's "ole mother natures" way of pay back for digging her face up.

 

[wingnut]

Here is one of the dozer , and some close ups .[ATT[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]ACH]39524[/ATTACH]

 

[wingnut]

heres some more

 

[wingnut]

I am in the middle of doing a heart transplant on her , that explains the blue tarp . I took a D282 out of it and putting in a D301 . cant wait to get it pushing dirt again .

 

[hardtail]

Your U/C looks to be in good general condition.......I doubt these are sealed tracks or SALT, siezed pins and bushings seem to occur from long sitting, an old timer once said what seized em will free them and recommended parking it in a shallow creek overnight to free up the rust. Now there is logic there but not everyone has a creek handy You can try running them on a hard surface and I doubt you'll get going very fast from the pounding if they're stuck at bad angles. Some never seem to free up and about the only way would be to press them out on a trackpress.

 

[John C.]

Your photos seem to show the pins as being solid on the ends which indicates they are sealed tracks. From what I see they are in good condition. You have plenty of clearance between the rock guards and back of the track pads, the sprocket teeth have lots of width across the tips and the bushings don't show a lot of wear. It's too bad the motor shotgunned as it appears there is plenty of machine left.

Those tracks are not made using a lot of the high tech materials one finds in today's undercarriage. The bridging is really rust bloom inside the links between the inside of the bushings and outsides of the pin. The stuff packs in tight and won't let the link rotate. You see it nowdays in excavators that have been around salt water.

Hardtail is correct in his statement that they will loosen on their own and if not the only way to free them is to press that pin out, clean everything up and press the link back in.

Good Luck!