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Cat 951-C in my sights
- Thread starter Nitelite
- Start date
Nitelite
Senior Member
The trees that might hurt you are all laying on the ground now. A bit of chain saw work remains to sort the logs and dispose of the stumps and tops. I need a bit of firewood for a wiener roast for the grandkids anyway. I had a track chain slip a tooth a couple of times while in a real hard strain while backing up and turning. I did work the machine really hard and it surprised me that there was a tooth slip at all. It has a new track chain, sprocket rims and new pads. The spring is in good shape. I think that I might need to check the track and make sure that the linkage is adjusted correctly. The machine is a power shift, pedal steer. I think I need to make sure that the track clutch engages before the track brake is applied. That track has also loosened a little more than the other side but not excessive. I have not adjusted the tracks since I replaced them.
Now its time to follow up with bulk pushing with the dozier. For some reason I can't down load pictures from my smart phone to my computer. When I get that problem solved, I will post pictures.
Now its time to follow up with bulk pushing with the dozier. For some reason I can't down load pictures from my smart phone to my computer. When I get that problem solved, I will post pictures.
If your rails , sprockets are new your track has to be loose. My 43 lost a track adjuster and with loose tracks the sprocket will load up and jump. Even with little to no load. If your adjuster is leaking (is it hydraulic?) , If you fix mine I'll fix yours in exchange.
Nitelite
Senior Member
Yes Dickjr. the adjusters are hydraulic and I resealed both sides when I replaced the track chains in mid 2015. I think that maybe the new chains wore in with a little use, one more than the other. I just did not really notice it until it slipped. The new chains and sprockets only have maybe eight hours on them at this time.
I have been keeping up with your threads, sounds like you are having some of my kind of luck lately. Are we having fun yet? No deal on the i'll fix yours, you fix mine. From the sound of some of the posters like GI yours is a lot more work than mine. Where in Ky. are you? I go up to Fort Campbell often and sometimes to Grand Rivers.
I have been keeping up with your threads, sounds like you are having some of my kind of luck lately. Are we having fun yet? No deal on the i'll fix yours, you fix mine. From the sound of some of the posters like GI yours is a lot more work than mine. Where in Ky. are you? I go up to Fort Campbell often and sometimes to Grand Rivers.
Nitelite
Senior Member
I have thought about final drives, but the tractor has to be under a tremendous load to slip. I'll tighten the tracks to specs and see what happens. I would cringe at the thought of replacing the final drives on the machine. I am thinking that if the recoil spring compressed under the right kind of load while backing up a steep grade and turning, the chain might be able to slip a tooth. Is that possible?
Nitelite
Senior Member
Pictures
Now I finally got pictures!
Most of the clearing done
No big trees left that might hurt me
Quite a bit of dirt to move to get to grade and level a pad for the shed. I figured on drilling for the post but judging from the hardness and rock down that deep it may have to go on a concrete slab.
Now I finally got pictures!
Most of the clearing done
No big trees left that might hurt me
Quite a bit of dirt to move to get to grade and level a pad for the shed. I figured on drilling for the post but judging from the hardness and rock down that deep it may have to go on a concrete slab.
What seems to happen from my experience , the sprocket segments will load up and the chain will "bunch" up somewhat and when it unloads it pops and when reversing it feels like a slip. I am using GI's method to remove my track frame. Believe it or not , I put my idler and rail together at 3 this afternoon , came to town got the lowboy picked up the 43 brought it to the shop and almost got the track frame off by 5:30. Broke some bolts but I plan to heat and melt was like Nige has suggested many times before. This forum has saved me a lot of money and I thank the folks for the help. This is my living. There have been times I thought about cashing out buying a bicycle and hitting the road.
Nitelite
Senior Member
The old gal
Right track looks a little loose, but not enough to slip!
Before I use it again i'll adjust the tracks.
This is the left track. Not quite as loose as the right side.
She is just waiting for me to get some time for some more work. Up on top of the hill to her left is where I am working. I am intend to take out the hill to level with where the machine sits now. There are some small leafless trees sitting on the bank out ahead of the bucket. I will start to terrace the hill about there.
Right track looks a little loose, but not enough to slip!
Before I use it again i'll adjust the tracks.
This is the left track. Not quite as loose as the right side.
She is just waiting for me to get some time for some more work. Up on top of the hill to her left is where I am working. I am intend to take out the hill to level with where the machine sits now. There are some small leafless trees sitting on the bank out ahead of the bucket. I will start to terrace the hill about there.
Nitelite
Senior Member
Yea, really dusty too. We could use a little rain. This dryness will get the air filters in a hurry. If you got all of that done today, you had a good day. I burned the entire day forming, welding, and making brackets to add some powerful LED lights on my Honda pioneer. 40" LED in the front and 5" LEDs on the back. I still didn't get the wiring done but I am close. It should come in handy lighting up the area wherever the machines are ready for lubing and fueling etc at the end of the day. I sometimes tend to work too late.
I am about thirty five miles from Franklin Tn. Franklin Ky is maybe 60 miles or so.
I am about thirty five miles from Franklin Tn. Franklin Ky is maybe 60 miles or so.
Nitelite
Senior Member
Toying around again, this sort of stuff is why I don't get much real work done!
My project to add the lights to the Honda Pioneer, the rear LEDs
The front 40 " LED. overhead shop lights and the reflecting flash makes it hard to see.
It will be in a Veterans parade tomorrow. My daughter and grandkids will be in it. I will drive my M151-A1 Vietnam era military jeep pulling two tandem trailers with 26 bales of straw for riders to sit on. I can carry up to 54 people.
These are the brackets that I needed fabricate in order to mount the front light.
It don't look like it would be all that complicated and time consuming to come up with those brackets to mount the light, but it was for a simple minded fellow!
My project to add the lights to the Honda Pioneer, the rear LEDs
The front 40 " LED. overhead shop lights and the reflecting flash makes it hard to see.
It will be in a Veterans parade tomorrow. My daughter and grandkids will be in it. I will drive my M151-A1 Vietnam era military jeep pulling two tandem trailers with 26 bales of straw for riders to sit on. I can carry up to 54 people.
These are the brackets that I needed fabricate in order to mount the front light.
It don't look like it would be all that complicated and time consuming to come up with those brackets to mount the light, but it was for a simple minded fellow!
Nitelite
Senior Member
Thanks for the post Hobbytime. I spent most of my life dirt poor as most of us were back then, now that I look back at it, we didn't know that we were poor. Most work available back then was manual labor and it took some good old common sense to get by, along with a little imagination and ingenuity. Now days it is called tinkering with something that should have been thrown away a long time ago. I have never thrown away anything that was still half way good, and I am not about to start now.
In 1997, a friend and I had heart attacks and we both qualified for heart transplant. I elected to repair and keep what I had while my friend elected to go for the new heart. He got his new heart but has been gone three years now and I am still tinkering. There is a lot of satisfaction in using that has been given new life. I enjoy what ever time that it is that I have left.
In 1997, a friend and I had heart attacks and we both qualified for heart transplant. I elected to repair and keep what I had while my friend elected to go for the new heart. He got his new heart but has been gone three years now and I am still tinkering. There is a lot of satisfaction in using that has been given new life. I enjoy what ever time that it is that I have left.
DMiller
Senior Member
My Dad taught me the starters for being a mechanic and some carpentry, Grandpa on his side did some too as they had grown thru the Depression having little and making do with discards from others. I went to Tech school directly after my military service then off to work for real for a living buying tools, saving odd bolts/nuts/scraps of machinery that most have come in handy over 40 years working. I can relate to tinkering to make something work a little longer or bringing back to life. My old Allis does the same with rail snapping and popping, I dare say in a straight line is not an issue but when I turn and back up it is the wear on my pins and bushings that is showing as the rails will ride up the idlers. My old machine needs much more re-work than yours, enjoy as long as you can playing in the dirt as we get older my friend I will continue to tinker until my hands give up.
Metalman 55
Senior Member
That's a nice looking 951 Nitelite! I wish I had a ROPS like that on my 941. Once I get through my bucket list of repairs, if everything else is OK on it, I plan to look for a used ROPS for mine, if I can find one for a reasonable price.
Nitelite
Senior Member
I would be willing to wager that guys who own the newer machines may like their machine, but to own an older machine one has to actually love it.
Have a good Veterans day Miller! I went to welding school on my GI bill.
Have a good Veterans day Miller! I went to welding school on my GI bill.
Nitelite
Senior Member
If I am not the only one who experiences the loud popping sound, like a tooth slipping when in a strain while backing up, i'll just live with it and get used to it. It really does not make sense that it could jump a tooth because it would have to jump several at one time, not just one. It would be nice to have someone on the ground watch it when it actually happens. Dickjr's explination sounds about right, the thing about loading up and bunching at the sprocket. I'll just adjust the track chains, ride it, and just smile when the old gal complains about the novice operator by popping loudly! Then I'll promise, one more time, not to put her in that kind of strain again. Thanks guys!
Nitelite
Senior Member
fuel leak fix
I can't be the only person on this forum that is tired of the pesky fuel leak at the transfer pump/ hour meter location on a D-330 or 3304 Cat engine. I rebuilt the transfer pump and replaced the hour meter last year. It always continued to drip from the hour meter. Here is the red neck fix for good.
Remove the hour meter, two bolts with 5/16 12 point socket.
Clamp meter in vice, do not crush. Use hacksaw to cut case from meter as shown, just behind the rim.
remove and discard the guts including the shaft. Thread the shaft bushing with 1/4 fine thread. screw a short bolt into the hole with a gasket or o ring behind the head. make sure that the bolt does not protrude beyond, so as to interfere with the pump shaft.
Bolt the part back to the machine.
Go play in the dirt and put a new hour meter on your wish list, way down on the bottom of the list.
I can't be the only person on this forum that is tired of the pesky fuel leak at the transfer pump/ hour meter location on a D-330 or 3304 Cat engine. I rebuilt the transfer pump and replaced the hour meter last year. It always continued to drip from the hour meter. Here is the red neck fix for good.
Remove the hour meter, two bolts with 5/16 12 point socket.
Clamp meter in vice, do not crush. Use hacksaw to cut case from meter as shown, just behind the rim.
remove and discard the guts including the shaft. Thread the shaft bushing with 1/4 fine thread. screw a short bolt into the hole with a gasket or o ring behind the head. make sure that the bolt does not protrude beyond, so as to interfere with the pump shaft.
Bolt the part back to the machine.
Go play in the dirt and put a new hour meter on your wish list, way down on the bottom of the list.
Is your track still jumping? What does the manual say about track tension if you have it? One thing the spring loads and unloads but we have to consider wear on the rollers and idlers to see why its jumping. From the pics it does not look loose , but the manual may suggest otherwise. Can you get someone to get on it so you can watch it back up and move forward. I've been looking for a weekend get away this might work. I don't mind working on equipment as long as someone else is footing the bill.
Nitelite
Senior Member
I don't know that it would do it while someone was watching, but maybe, if I really tried to strain it while backing up in the right situation. It don't do it all that often. When I hear the track pop I can look real quick and actually see the tension recover in the top of the track. Imagine this, if the spring got under a load and compressed enough for the track to slip, after the slip and the loud pop, the spring would return to its full length. From the seat looking down at the track you would see the track quickly stretch back out as it recovered.
I have considered a final drive slip, if that were the case, in my reasoning, there would be no visible recovery of the track tension from the operator seat that I can think of. Your idea of the track bunching behind the idler or sprocket makes sense to me.
My front idlers look good to me. One of my front single lower rollers has a chip broke out of an outer flange but I can't see that causing a problem. I'll post some idler and roller pictures when I get the chance.
Yes, that might make a good days road trip for you or you and the Mrs. and I just might spring for a steak dinner pop or no pop. I am always glad to meet another person whose blood runs thick a upon the sound of a Caterpillar engine firing up.
I have considered a final drive slip, if that were the case, in my reasoning, there would be no visible recovery of the track tension from the operator seat that I can think of. Your idea of the track bunching behind the idler or sprocket makes sense to me.
My front idlers look good to me. One of my front single lower rollers has a chip broke out of an outer flange but I can't see that causing a problem. I'll post some idler and roller pictures when I get the chance.
Yes, that might make a good days road trip for you or you and the Mrs. and I just might spring for a steak dinner pop or no pop. I am always glad to meet another person whose blood runs thick a upon the sound of a Caterpillar engine firing up.