Cat 955L won't run

[hot_rod_eddie]

Reviving old thread. I never did get the 955 running. CAT wanted to charge me $1300 for the "non" repair but settled at $800. I asked them what were the next steps in troubleshooting and they said cut the oil filter to see if it had metal shavings. Kinda peed me off since they never verified fuel, charged me $800 then went straight to blown engine. I figured they didn't want to mess with it again. After a few months I had a guy with a big excavator pull the loader of the creek and to the top of the hill.
Then I spent about 6 months building a bridge across the creek.
Two months ago I found an ol' timer that supposed to be able to fix the loader. He came out to check and the starter wouldn't work. I torn down the starter and the Bendix fork housing was full of mud, not letting the gear to throw out. Fixed that and checked starter on bench. Worked great. Installed starter and it was making a god awful grinding noise. Spent a month scratching my head and checking the starter again. Went out this morning to check dimensions on the flywheel teeth depth, etc. Well, found my problem. I can turn the teeth ring with my fingers. Apparently filling the flywheel housing with mud, trying to start it 1000 times then letting it sit for a year isn't good.
SO - still don't have a running loader, and now i have to fix the flywheel before I can get back to troubleshooting the fuel issue.
Sorry for the long post, but it has been over a year.
BTW- does anyone have tips on repairing the flywheel.
Here is a pic of the bridge I built to hopefully prove I'm not a total idiot.

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Starter

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Fuel system

 

[DMiller]

So is the Ring gear rotating ON the flywheel? If is then it is likely going to need a Flywheel besides a replacement ring gear. Pull coupler to trans, drop all the drive components from rear of engine and full flywheel out, if Ring and Flywheel turn together then may be broken crank.

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Yep, I can turn teeth ring with my fingers. Flywheel stays put. I was hoping I could just take out drive coupler for access and not have to pull motor. Put wrench on drive coupler and flywheel and front pulley both turn, so crank is fine. Thanks for the input.

 

[DMiller]

Should clear pulling coupler
Ring will be split if that loose

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Hey guys - I just realized that I never updated this post.
I had to take the engine out to replace the flywheel.
I sent the engine to an old timer mechanic to fix a few things and find out why it wouldn't start.
He found a bad fuel pump and a few other things.
Sent the fuel pump for rebuild and bought some miscellaneous parts including a new flywheel ring.
When I got the fuel pump back ($2500) the mechanic started fixing the bad rear main seal and found the the crank was broken.
So much for my first foray into heavy equipment.
Bought a used engine from local yard and installed. Removed old engine June, 2022. Installed new Nov 2022
New engine has been working great for a couple years.

 

[Cat977]

Any idea how the crank was broken?

 

[AllDodge]

When I got the fuel pump back ($2500) the mechanic started fixing the bad rear main seal and found the the crank was broken.

Geezers thats a bummer. Did you pump the rebuilt pump on new motor or just going to sell it?

 

[DMiller]

At least found all the problems up front, and the machine IS being used.

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Any idea how the crank was broken?

Best guess is that the bad rear main seal let in water and mud (remember it was stuck in the creek). Pull the pan and it had what looked like oil mud in it.

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

Geezers thats a bummer. Did you pump the rebuilt pump on new motor or just going to sell it?

I kept the rebuilt pump. The pull out engine works great. Starts in 2 seconds, no ether. I have 60 acres and tons of "projects". Saving pump and old engine just in case

 

[hot_rod_eddie]

At least found all the problems up front, and the machine IS being used.

Yep, and with the price of these machines on FB, I am still good if I ever decide to sell.

 

[Welder Dave]

With the crazy prices of any new equipment I think anything older in semi decent shape has also gone up in value. You want $10K for a 30 year old skid steer? Well, you could buy a new one the same size for $60K+. You can do a lot of repairs for a lot less than $50K.

 

[DMiller]

Have not seen a New decent sized skid steer for less than $120, plus attachments.

 

[Welder Dave]

I was thinking of a 1300lb. rated machine like. 753 or maybe a little bigger 1845. Haven't paid much attention to new prices since I couldn't afford them. I was shocked at the price of new welders. Unbelievable!