955K track adjustment

Pete1468

Member
I blew a seal out of my track adjusting mechanism. I'm having problems with the jam nut on the spring. The nut won't turn at all and I'm guessing that I have to have it compressed to take the 4 bolts out to repair it. Any ideas on what to do next?
 
you need to get that nut loose--heat, penetrate, and what ever
you can use the track and a pin in the sprocket to collapse the spring but need the nut to hold it compressed
 
I don't know about a 955K but if it has hyd. adjusters, I don't think you need to do anything with the spring. I think the spring just acts like a big shock absorber once the track is tight. Loosen all the tension and just take the track adjuster apart. You probably have to take the idler off to have enough room to take the piston rod out.
 
You can leave the spring alone if the front pilot that the adjuster is in is securely held down by it's anchors. Just split the track. Unbolt the idler extension from the adjuster and slide it forward. Then pry the cyl forward. If there isn't enough room you will need to unbolt the track frame at the hard bar and the inner rear then lift the machine with the bucket to get it out then back in .
Later Bob
 
Go with what Bob is telling you, you do not want to mess with that spring. Once the rod through the center is broken, corroded up, etc the only safe way to remove the spring is to cut it multiple times to relieve tension, and take it out in pieces.

That said, I believe the 955 and 977's both have basically the same setup so all you need to do is follow what Bob says and you shouldn't have any problems. Good luck.
 
Wayne--I feel it is a lot less work to just collapse the spring if it gives you enough room to unbolt and remove the adjuster as long as the bolt and the threads are functional--rather than split the track and slide the idler forward and more if necessary
 
Your right, collapsing the spring a little bit, and taking that asembly out is the easiest way to do the job. Thing is I've worked on equipment all of my life and have yet to see one of the capture bolts that was usable after 20 or 30 years of use.

Once the bolt is rendered useless by corrosion, or whatever, then the operable word becomes cheapest, not easiest. In that case, the cheapest way to do the job is what Bob stated. Doing it that way your worse problem would be some broken bolts that, fortunately, are large enough to remove easily....and a few bolts costs alot less than a recoil spring assembly.
 
I hear ya! I guess I have been lucky and haven"t seen as many as you--I reused my 1957 D2 bolt, 1972 941B bolt and 1986 D3b bolts---but I certainly did a lot of inspection and checking of the bolts before I removed the spring assemblies
 
I think the biggest difference in the way I look at things, vs the way others look at the same problem, is that I always have to look from the standpoint of cost to my customer.

When I'm working on things for myself I will often do things one way because my time isn't really costing me money, and I might be trying to save a part instead of paying for it. For me it's worthwhile, but when I'm doing the same job for a customer I've got to justify that the time I am spending is going to be cheaper on the customer than going another route that's going to cost them in parts, or vice-a-versa. I mean it doesn't make sense to me to spend $300 in time trying to save a $200 part for a customer (unless it's an old part that can't be replaced), but to me, personally, the $200 saved is $200 saved.

For a job like this the capture bolt could probably be saved and used on many of the machines I've worked on. Thing is it would usually take me several hours to get the nut freed up, or cut off. The, time to get the threads cleaned up enough for use, then time and mileage to go pick up the new nut/parts, plus their cost, etc, etc, etc. Then there's always the chance that after taking all that time there's a thread that won't clean up, or whatever, so things still don't work quite as planned.

Doing it the other way, like Bob was talking about, can usually be done pretty fast, expecially if you don't have any (or many) broken bolts to contend with. So, barring alot of broken bolts to deal with the cost for me to do the job that way would typically be the less than any other way, and with fewer variables that could drive the cost way up when things don't go as planned.
 
I have grease inside of the spring. The bolts that hold the adjuster to the idler rod are pretty tight against the spring. I don't think I can get them out.
 
They are bolts and nuts, take them apart and force the idler ahead as far as you can. The piston with seal is just inside and you might have room enough to pull it out with channel locks. If the seal on it is bad this might be as far as you need go. If the seal looks good you will likely need to replace the cyl. That will require the extra work I said earlier.
Later Bob
 
Wayne I started to wade in last night but kept quite after thinking about it all night I just had to comment. I have probably done over 200 in my life and can not ever think of doing one or being around one where they used the bolts and compressed the spring. I think it is just standard procedure to break the track. Anyway I think you fellows convinced him not to mess with the spring. Good to hear from you.
 

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