How much to do on 931B steering clutches???

The shop has my clutches apart and wants me to go in to discuss how much I want to do to them. I'm getting the brake bands relined myself at another shop for $185 each and saving the mark up from the repair shop. The repair shop doesn't do brake bands themselves and sends them to the same brake shop. I guess if the clutches are totally shot I need to do everything but just wondering what is reasonable to do and what may a last a lot longer before needing replacement? I think I'll have a real good machine once it steers properly so maybe spending a couple thousand is a good idea? The couple thousand is just a guess as I have no idea what the parts cost. I know if I had to hire them to take it all apart and put it back together would cost a fortune so I've already saved a bunch getting them out.

I just pulled a set out of a D6D that need all of the discs (16 of one, 14 of the other), both brakes, as well as one of the hubs. Thankfully the brake drums are OK. That said, I contacted Offroad Equipment parts with a list of all parts needed to put it back together right. This includes all of the parts listed above as well as O-rings, gaskets, bolts and nuts to replace those corroded away, bushings/bearings and seals to rebuild the steering valve as well as the shift linkage, and a handful of bolts to replace those I had to cut to get the ROPS off. Their price on everything, which will be a combination of OEM and aftermarket parts, came in at just over $1800. The majority of that was the discs which were $31 and $38 each -vs- about two to three times as much from CAT. They wound up totaling $1038. Too, the inner drum that I figured would be high as a kite wasn't but $120 from them. I know it would have been at least 3 to 4 times more from CAT, if not more.

I've used their parts for years as they have always beat everyone else, and thus far have never had an issue with anything I got from them. Like I said earlier, what they sell is a combination of OEM and aftermarket. If they have the surplus OEM parts you get that, if not they will get you aftermarket. Below is a link to their site.
Offroad Equip Parts

Sorry, I hit the button to review and then hit the post button instead of going back to the text with my last post.

What I meant to include was that in your situation it's always a good idea to replace at least all of the friction discs. Each disc, the frictions and the steels have an allowable thickness range. Often the steels will be OK, and can be used, if they haven't been slipping and turned blue. If they have then you need to replace them whether they are the right thickness or not. The same holds true for the friction discs as overheating them is just like overheating brakes, and will cause the material to crystalize. Something else to check is the length of the springs that provide tension on the clutch pack. There should be a minimum length on them. Typically they are OK, but if you've had problems it always pays to check them anyways.

Beyond that, look at the brake drums both on the inside splines and the outside brake surface, as well as the inner, splined hub that the discs stack over. If the splines are worn on either part where the discs ride against them, then they need to be replaced too. What happens is the discs will bind up in the worn spots and not engage or disengage properly and cause you problems, usually resulting in the clutch slipping (ie-staying partially engaged or disengaged depending on what your doing) and causing the overheating damage I described above. Externally, there is a minimum diameter on the brake drums too. If they are worn/grooved, but within spec diameter wise you can sometimes have them turned/trued about like brake drum on a vehicle. Usually though it's cheaper and easier to just replace it.

Beyond that, just remember, it's a long way back in to get to them so repair/replace anything that looks right now like it might need to be replaced soon even if it looks 'OK" right now. In other words, don't skrimp....or it will come back and bite you in the a$$ later on and wind up costing you more $$$$$ than it would to do it right the first time.

The drums are OK and some of the friction discs are up to spec but springs are a little below spec and most of the steel plates are badly pitted. He said the bearings on the clutch seem good. I said to go ahead... so next week I need to rob a bank. $2500 in parts for aftermarket and then about $1700 for labor. OUCH!!! Oh I need a few other small parts too along with the new brake bands for $185 each! Way more than I could have imagined but should have a really good machine when it's back together. Even the balls and sockets for the clutch arm are replaceable. The foreman at the shop said a lot of the rust could just be from condensation over the years. I read that Cat put some kind of rust inhibitor in later model dry clutches but nobody seems to know what it is. Is there something that would inhibit rust in a dry steering compartment? I don't want to have to repair this again.

It sounds like you've done pretty good on the parts, given what all you needed. Labor wise your not hurting too bad either. Unless I run into something I haven't planned on, I figure I'll wind up with $1500 to $2000 in the D6 I'm working on by the time I get all of the individual parts rebuilt and then everything back together.

I haven't heard about anything CAT did other than using what, to me, looks like an iron oxide paint to help with the corrosion. Every housing I have opened up has always had a rust red colored coating that looks to me like the iron oxide primer I've used for years. I do know ZEP makes some stuff called Ironclad that is a really good rust inhibitor. We once sprayed it on a housing that had been sandblasted and then set outside. Several years after the fact there was still no rust on the housing. The stuff dries slightly tacky, but is stable so it doesn't run off. Still they say it will still 'flow' once it's sprayed so if it gets scratched, etc it will flow back out and recover the spot. I don't know how the stuff would work in an enclosed compartment like that, but I would imagine as long as it's not on any of the moving parts that it would work for a long time. Beyond that, rust and corrosion from lack of continued use was always a common problem with the dry setups. About the only sure way to keep it looking good is to insure everything that can be painted has a good coat of paint (or use POR which is a really good rust inhibitor), and then just use it as often as possible to keep the rust off the pieces that can't be protected any other way.