Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Got my computer fixed after 3 weeks waiting. What a pain. I did get my new undercarriage on though. That's a big job! I ran a tap through all roller bolt holes and track frame holes. I read somewhere it's a good idea to use blue lock tite on the roller bolts. I went to a couple places and all they had was red in a bigger size. Then I went to a big industrial supply to get some. We looked in the catalogue and I found exactly what I needed and they had everything in stock in all sizes. What I found was blue lock tite that was called service insensitive. What this means is that the lock tite will still hold even if there is some oil on the threads. I thought this would be ideal for roller bolts because I could use oil to clean up the threads with a tap and it would help keep the roller bolts from rusting in and the lock tite would keep the bolts from loosening on their own. The bolts were 1/2 inch and a guy at a Cat repair shop said I should torque the roller bolts to around 75 ft. lbs. which I did. I didn't use any lock tite on the track frame bolts but put those real tight because they were 3/4 inch bolts. I used all new bolts for everything. I torqued the master link bolts to 65 ft. lbs. as recommended but couldn't turn them a full half turn after torqueing. I did get them to turn about a 1/3 of a turn more like the track bolts are done. I used about a 3 ft. snipe on a 1/2 inch T handle. It was a cheaper T handle that was starting to flex when I tightened the master link bolts. I figured they should be tight enough and If I used a longer snipe, I'd either tighten then too much or snap them off trying to get a full 1/2 turn more like the Cat book suggests. For D6 and up Cats they say 1/3 turn more after torqueing so I think I'll be OK. I"ll check all the bolts after I put a few hours on the machine. Is it real critical if the idler is centered perfectly with the rails? It seems almost impossible to lign it up perfect with the blocks and shims on the outside of the bearing blocks. Glad I can come back on for some good advice. Dave
