Dresser dozer

Eldo case

Member
I am a mechanic with a son that is a welder. We don't know much about dozer tracks but have done allot of equipment work and welding. My question is my neighbor has a Dresser dozer that he says has sealed pin tracks. What ever that means. He says that they are a bear to drive the pins out of. He wants to pull out a link because he is out of adjustment. Anyway instead of driving out pins he want to have us to cut a link out and weld it back together. He said aligning up the bolts in the pad would be the hard part. Is he blowing smoke? Should we stay away from this job? I am not too crazy about doing this job. A 60 year old man don't really need this kind of fun. My son that is a welder could use the money and I would be willing to use my shop and help him if this is worth doing. Help me out please. Thanks for all the information in advance!
 
The pins are sealed in oil. If you get them out you need to get oil back in them or use a bushing and pin for a dry track. If he needs a link out it is true that there are big problems in the undercarriage as it won't tighten up any more.
I'd let him get new parts, it'll never be right doing it his way.
DWF
 
With SALT tracks I'm going to make a guess that they have alligator links for the master and that's the reason he wants to just cut a link so the alligator link will remain undisturbed. That said if a link is to be taken out then it will need to be done by a shop with the proper tools to do the job.

If you were to cut and try to weld a link, in an attempt to do the job on the cheap, all your doing is asking for trouble. What's going to happen is the first time the man gets that track in a bind the welded link is going to break apart at the weld and the track is going to fall off. I say this because track chains are made of a hardened, cast alloy and typically do not take weld all that great. Over the years about the only thing I've ever seen welded on a track chain is the alligator master link itself. Usually thye run a bead right down the joint to help hold it together when the bolts break. The way they are made all the weld is really doing is keeping the alligator teeth together so it's not taking the full pulling force applied to the track like a cut and welded link would be doing. Even so, I've seen just as many of the welds cracked and nearly broke as I have welds that have lasted any length of time.

I could say more on the subject but if I were asked to do this I wouldn't do it, and would strongly recommend that the customer not even attempt it because he'll wind up worst off than he already is when the welded link fails.

That said, the other posts saying that the track wear indicated that everything was worn out and removing a link still wasn't going to really solve the problem is also right. However, if it were a set of standard unsealed tracks, and the guy was just using the macine for occasional, personal use, then it could be done. Still all that would do is cause it to wear the rest of the remaining parts faster but with little to no use, it wouldn't be a real issue. The main issue here is that a welded link simply will not hold up.........
 

Eldo,

What we have here is a misunderstanding
of terms. Salt tracks are sealed and lubed
tracks. Sealed tracks are not sealed and lubed,
they are called sealed because the bushing
extends past the narrow part of the link that
it is pressed in and into the pin boss of the
next link therefore not exposing the bare pin.
The master link has a short bushing and has
a spacer on each end that fits into the recess
in the pin boss.
You will most likely destroy the link with
the short bushing as you must spread the sides
to remove it , then you must trim the length
of the next bushing in order to get it into
the master link.
Can be done and will run a while , but will
soon wear the points off of the sprocket and
then the sprocket will spin in the track.

george
 
Streigh up the guy is an idiot. In either case true sealed and lub track or conventional rails what he will have when you are finished is not worth the effort. Not that big a deal to dirve out a pin but ans the other poster have said the bushing is recesed you have to get over the also. Taking a link out to gain MAYBE 200 hrs is just not very productive but doing it the way he wants is surrly the hard way.
 
Dad and I did this with the TD8 once. Got him through the summer. Take the master link out, take the pad off the link next to it (either side), and then beat the next pin out. Seems to me we ran it back under the machine to keep it from moving and welded a freestall neck rail bracket onto a piece of old tractor drawbar to hold the piece of truck axle we were using for a punch in place. Then pull the sides together and use the master pin and bushings to put it back together. Save the spare link, if the rail measures within spec when he does the undercarriage he may be able to have it pinned and bushed and will need the links to put back in.

On salt tracks you'd need to knock out two pins and put one back in.

Let's face it, anything that the shortened tracks will wear is already shot as well and needs replaced. When we did this the sprockets were also already gone so we threw a set of them on. When we did the undercarriage we set them aside as spares, as they were worn but still serviceable.
 

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