Flying Bobcat....a few pics from work....

I just downloaded a bunch (300 to be exact) of pictures off my phone tonight. Until I started looking at them on the big screen, I hadn't realized all of the stuff I had pictures of over the past year. So, I thought I'd share a few of the better ones so ya'll can see some of the stuff I work with and/or around every day.

I tried posting captions but the wording didn't post. So, here goes again.

Pic one is the flying Bobcat. It was brought to me dead, and sitting on a flatbed. The only way to unload was to give it a little pick-me-up, which I was happy to do.

The second pic is part of an attachment that rips engines out of the cars at a big salvage yard. The grease worms had been eating on the pivot holes, and the bearings had shattered letting them eat on the main body of the piece. So I had to bring it home, add some meat back, and then rebore the holes back to size for the factory bushings. I usually do this kind of thing onsite, but it had to be done over their Christmas break so it got to live with me for several days.

Next is someone's idea of a jacked up truck seen at the same salvage yard. thankfully the rig will soon see the engine ripper before it had a chance to kill anybody.

Fourth is proof that algae will grow in a hydraulic tank just as easily as it will in a diesel tank. This is the first time I have ever seen it happen in an oil tank. It was so bad the pumps couldn't pick up the oil as the crud had the suction filters stopped completely up. The cure is the same biocide that's used in diesel fuel, should you ever run into a similar situation.

Fifth is/was the sprocket off a 850H Case dozer. Not much to say except they got the goodie out of this one...LOL

Lastly the dozer the sprocket was on. The machine got both new sprockets, new bottom and return rollers on both sides, and new rails. The only thing reused was the old LGP pads. I found the easiest way to get the old pads off the rails, and get them swapped to the new rails was to pick them up with the crane and get everything at a good working height. Hot wrench and hammer off, and then all new bolts going back. Start to finish took me about 40 hours total to do sides, working completely alone from start to finish.

NCWayne: Your a skilled fellow. I like seeing what others are fixing.

I have never seen a dozer sprocket that worn.

Thanks you for the pictures!!!

That looks more like a pie plate ! Sprocket..... where is it ? LOL ! Talk about running til destruction, must have slipped like heck, I've had sprockets slip every so often when things are well worn,, thats incredible and must have accelerated wear on the chain, pins/bushings ?

Very interesting, Wayne--I like reading your posts, and often learn something from them, so seeing actual pictures some of your projects is also interesting and instructive. Gotta agree that the sprocket was getting pretty close to the end of its useful life, LOL!

Slipped like heck is an understatement. Where they had it parked originally was directly under a run of high tension electric wires so I had to move it, and turn it 90 degrees to get it where I needed it to be to work on it. It took me nearly 15 minutes of moving forward and backwards to ever get the machine turned and moved maybe 30 feet. With no teeth on the sprocket at all, that side didn't even want to hold enough to use the other track to turn, much less do any pulling itself.

That is something, I'll be it was hard to move, I've got 115,000 volt lines here and part of a field is under the low spot, I sure as heck hate being anywhere near those lines for any amount of time, though they only hang low when its hot/humid, then you look at the tower and the distance from the steel frame, insulators, appears that there is plenty of distance. My father dug a pond under the darned things with the D7 and overhead cable LeTourneau ridge beam dozer, I look at that everytime I pass and just cringe. I held my rifle at port arms, probably a bit higher, November, cold weather during hunting season and I can get a blue spark to jump from my finger to the trigger guard !!!! Last time I crossed under with my D7, I went up near the tower, lines are way up high. I see 2 splices on that section and in between those giant butt connectors, is what I believe to be a graze mark from a bullet, I even showed the power company rep when they were here, has to be one or 2 strands severed, think thats why I hate working down there, to their benefit too, as I keep it cleared.

I have to admit I do too, when I was a full time operator, anytime I could, I would assist the the guys that do the work like Wayne does, with the service truck, mounted crane, often times they really needed an extra hand. I used to live by the Cat dealer in NJ, and would get parts for them often, on the way up to the shop or yard, then help with the work, it was fascinating to me, from being an operator, to see what make these machines work, they'd tear down some of them quite a bit and in what seemed to be no time at all, they just knew what they were doing, sure was fun in those days, just to help.

Those are great pics. Those make my maintenance projects look easy. But then again, you have A LOT bigger tools too.

Keep the pictures coming.

Rick

I've heard of flying pigs, but never a flying Bobcat!