HD16DC track adjusters

Hello.

Per my previous posts, I am going through item for item on the HD16 I picked. My first large piece of construction equipment. I have an Oliver 1855 tractor (98)HP, a Bobcat Skidsteer 855 (78)hp and a smaller JD 855 compact tractor (25)hp for mowing and small jobs. All have been brought up to spec and running great.

1. On the 16, the first thing I wanted to do was to get the track adjusted properly. Left side was not not bad and the hydraulic adjuster was not showing any piston exposed so I know I have plenty of adjustment available. However it was frozen up and I have been working slowing on it to get it freed up. I now have about an 1/8" showing telling me I am in fact moving something. I also heard what I assumed was the Idler breaking lose not he truck.

2. On the right side, an inch of ram is showing meaning they at some time adjusted that track but seal staring to push out grease and ram not moving so it too is froze. I also am showing a little bit of the rear adjuster where it rests agains the track release spring. Pics showing what I have been talking about. I am picking up a 10 ton porta power and going to try to push against the metal housing of the rear track release housing, looks pretty sturdy and see if I can push the idler arm yoke forward and free it up. Then, if successful, my thought and hope is that the current adjusters will have enough of a seal to hold the track adjustment in place. Feel free to comment on my thought process. The first two should be the right side with the ram exposed an inch and the second is the same side but where the adjuster pushes against the large spring and is showing about an 1/8'.
The third pic is the left side track. Started to get it to move and letting it rest and the end that goes into the release housing with the large spring is flush and not showing any sign of movement.

Thank you.

Yup got that DMiller. When I started no fittings would take grease so rather than heating them up and rolling with them, I replaced all 4 fittings. Got both sides to accept grease in the fittings that keep out debris and grease the seals. On the one side that has just started to start to move the left, that seal is holding pressure so far so i am putting small amounts of pressure on it each couple of day.

The other side, has grease coming out around the seal when pushing on the adjustment fitting so I stopped on that one. The other end looks like its not pushing against the release spring as you can see a small bit of that exposed.

A work in progress of sure DMIller. I have gone a little crazy on a multitude of posts the last couple of weeks and I will tone it down till I make some major progress.

Thanks for responding. This is a great site and have gotten a lot of information and advise thus far.

Here's another thought. My track adjusters moved ok when I first got my 7g in '11. Rarely if ever had to add grease after some initial 'bedding'. Now tracks are tight, real tight probably from mostly sitting for a few years with little activity. I'll remove the grease zerts and drive it a little to loosen everything up, then re-adjust. Probably need to drive it a bit during a rainstorm. Water is a great rust dissolver. My thought on unpickling an old tractor is maybe if the rams aren't fully retracted, try to let them retract {into a hopefully greasy area instead of jamming the seals into a rusty bore area}. And seeping out some grease here and there ain't necessarily a bad thing. AS Dennis said, you'll probably be adding grease here and there for a while till everything gets loosey-goosey.

No need to remove zerks, takes a 3/4" socket once you dig the mud from around the shielded adjustment fitting, back that out a turn or two and the grease will ooze out, slotted in the threaded area. These are dry pin/bushing tracks, a little water won't hurt, too much and you intensify the issues.

Edited by DMiller - 05 Sep 2017 at 6:02pm

DMiller wrote: No need to remove zerks, takes a 3/4" socket once you dig the mud from around the shielded adjustment fitting, back that out a turn or two and the grease will ooze out, slotted in the threaded area. These are dry pin/bushing tracks, a little water won't hurt, too much and you intensify the issues.

  OH, that's just too easy......and deprive myself of looking through every tool box I have trying to match the size and depth of that 50 year old zerk that originated on a Merlin engine during the Battle of Britain?.  Actually, that's (yours) a good idea because the grease behind the zerk can also be concrete by now.