'93 hitachi EX50 URG

I would say that mine was dry of oil for a long time too. When I took it apart the bottom two bearings and seal was shot, so any gear oil was leaking right down through. I would always added oil to the top through the dip stick tube.

Ok guys here is an update with my gears situation: Since I couldn't find any of the replacement gears at the dealer, I decided to get some made. I did manage to find a couple of the big bearings and the seal for the bottom at the dealer though. Through measuring and I determined the sun gear and the out planet gears are actually the same gear, just a bit shorter and with different bore. The gear is metric (of course) Module 2 - 27 teeth I found a guy in CT that can cut a pinion shaft long enough to cut out all 5 gears. Here is a pic of the pinion shaft before it is cut into gears and bored.

gears back from Hardening :drinkupHere is a pic of the gears back from the machine shop and ready to be sent off for hardening should mention the gears where cut from 4140 Pretreated tool steel. The next pic is after they came back from hardening - Plasma Nitride case hardening .015 deep - inside and outside ( because the bearing rolls in the inside bore

nice work the repair you have going looks nice... gratefully i am not stripped out...i did use the dipstick tube after all... i was told to check for a leak in the lower seal by inspecting the inner bearing grease for its condition ...this is where the gearoil would leak.. i was happy to see no problems...the plug for the bearing was found under a rubber round grommet in the floor of the cab next to the foot switch for the knuckle boom operation.. there should be about 1.5 lbs of grease in there...adding grease requires you to rotate the cab to at least 4 positions...alot of work maintaining these machines..cheers demonthones

Rush, those gears look great its been awhile but well worth the wait. Hi Demonthones welcome. I guess i gotta check mine out sooner or later. I have been greasing the turntable fittings every time i grease the machine. i wasn't aware of rotating it though that's a good point. So as i understand it, under the round rubber grommet on the cab floor there is a dipstick to check the gear oil. The base and underside of the machine are dry Good sign unless it been dry for awhile. i managed to find a isuzu motor book but still no manuals. cheers charlie

inner bearing hello captain.. and rush.. thanks for the greeting...i am refering to a plug with a big square head on it much like a sump draining plug that is under the grommet in the floor of the cab..this is to insert grease to the inner bearing(no nipple just a big hole)..a pound and a half is what should be in there..yepp added in rotations to cover all the bearing.. not gears.. this is a bearing race...that supports the rotation housing..massive bearing... the outer bearing is greasable from two nipples mounted on the outside of the outer bearing under the cab.. same procedure to rotate at least 4 times when you do it..i mentioned the inner bearing housing for rush to inspect because that is where the gear oil from the rotation gear housing would have leaked into when the seal failed..it must be replenished with grease and removed of sloppy gear oil if needed.. the gear oil would have diluted the grease and it may have run out...have a great dig

Charlie-I tried your email, but I got it back. Send me a personal message on here and I can send you the parts manual I have for my machine. Doc has been a huge help getting me the parts breakdown for the swing device. Demonthones - are the the bearings you are talking about inside the bottom part of the swing device? Rush

Rush i did mange to find a parts manual and now have a isuzu motor manual. the parts manual is pretty basic though. Looking at the last picture the gear on the right side at the end of the unit looks like it could be rotated is there much wear from one end compared to the otheror is that just grease stain.

Charlie Thats great - the parts manual is worth its weight in gold, since that is the only way you are ever going be able to get the right parts from the dealer. In the pic the bottom of the large turn table gear is just covered with grease and oil, there is surprisingly hardly any wear on this gear or on the large ring gear inside the turn table. I was shocked to find them in such good condition considering the condition of the planetary gears. You can see a little better in this pick. What format is your engine manual in? If it is electronic, I wouldn't mind having a copy just in case I need to get into the engine. I have heard that engine parts are pretty easy to find from any reputable Isuzu dealer. Rush

Hi Demonthones i think i got that, thanks i'm going to have a good look tomorrow and will probably have more questions. Another question i have is when you push the left lever forward does your machine turn right or does the stick pull towards you. On mine i took and rotated the whole unit a quarter turn now it feels a little more natural pushing the lever to the right to actually turn right, go figure.

Rush i called Isuzu and got refered to a parts place out in Edmonton Alberta. The book is hard copy but i'm thinking of copying it to disk when i come back to work probably a couple weeks. Ya thats a pretty tough looking gear i guess the weak link is in the smaller gears. They sure looked worn though lot of miles on them, i hope mine are going to hold out for awhile longer.

bearing and stick hello again fellows... there is an inner and outer bearing grease procedure...so there are two massive bearings supporting the swing device...as i was told by hitachi..i had trouble loosening the large plug under the floor.. it gets wet and dirt in there and it was a bit rusty...i hit it many times with a punch and hammer and sprayed with wd40... finally came loose and i was fortunate to find grease in good condition in there.. all i could see was grease...no gear oil had leaked in there so i am a happy man...i hope that your bearing is good and was not a contributing factor to the shredded gears...best to know now... as for my controls.... being a jap import to oz.. the set up is different im told because of this japanese hitachi style set up.......left stick to control rotation and main boom...left and right are rotations in the given direction..pullback is up boom..forward is down... left stick is for the bucket and small boom..left bucket inwards right bucket out...pull back to move boom towards me..push to move boom away.. seems very sensible and effective to me...cheers

I popped that rubber grommet out yesterday and had a peek, its clean and dry. The plug is pretty deep, what did you use to unscrew it. You think it worth putting an extension and zerk on the end of the plug and greasing it when ever the rest gets done. i really don't want to go crawling around peeling that bottom cover off but now it probably the best time. yup thats the way mine is now i guess somebody must have been playing with it before i got it, the left stick was a quarter turn out and felt so unnatural. All better now. What i did notice was oil leaking from the valves (is it called the Quad control) not much but still I wonder if this is a simple O-ring replacement to stop the leaks.

New gears are in and working great!!!! Hey guys Just wanted to give you an update on the swing device and planetary gear replacement project. We got all the new gears pressed in and the swing device all put back together with new bearings, seals, and gear oil. Started it up and it works like brand new. A lot tighter than she used to be . Been digging with it all week and it seems to be great. Thanks for all the help, support, words of wisdom, and encouragement. Hopefully someone else can get some good out of these pics and my painful experience.... . It turns out that it wasn't that bad of a process now that I know what to do. At first I was a little unnerved about making custom precision planetary gears, but after going through it all it wasn't any really any different than getting anything else custom machined - and it really wasn't any more expensive. I think I spent a total of about $1k by the time I bought new bearings and seals. I doubt that Deere would have sold me the new gears for less than that anyway - even if they were available. Thanks again Rush

Swing Motor rush said: anyone know where to get parts for the swing device for this old machine? I took apart the swing device to find some ground up planetary and sun gears. Here are some pics... Haven't had any luck so far from the local Deere dealer..:beatsme.. I wonder if this machine uses the same swing device as some other models? Does anyone have a book? Click to expand... Would you sell the hydraulic swing motor?

Hi Charlie Could I get a copy of your parts Catalog? Thanks Larry

cybersalvage said: Would you sell the hydraulic swing motor? Click to expand... NO can do Larry, now that I have it back up and running. You should be able to rebuild the one you have. Let me know if you can't get the drawings from Charlie, I have the ones he sent me in PDF format. Aslo Let me know if you need help getting gears cut. The guys at the machine shop that made mine, made an extra pinion shaft when they had it all tooled up . They would sell you the pinion shaft to make up the whole lower planetary for less than $500. Good luck!! Rush

Ex50urg Thanks Rush. I need the part #'s for the rotating group and swash plate thrust. If you have the parts break down could you let me down load? Larry

cybersalvage i'm going into town today to get this manual printed. Another HEF member is looking for one also. Rush good to hear your up and running hows the swing now tight? i still haven't been able to pop that plug under the cab (only tried twice so far) i should really get at that but its still to wet to get down an dirty. regards charlie

rush said: Thats great - the parts manual is worth its weight in gold, since that is the only way you are ever going be able to get the right parts from the dealer. Click to expand... Any chance you could email me a copy of that manual too? I have an EX55UR-3, any have nothing to reference for taking it apart. Thanks!