Rookie Mistake - chain slack

Well jumped the track today, scraped up the a bit the idler tensioner pushed out while pushing some dirt, looks like the zerk was replaced with a standard or cheaper chinese version.. Chain got loose and turned a few metal bits off.

How did you do it? Side hill? Run over something? Twisty turny? Lift it up and done.

dry hard clay, i had the front of the dozer up getting the blade to bite and I suspect it came off, but now I need to work on getting the zerk fitting replaced.

Those marks on the pin bosses of the track chain indicate bottom roller worn so bad that their flanges are riding on the pin bosses. The incident is pretty common on dozers that have worn undercarriage.

John C. said: Those marks on the pin bosses of the track chain indicate bottom roller worn so bad that their flanges are riding on the pin bosses. The incident is pretty common on dozers that have worn undercarriage. Click to expand... Are you talking about the shiny spots on the chain, that's where it jumped the track and grinded on the side rail, for a couple turns before I stopped or am I msising soemthing else?

The fact that the chain can curve that much means it's worn out.

Would need to see some pics. of the rollers to see if there is clearance from the rails. Pics. of the sprocket and bushings would help judge how much wear too.

That little bit of running off the chains will barely put a shine on them.

I'll take some pics, the idler zerk is not holding grease, ordered a new one ot replace it and run the idler back out then will take some pictures.

Not sure grease was in there before looks like a Picasso, cleaned it up, replaced the fitting/zerk and it's holding pressure on the chain now. Undercarriage is getting near it's end of life, but enough to finish this and I'll need to decide what to do.

John Strange said: Not sure grease was in there before looks like a Picasso, cleaned it up, replaced the fitting/zerk and it's holding pressure on the chain now. Undercarriage is getting near it's end of life, but enough to finish this and I'll need to decide what to do. Click to expand... If you're not using it all day every day I'm sure you can get more use out of it. I don't think it'll damage anything that doesn't already need to be replaced if you keep running it.

materthegreater said: If you're not using it all day every day I'm sure you can get more use out of it. I don't think it'll damage anything that doesn't already need to be replaced if you keep running it. Click to expand... Yah I'm just building a road in some soft sand/mud it gets about 40 hours every couple months right now.

John Strange said: Yah I'm just building a road in some soft sand/mud it gets about 40 hours every couple months right now. Click to expand... You could take off the bottom rollers and have the flanges taken down so they don't ride on the pin boss. Other wise it will get to a point where the flanges break off .

epirbalex said: You could take off the bottom rollers and have the flanges taken down so they don't ride on the pin boss. Other wise it will get to a point where the flanges break off . Click to expand... as soon as I can get the shop built, it's a heavy chain and a lot of work to get them off, doing it in the dirt in 105F, just needs to ride for another 50 or so hours.

John Strange said: as soon as I can get the shop built, it's a heavy chain and a lot of work to get them off, doing it in the dirt in 105F, just needs to ride for another 50 or so hours. Click to expand... There are hundreds of hours left in that chain, as long as you keep it tensioned and under the machine.

some pictures of our work from the weekend, roads build, culverts in, now need a lot of rock.

Looks good.