Dozer U/C Project

[g_man]

I bought a little dozer last May. It needed a new under carriage. I didn't really know what I was getting into. It is quite a job, but I am getting it done. So far I have removed the tracks and stripped off the old pads, removed the sprockets and front idlers, rebuilt the track adjusters. I've gotten the rock guards off and started on the rollers on one side and I'm still working on the rock guards on the other side. They come hard and to much force breaks a bolt head off.
The first picture is where it sat when I bought it. The second is home in my dooryard.

[sealark37]

Thanks for posting the pics of your new dozer.  For our benefit, it would be very helpful if you would keep the forum advised of your progress, hang-ups, and cost of this undercarriage job.  You are doing by hand what most users do with heavy machinery and every helpful mechanical device.  Do the pins and bushings need to be turned or replaced? Thanks again for the pictures.  Regards, Clark

[Coon]

A little bit of advice on those bolts that are hard to get out is.... heat goes a long ways.  Get yourself an acetelyne torch setup and give them some heat.  It will help to burn out some of the rust and crud in the threads of the bolts.   ;)

[g_man]

I hear you on the heat.
The old track chains were pretty much toast. I have bought a new set of chains and sprockets. The chains are 6 1/2" pitch. The old chains measured 27 5/8" for four links. Way way beyound wore out. Here they are cut in pieces.

[snowstorm]

like he said a lot of heat. sometimes it is easier to take the track frames off. fixing broken bolts is not much fun. if the bolt wont start with a 1/2" breaker bar it isnt hot enought. use all new grade 8 bolts

[J_T]

Don't know what kind of luck you have but we always replaced the bolts in the pads . First time we didn't and were spending lots of time re torking the old ones or hunting thrown pads  : Bottom rollers we built up with build up rods the front idlers were done by a machine using a wire feed welder .

This use to be my winter job rebuilding dozer's . You got a nice machine there that is  the brand we ran  8)   

[mad murdock]

I think that Dresser was the ones who picked up IH when they dropped the heavy equipment line, I don't know if they still have it or not.  that is a nice cat, with the 6 way blade and all, it will do nicely.

[ScottAR]

The factory was started in the 70's by IH in Poland? I think...  When IH was dismantled Dresser bought the line and ran it until sometime in the early  90's when Komatsu picked it up.  Has since been sold yet again to a chinese concern that I can't spell nor pronounce.   Anyway... never heard a bad word about em. 

[teamgreen]

G man, Nice looking machine you got there, I have the same one and also had to do an undercaraige on it. Nice machines though youll like it.

[240b]

Hey, I used to drive by that dozer all the time if that was on 302 in Barre, was wondering where it went.

[Taylortractornut]

Dresser was formed when IHC dropped the  Payline of equipment,  Dresser wa then bought by Komatsu and run for several years and  even shared a  a couple common machines.     Later Dresser was bought by  Stowola in Poland and combined to make   Dressta.    Dressta   Equipment  hug on to alot of old IHC designs like the 100 series track loaders IHC produced and the   TD series of Dozers and the line of  Loader from the 515 up.    Now China's largest loader MFG   LuiGOng bought them out.       Ive run the larger Dressta dozers like  the TD15 and a TD 40.   Great machines with  powershift transmissions and pilot controls of the blade.      Dad ran Dreser dozers and loaders for years and bluetopped with one just like you are puttin the the uc on. 

[g_man]

Hey, I used to drive by that dozer all the time if that was on 302 in Barre, was wondering where it went.

That's the one. We moved it 40 or 50 miles north east.


I changed to a show no mercy attitude with the heat and the bolts are coming out much easier - thanks.
It has 10 track rollers. One is much newer than the other nine. They all turn except the one that is removed in the picture. That one is all floppy with blown bearings. They are all at or slightly below the 0% life remaining diameter listed in my service manual. I was considering replacing the nine old ones. Two different guys told me they wouldn't replace them until they broke. It is about $1400 for the nine.  I would rather not spend the money now but I don't want to be foolish either. What are your opinions on that ?

[Buck]

If it aint broke....

[240b]

If you have the thing up on blocks and chains off, rock guards off, and all the tools out and a bunch of smashed fingers might as well replace every thing which is junk.  Because putting a track on in the woods is not a good time, and if you decide to sell it having a complete new bottom will look better than something which was cobbed  to get by with. The price of rolls isn't going down any time soon also...

[Norm]

Spend the money now, you'll regret it later if you don't.

[J_T]

If you don't build them up or replace them the may bump or ride on the ends of the pins on the rails  ??? On the TD15 we built them up .

[sealark37]

If you don't have a dealer nearby who can build up the bottom rollers and idlers with weld, a decent welder with a heavy MIG machine can do a more than passable job.  Then you can buy the bearings and other parts to make a serviceable set of rollers.  If you shop around, you can find a new set of sealed and lubed tracks complete with shoes cheaper than you can buy the parts and hardware.  Regards, Clark

[Randy88]

We take an impact wrench set the torque down so it won't twist the bolt off and use heat and let it rattle the bolts awhile, we've also used an air chisel with a dead blow head and hammered on the head of the bolt to jar it loose as well but heat and lots of it works the best.   I never had much luck with the penetrating fluid before, its seems to only soak in a couple of threads and thats all.   I've also used heat and shock cooling to try to jar them loose, heat it up red hot and then dump cold water on it, hammer on the head of the bolt before during and after and keep repeating the process many times, they usually give up and come out.   

LIke what they said already, new grade 8 bolts on everything, don't reuse any of the old stuff, put new rollers on when its apart and new pads or have them rebuilt when they are off, for the cost of rollers I'd go with new, its a small dozer and won't be worth messing around with trying to rebuild the rollers, not for the time invested.   I've rebuilt my own rollers once on a bucket cat and when it was all done and over I looked back and figured I earned about 2 bucks an hour for my time over new and I spent a couple of weeks welding and letting it cool to work some more and then they wore faster than new anyhow so I had to take it apart and buy new bolts sooner anyhow.    Maybe if you get in the 500 bucks a roller it might pay but for less than 100-150 per roller its pretty doubtful.  If you do rebuild them put new seals and bushings in them, the seals are designed to last about as long as the roller, if you don't you'll have the seals go bad, leak the oil out and ruin the roller in less than 1000 hours of use and it was all for nothing and with rock guards on, to take it back apart you'll learn some new swear words pretty quick, once isn't bad the second time shortly afterwards brings up many new words into the vocabulary.   Best of luck

[g_man]

I finally got my under carraige work done. Working on it when I had time. It was a ton of work so it took a while. Now I have a lot of respect for guys who do this all the time.
But now I am learning how to run it  8).
Here are a couple pictures. I used my tractor and winch to pull the new track chain on. I wrapped the cable right around the whole thing using the front idler as a pully. Worked good. I have started learning by taking out some big rocks in my inherited woods roads. Places where I can bearly squeeze my tractor through. My place is either rocks or swamp. :D.
Thanks to everyone who offered me help and advice.

[grassfed]

My place is either rocks or swamp. .

That's the NEK ;D

[tjdub]

Looks nice.  I have to do the same job on my JD 450 one of these days, but I guess it's not quite that bad yet.   The bushings are mostly gone on mine, but the pins aren't sticking clear out of the links and riding the sprocket like in your old rail pics.  I guess that's a wear measurement to shoot for!

I bought mine with the intention of doing some clearing and making some new roads on my farm, then selling it.  Well you can probably guess where that plan went.  I'm just about done with the roads and clearing, but I don' t know how I could ever part with it now.   :D