I've finished my land clearing for the spring and have time to perform R&R on my brake bands on a D7F dozer.    I've performed this several times on my older D7 cables dozers with dry clutches.  However, this will be my first time on a dozer with wet clutches.  Manual says to remove the fuel tank and then the brake linkage assembly.  On my old dozers I did not have to remove the tank and there was room around the brake drum to remove the brake band without removing the brake drum.  I've accepted that I'm going to have to remove the fuel tank in order to remove the brake linkage assembly.  My question is:  Once the linkage assembly housing is lifted out, can I remove the brake band without removing the drum/clutch assembly (i.e. can I snake it around the drum the way I did on older dry clutch dozers)?  I've awaiting a response to this question from Wombat and EDB, but thought I'd open the question up to wider input.  Thank you in advance.  D7EF 

The steering clutch assy must be removed to remove the brake band. 
I have attached the pages from the Operation and Maintenance Instructions book on adjusting the brakes
                 
I will scan and post the pages in the Service Manual for the R&R of the steering clutches/brakes later today if you need them.
Craig

before you get too carried away double check the brake band adjustment first thing...i was all gung-ho when i had a weak brake and i started stripping things down and i checked the brake adjustment....it was 7 turns loose instead of the proper 1 1/2 turns...it could not close enough to grab the drum...simple fix
-the other side brake was perfect? i dunno what was going on, perhaps operator rode the brake as a footrest etc..?

I always thought the hydraulic assist came with the D7G. The 7F I had certainly didn't have any assistant working.

Hi,
I tried sending a email PM return to your PM email earlier but it bounces back????? I am not good at confusers!!!
so here is what I wrote :-
Hi,
From what I can recall is that all oil steer clutch brake bands are full circle single piece bands due to the high clamping loads required to expel the oil to get effective braking. The older style 2 or 3 piece bolted bands would soon fail in this application.

As said above by others the entire steer clutch and brake band need to be removed as one unit after the fuel tank and scissor actuating unit is removed--heavy piece of kit.
First do the simple things like adjust the bands and see where you go from there.

From memory you need to put a long bar/bolt thru a hole near each scissor point on each end of the band and then loop a sling or other around one bolt and under the other to pull the ends of the band together as you lift the unit out or else the bands will be deformed and need to be reshaped to work effectively again.
Hope this makes sense.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

I started a new post with the scaned pages of the Service Manual for the R&R. See D7E/F steeering clutch/brake R&R.
Craig