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Refurbish D2 track frames and pivot shaft

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2 years 9 months ago #233850 by Mike Meyer
Neil, don't forget you can remove those old bronze bushes in the track frames by running beads of arc weld around inside them, that shrinks them enough, they just punch out with a suitable drift then.

I used allthread to create new recoil spring bolts for my 4U, haven't tested them yet, while my Fitter and Turner next door neighbor turned me up some nice new adjuster nuts, they were a lot cheaper than buying new one's from Cat, same goes for making new bronze bushes, Cat wanted a couple of hundred clams each for those.

Did you see that thread about D2 parts tractors in California the other day, I mentioned your name in it, as looking for decent rollers and track frames.
Mike

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2 years 9 months ago #233853 by neil
I did see that one Mike but it's not a long track frame unfortunately and the attachment holes etc. don't line up. I do have a parts tractor and have been over its frames to check the feasibility. I have new D3 rollers now so that's what's going on it. I assessed the old rollers and they're a total mess so not even worth rebuilding, maybe one or two of them. The parts tractor has rebuildable shells

Cheers,
Neil

Pittsford, NY

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2 years 9 months ago #233997 by neil
I was able to remove the rollers, carrier and stand, and recoil spring guard loop tonight, however to do so, I had to cut the side out of the roller mounts because no amount of heat would loosen the hold that both the roller mount and the thread through the frame had on the bolts, even with the new 1400ftlb Milwaukee rattler. All I ended up doing was breaking the bolt heads off. This tractor has, and is continuing, to fight me every step of the way. So now I have some fun time ahead removing the broken bolts. Some of the holes had nuts and bolts and the holes are wallowed out.
However the good news is that I think I just need to replace the channel extension where the idlers mount. They're splayed out and severely worn but the rest of the frame from the first roller back is straight, so it'll be an easier fix, but still fairly time-intensive. I will need to fabricate new carrier stands because they're rust-wasted and don't suit the D3 carrier mounting requirements.

Cheers,
Neil

Pittsford, NY
The following user(s) said Thank You: edb

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2 years 9 months ago #234102 by Cbland98
I agree I would rebuild the D 2 rollers and stick with factory , I m not a fan of changing things from original. 

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2 years 9 months ago #234105 by restore49
If your welding a plate on the bottom to add height why bother with old bolt holes
The following user(s) said Thank You: bernie

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2 years 9 months ago #234116 by neil
The bolts I need to remove are the four that hold the carrier roller stand and the recoil spring guard. You're right though, I don't really need to remove the roller retaining bolts, just grind them off flat. The previous owner torched the whole threaded area out in a couple of places, so I want to weld in some replacement stock to help prevent standing moisture from accelerating the rust in the bottom flange.
What I have figured out is that outside of those things, I can replace just the parts of the channel that extend forward for the idler - the rest should hold together for the foreseeable future. A couple of places I'll cut out some wasting and replace with some new steel. That should save me a bunch of time and expense. Apart from making them robust again, my other main focus is to try to get all the rollers and the idler lined up with each other, and in the center of the frames horizontally and with the correct lower rolling surface height. Scott's large idlers will be at the same rolling height as the idlers since this machine has a blade.

 

Cheers,
Neil

Pittsford, NY
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2 years 9 months ago - 2 years 9 months ago #234121 by Mike Meyer
Sadly Neil, those frames are toasted, I can't understand why it is so hard to find a decent set Stateside, I mean it's not like they are a rare model is it.
Last edit: 2 years 9 months ago by Mike Meyer.

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2 years 9 months ago #234128 by restore49
May be less work to build new or find replacement - build new to fit D3 roller height. (9 posts back )- I still have the templates for the few parts I could not salvage from mangled frame.

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2 years 9 months ago #234131 by neil
I'd be very interested in seeing your templates if you're willing to share restore49? Did you make a new pivot shaft tube? The one item I was trying to figure out was the correct channel size because on mine, while the base is a standard 5", the top leg is 2" and the bottom is about 2 3/4 best I can tell. I guess the bottom is not critical because the idler mount only needs the top leg - what did you end up using?
While I'd like new frames to put on now instead of messing around with these ones, these can be patched, which of course would give me time to build a new pair of frames while still enabling me to use the machine while that happens.

Cheers,
Neil

Pittsford, NY

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2 years 9 months ago #234137 by d2gary
Hi Neil, now that is see pictures of your frames I'm going to also advise you to build new ones. Those frames are in bad shape and I would venture a guess you will have more time and money in repairing those than building new ones. The money might be a push but I can almost guarantee you'll have way more time than new. The channel for the frames is proprietary Cat steel as far as what I found out when I worked on mine. For a hobby tractor I can see no disadvantage to using standard channel iron. The pivot tubes could be salvaged from another set of track frames or reproduced fairly easily. The spring mounts are easy and the gusset between the frame rails can be bent by a competent metal shop or could be made by welding multiple pieces together. The mounts for the sheet metal and rock guards are just square bar with holes drilled in them.. The top roller mounts look to be just some plate.
I would build the new ones and be done with it.

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