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304CR Final Drive Alarmist Oil Sampling

nonprod

nonprod

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BC Placer gold said:
Make sure and ‘shovel’ tracks every night at quitting, important especially in winter/freezing weather. Also prevents flat-spotting on frozen carrier rollers etc. Hard to do perfectly, just do the best you can…I will clean tracks a few times on a long walk (10-12km). We have some bad clay in areas and it may take an hour to properly clean a 210 undercarriage for the lowbed…

The nature of our projects means long mob/demob distances in mountainous country from staging, so we are really diligent on final drive oil changes.

I flush with diesel while rotating tracks then TO-4 50. I often change oil based on distance and/or time. On long walks (swamping myself) I walk machine 1km then on foot to advance atv; allows time for cooling finals especially on long steep grades (they will get hot to touch). Last year 45km each on a 5 ton & 21 ton excavator….(not counting actual work on site)

I believe there is a thread on HEF where Nige has provided some really interesting data regarding the benefits of TO-4 oil in large mining equipment.

PS: we owned a Cat 304 & it was subject to the above noted arduous walking conditions. Frequent oil changes on finals, never any troubles…

Good luck!
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Man, that's all good and interesting to know, thank you. I guess it's why they call maintenance a regiment. I was just setting up a culvert in some dang sticky and soggy clay that is somehow simultaneously quicksand and epoxy.
 
nonprod

nonprod

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I don't know the chemical make-up of mouse ****, but maybe that's what the lab calls 'contamination...'
 

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BC Placer gold

BC Placer gold

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Enderby, Bc Canada
nonprod said:
I don't know the chemical make-up of mouse ****, but maybe that's what the lab calls 'contamination...'
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Good on you for cleaning, have seen those packed full and rusting fittings seeping….

Hate mice, they have caused us a lot of damage over the years….its a constant battle.
 
nonprod

nonprod

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Nige said:
After getting the internals of the final drives clean, your next challenege is keeping them that way.

In the diagram below the blue circled area just inboard of the drive sprocket flange (arrowed) is directly above the Duo Cone seal #8. This metal face seal is what is supposed to prevent contamination entering the final drive. The best plan is to keep that area as clean as possible so that dirt can't work its way into the gap between the fixed housing #3 and the rotating housing #9. The only thing you should NOT do is pressure wash it because that tends to drive the dirt inwards making things worse instead of better.

EDIT: In fact the lab interpretation confirms what I said above - CHECK FOR DIRT PACKING AROUND FINAL DRIVE AND INSPECT SEALS FOR ANY DAMAGE. CHANGE OIL AND FLUSH COMPARTMENT TO REMOVE CONTAMINANTS.

View attachment 305048
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Hi.

After studying your circles and arrows here, and after digging the mud away from the duo seal area, I wondered if this is yet another minor reason to consider steel track, which I've wanted anyway, for a number of reasons. While looking at the mud forced through the sprocket 'cut-outs' in the rubber tracks, directly into that seal area, I started wondering if that happens nearly as much, as least with steel track with rubber pads, which I guess cover the sprocket teeth cut-out. Of course, in my environment, with every surface covered with pointy rocks, I'd prefer steel track anyway. But one might want a longer grouser depth, than those on the triple shoe, on accounta we've got steep hills to climb; seems like the triple grouser steel track is barely 3/4" high grouser off the shoe.
 
BC Placer gold

BC Placer gold

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Messages
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Location
Enderby, Bc Canada
We operate on rocky ground as well (a lot of razor sharp, thinly bedded argillite/siltstone). A few years ago we had a brand new Kubota 040 & I really dreaded walking through this material as the brand new tracks took some nasty cuts. Also took out a brand new tire on the pickup…

We currently have a Deere 50d with extremely worn out rubber tracks. Will be looking at steel tracks when replacing. Although not aggressive in height the triple grouser steel tracks will have a lot better traction (in most conditions) than rubber… in my experience.
 
Nige

Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Acoals said:
The steel tracks won't be any better as far as mud in and around the finals.
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The steel tracks will probably also have "holes" in them that will allow mud to pack into the seal area.

For your conditions there may be an aftermarket 400mm-wide double grouser steel track shoe available somewhere that will have a bit more "bite" on the ground.

If you work a lot in sloppy conditions then keeping the area between the fixed and rotating housings of the final drives is going to be your biggest challenge whatever type of tracks you have installed. IMHO final drive oil changes at no more than 250 hours are called for in this conditions.
 
nonprod

nonprod

Active Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2022
Messages
40
Location
Windsor, Ca
Occupation
Re-Tired
Nige said:
The steel tracks will probably also have "holes" in them that will allow mud to pack into the seal area.

For your conditions there may be an aftermarket 400mm-wide double grouser steel track shoe available somewhere that will have a bit more "bite" on the ground.

If you work a lot in sloppy conditions then keeping the area between the fixed and rotating housings of the final drives is going to be your biggest challenge whatever type of tracks you have installed. IMHO final drive oil changes at no more than 250 hours are called for in this conditions.
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Yeah, several AM examples out there do seem to have holes in them, that I thought were covered only by rubber inserts. It makes zero sense adding those of course, but just as an academic discussion. I've never personally retrofitted, rubber to steel or vice versa, but if I find some $3000 in a pair of old pants, I might itch to do it with that machine, maybe when the scars and tears in the rubber become unbearable.

Seems like we have monitoring plan - thanks again all, for your advice. I did 3 rounds of diesel flush per side and filled up with TO-4 last Sunday (the day of rest so they say, and no time off for the...). I'll give y'all another update in 50 hours or so, just for 'fun.'

-gibbs
 
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