bought a 920 cat, engine seized 20 min later.

[Nige]

In another thread on here I seen that Cat says its 3800LBS on SIS

Yes, but the 3800 pounds is when the engine, torque converter, and transmission are all removed as a unit. Later in the procedure .........

a) remove engine, torque converter and transmission
1. Fasten a hoist to the engine.
2. Install blocks under bottom and front of the transmission.



3. Remove cooler line (2) for the torque converter.
4. Remove bolts (1) that hold engine to the torque converter and transmission. Remove engine. Weight of the engine is 1500 lb. (675 kg).

 

[Labrador-tractor]

Thanks Nige that's good info and a very close weight! all I could find was guess's before I pulled my motor trying to figure out how far out I could extend my Hiab crane. The number I settled on after looking at many different weights all over the place was 2200 LB, mind you I was leaning towards a heavier number for the sake of not destroying my truck/crane. I work alone 99% of the time like I'm sure a lot of us here on this site do, so my main Goal is to not end up under a tipped over F250 or a snapped off boom haha.

Not a lot of progress Today had to work at my real job and still no rear seal at the cat dealer, so I did some small stuff like put the belts back on, replace bolts that were to long and had stacks of washers with the proper length bolts, and clean stuff up.



tube was broke off the original water temp gauge when I got the loader so I dug out a stewart warner gauge out of my inventory, tube is to short to reach the dash but I'll find a place for it temporarily. oil pressure and water temp are 2 things I'm not running without! I'll get the proper 3S4824 gauge ordered.



I've also been hunting for the tool to install the rear main seal. almost all the guys around here that would've had it for the old 3300's are retired and/or moved away so I've had no luck. got close and found one for a 3406. I was going to start machining my own tonight but the biggest shafting I have around is 6 inch which isn't big enough. I'm going to hunt for some pipe or tubing in the coming days.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

today I tackled the block heater and heater lines which is rather important where I live.

when I bought the loader they had a inline coolant heater that was installed by putting a Y fitting into the heater hose that ran to the 3/4" port tapping into the elbow flowing from the trans cooler into the block. the other hose of the heater tied into the 1" port on the elbow between the engine oil cooler and the trans cooler. I generally don't like these inline heaters, they work OK when installed good but usually they are not I've found. for some reason I still keep them as I remove them from stuff I buy lol.

My plan is to install a screw in 1500 Watt heater that I will put in that 3/4" port that flows into the block, this will let all the heat flow into the engine block and up to to the head where it needs to be. The heater hose will tie into the 1" port between the 2 oil coolers, I actually think this port is better and here is why:
Water flows from the pump into the engine oil cooler, then into half of the transmission cooler, loops back up through the other half and then into the block. water wants to take the easiest path and heater hoses and a heater core are not an easy path compared to the wide open block and head if you used the 3/4" port. using the 1 inch port you have that little bit of restriction the transmission cooler gives, which should flow a little more water through the heater. I would like to tie into the passage between the pump and engine oil cooler but there is no port and I don't think it would make enough difference to justify drilling and taping a hole. you might never notice a difference from the 1" and 3/4" ports but I have to use the 1" anyways.



I removed the stack of fittings from the 3/4 port, the had a 1/2 hose barb on that one. the 1 inch port had a 1 to 3/8 bushing, a 3/8 close nipple, a 90 and a 2 inch nipple as a hose barb. I reused the bushing, installed a street 90 elbow and apparently I have no 5/8 hose barbs left in stock so I machined the 2 inch nipple into a simple hose barb.

I then searched my parts area for the new 3/4" NPT block heater I knew I had for about 20 min, then I remembered I used it on another machine... so I have to order another heater I guess.

 

[oarwhat]

A 1500 watt heater seems like over kill for a 4 cylinder engine. Especially since it's in the block.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

Ended up ordering a 1000 watt. I wouldn't call it a little 4cyl it's a 1700 pound chunk of iron, also it won't be plugged in all the time or even overnight. When I show up at my cabin I have to start a generator and warm up that chunk of iron that's sometimes as cold as -40° as fast as possible so I can clear snow. I run two 750 watt heaters in my 5.9L cummins engines, I plug one in while at home. The morning I leave my cabin I'll plug both in and by lunch time she fires right up. Lots of block heat is common practice around here.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

engine was supposed to be in this weekend.... got my seal from cat Thursday after work for the low price $270. Friday I went to work at a shop my buddy own's, a 303 came in with swing issues. you can't see nothing without pulling the Cab and the Deck so that's what we did.



we also pulled the boom so we could easily rotate the machine to inspect the ring gear. its only about 20 min work to pull the boom so just as well.



amazingly the pinion gear looked like that but the ring gear had no issues! I'm also amazed those 2 remaining teeth survived and how well the machine worked with just 2 teeth left, we were thinking it only had 1 or 2 gone the way it was acting.

Saturday I went to another buddies shop to see what he had for rear main seal installers and when I left I tweaked my healing ankle again so back to no walking and no engine in the 920 again! maybe next weekend it will go in haha.

 

[skyking1]

engine preheat is a thing of beauty, I agree. The 3406 is MUCH happier even at around freezing with it.
That poor excavator is all blowed up, sir. I notice you did not even mention the boom and stick.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

That's the joys of compact equipment, 100 things to take off to get to one haha. Boom was mentioned in 2nd paragraph. Rather then mess around with chaining it up to rotate the body to inspect the ring gear we just spent the 20 min to disconnect a few hoses and knock out 2 pins. Figured we had that much pulled apart already might as well pull the boom to!

 

[Labrador-tractor]

made some good progress this weekend. thursday I got the rear main seal in. If anyone here is ever stuck like I was and cant get the proper tool but you can get the seal installer for a 3406 you can get the job done. for the plate that bolts to the crank you will need to open up the bolt holes a 32nd of an inch to 11/16", it will then bolt up to the 3304 crank just fine. use as normal at that point until it bottoms out, the 3304 crank is slightly bigger so it wont go all the way. I then used the flywheel to push the sleeve the last little bit, pulled it back off and used a brass punch and hammer to tap the seal the rest of the way in. worked out perfect.



Friday I was late leaving town to head to the cabin, I got there around 2PM which only left me 3 hours of daylight to light the fire in the camp, clear some snow and install the engine. I wish I had all day because it was warm Friday, only minus 7.



Friday night it dipped to -30, and was still -20 after lunch when I decided it was "warm" enough to go work on the loader.



I installed the rad, hooked everthing up, filled the oil (which I kept in the camp over night to stay warm) and filled the coolant. fired her up which went pretty easy, great oil pressure, ran smooth and as quite as a clatterpillar runs..... THEN it sounded like someone dumped a bag of 1/2" nuts and bolts into the oil fill! Fed up with this thing fighting me every step of the way for the last 2 months I drove it across the road into the winter storage lot with my John Deere 350B track loader to deal with next summer, go back into the cabin and eat some chili I had on the woodstove all day which was great!

I then lay awake in bed half the night trying to figure out what I did wrong building this engine...

 

[Labrador-tractor]

today (sunday) I wake up with ideas in my head of what to check. but first I gotta eat!

step one of fixing a cat in the snow, light the wood oven and cook breakfast! while throwing a toy for the dog of course...






I then head outside, pull the valve cover and check valve lash and for bent pushrods. all looked good! time to start this thing up.... but its -20 again and I still have no block heater. BUT the cummins will start so bring that over for extra power for the clatterpillar.



after I get the 3304 woke up from its nap it once again sounds normal, so now either my suspicion is correct or the cold oil is tricking me. a few min latter there is the god awful sound again! I take my 3/4 wrench and loosen the air line between the compressor and the air tank, sound goes away! last night I remembered last winter my air drier in the F250 froze up and I thought the cummins had a rod knock, which was also the air compressor just dead headed. the 920 wasn't dead headed but it was maxing out the compressor, My guess is when I cleaned the engine after I removed it water got in the governor as its not doing its job at the moment. so next weekends job is address the air system, and try to clean up the wiring in the cab at least a little because its a MESS. all in all, successful weekend.

 

[Joel59]

Love reading your threads. I've got a '74 f250 highboy with a 12v cummins and a 920 loader!

 

[Labrador-tractor]

Love reading your threads. I've got a '74 f250 highboy with a 12v cummins and a 920 loader!

Nice! the old Fords are good trucks, I have a 79 F350 single cab 2wd as well. no plans for it but it was cheap and its completely rust free! which never happens around here.

got some more work done on the 920. went down Friday with a few buckets of oil and some parts.

Installed a brand new governor on the air compressor and its much happier now, still has a little noise so I might bring an inspection mirror next trip to the camp and pull the bottom plate off the compressor and do some inspecting.



not knowing any maintenance history and seeing the transmission was low on oil I decided best to change it. swapped over the filter in by the woodstove with the dog. I also pulled the screen and magnet cage from the transmission, screen was great and magnets only had sludge on them no shiny chunks so thats always nice.



PO's were running the machine with no oil filler cap.... another good reason to change oil and filter! so I made up a cap. filled transmission up with some fresh 20W oil and she's good to go again for many years.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

Next major thing keeping me from using the loader was the pin in end of the boom at a 30° angle, I suspected it was broke off inside and I was right.



it was mushroomed out between the boom and coupler so some grinder work was necessary to remove it. It looks like the machine was being operated like this for a LONG time.


old vs new pin in progress.



here is the new pin. the bores in both the boom and coupler need serious work so this is a bit of a waste of good material, should've just made a pin from mild steel for the time being.

My plan is get the parts machine floated to the cabin in the new year and inspect it. I think its in better condition to begin with, so I might fix up the bad pins and bushings on that one, clean up the wiring and the cab, paint it , and once its all ready pull the engine back out of this machine and install it in the other one. this way I'm not rushed to do the jobs and have minimal down time.

 

[Simon C]

Beautiful picture of your cabin inside. Good job resurrecting the old girl. Just finished a 43 year old Komatsu D155 engine that had everything wrong. Takes perserverance.
Simon C

 

[Labrador-tractor]

got my parts loader moved last weekend so hopefully this weekend I can get down for the long weekend and do some inspecting. at a quick glance the parts one seems to be in much better shape, especially when it comes to pins and bushings. cab is much cleaner inside and the original front window is still in it, I find the window in my running loader looks goofy. so unless I find something major I think I am going to fix up the parts loader over time and when its ready swap the engine and rad over.


boom truck made easy work of loading and unloading a machine with 3 flat tires! crane scale showed a weight of 15,000LBS with the engine and radiator missing.

 

[skyking1]

great posts and pictures. Those pictures are as close as I want to get to that kind of cold, thank you.

 

[OzDozer]

I'm sitting here looking at snow and cold from a place, where it's currently 36 degrees C!
Our Christmas Day has a forecast of 23C to 35C!
I don't know how people can live and work in cold like that, I detest any temperature in single digits in C, particularly when there's a cold Southerly wind blowing.
I might see a frost for an hour in the early morning, on the coldest Winter day in July, then it will warm up to a double digit (C) temperature day.
I have to admit, I can't handle 42C days like I used to - nowadays I like to find some shade on those hot days.

 

[Labrador-tractor]

calling for +1C here Christmas day, which isn't normal for us this time of year. Usually January and February here -50°C is not uncommon. Working in that temp is no fun, hard to do a lot of work with winter gloves on and with no gloves it's a race to remove 1 bolt before things start going numb.

In saying that I'd take -30 over +30 in most cases, I can't handle heat very good. +25 is a hot day for us here, +40's I think I would just pass out haha

 

[BC Placer gold]

My Dad was a driller on large diesel/electric oil rigs in northern Alberta/BC during the 1980’s. Typically operations would be suspended below -40c due to metal fatigue possibilities.

Beautiful cabin, great work on the loader!

 

[Labrador-tractor]

My Dad was a driller on large diesel/electric oil rigs in northern Alberta/BC during the 1980’s. Typically operations would be suspended below -40c due to metal fatigue possibilities.

Beautiful cabin, great work on the loader!

There was some companies around here that did the same. I don't know of anyone that does it now though. At the places I've worked only thing I've really noticed break more in the extreme cold is cutting edge bolts. especially on the couple loaders we had doing cleanup on and around the railway, when that cutting edge hooks into a join in the track its easy to Break off some bolts. But that's much nicer then in the summer when they don't break and your machine comes to an instant stop!

Thanks! The cabin is great get away that's for sure. I'm only just getting started on the 920, not sure how much more will be done during the winter but next summer you should start seeing some real progress on it.