Cat 215, some questions

[a65l]

The biggest fun comes in the smallest of packages...

 

[a65l]

Morning all. I know I've been quiet, but getting the stars to align and my n eighbor over with the mini and help has been difficult to date. I have, however, managed to install my new oil pressure line to the cab, so I now have a working oil pressure gauge up front. Re-installing the gauge made the master caution light work again, and apparently the temp gauge has decided to start working as well. So yay... now I need to figure out the hydraulic temp gauge.

I do have another issue, of course, that makes no sense. I've made sure that the governor (throttle) lever in the cab moves the governor arm on the fuel pump through it's entire range. So, I can bottom out the fuel pump without a doubt. I still cannot shut off the fuel and kill the engine. I have to idle it down as far as I can, which drops oil pressure into the red, and then stall it by moving the boom. I don't like that, not at all, and need to figure out why it's not shutting off. I haven't dug into the manual yet to see if that's an easy adjustment to do, but it's on the short list of things to do when I'm not mowing, fixing mowers, or greasing mowing stuff. Busy season...

 

[a65l]

Ok. Stars aligned this weekend. I notice, sadly, that the engine is starting to get a little harder to start, cold... although it's different this time. I'll pull the line from the filter and backflush it with air, just in case I sucked something in. PRobablly put in a new filter... I opened the water drain and -think- I got a couple pieces of **** out, so probablly a new fuel filter, but I'll wait until after I blow out the lines. I'd like to get a few gallons out of my $50 investment, thanks.

Anyway. So we yanked the track, pulled the adjuster, repacked, reassembled, and put in some grease. Well, tried, anyway, I had to borrow a gun with a clamp on grease fitting, and that wouldn't have worked if I wasn't missing a track grouser, so I could go straight onto the fitting. It was just pushing the grease otu of the gun around the fitting. I'll try and order a new fitting, just in case that one is so work that the seals in the grease gun aren't working right. Anyway, put on the clamp on fitting, and with a little fiddling I got it to take grease. For a bit. The track right in my line of sight got fairly tight, but then I noticed that I had skipped a tooth on the drive sprocket, so I'll have to drive it a bit and get that aligned right, then try again to adjust the tension. All in all, other that reinstalling the track being a little fiddly, it wasn't a hard job. Hell, the idler was tight and I didn't hear rumbling from the bearings. So, we're close to some actual digging here... gotta keep your eye on the brass ring!

The crew ready to make the trek down the stairs and go to work.

It's off! That really was the easy part.

The dust seal had come out some time ago... and the inner seal was brittle. It came out in many small pieces. No surprise it leaked.

The shaft is in pretty good shape. I thought the whole unit would come out with the spring, but no. For ease of handling we just left it in situ. There was some pitting/chrome peeling at the end, but I'm going to wind up running all the way out so it shouldn't be an issue. But hey.. can still buy that piece if necessary!

After some minor work with scotchbrite. Could be a lot worse, that's for sure.

All Ukrainey looking...

And after considerable farting around and lots of sweating and swearing, it's back on. And reasonablly tight. It'll get better. I need to source those covers over the adjuster fittings, I could see them getting damaged. I have the old ones, but they're pretty wasted... although they might just be better than nothing, really.

So, that's the last major job... more than a few little things to still address, but it's basically ready to start digging. No scrap heap for this old girl Not yet.

 

[skyking1]

If she'll walk to the hole and hit the ground there is life left in it.

 

[Welder Dave]

Not really appropriate to make sarcastic remarks about Ukraine considering what's going on there.

 

[a65l]

It wasn't intended to be sarcastic; the blue and yellow made me think, is all.

 

[a65l]

So, kind of back to square one.. engine is down on power again. But this time it's not holding a prime, so easier diagnosis. I got another couple cans of fuel and fulled the tank up again, but haven't had a chance to go out and see if that fixed it. That's best case scenario, at least the fix is obviousl otherwise it's just gonna be detective work along the fuel lines. There are 2 flex hoses, one for supply and one for return that appear to be original to the machine. Cheap enough to replace them, so that's on the books. Getting close to digging season...

 

[Nige]

Don’t lose sight of the fact that you may still be pulling rust etc from the tank that might be getting lodged in the passages in the water separator or in the fuel filter head.

 

[skyking1]

Great point @Nige
My 1998 machine is still cleaning up after years of neglect.

 

[a65l]

The water separator was just crusty, I bypassed it and am using a Baldwin filter with a water trap in it. Eventually I'll buy a new one, I think, and plumb it back in. Hot this weekend, so even hotter on top of the machine.. I rigged up a hose to my trolling motor tank and connected it to the inlet of the fuel filter, with no change. . Then I connected it directly to the inlet of the fuel pump... and while making the connection noted that the metal fitting is broken, so it won't actually tighten down. I have another fitting around here somewhere, I'm pretty sure... so hopefully one or the other makes a difference and I can narrow down the trouble.

Since I'm grabbing at straws here I note that my chineseium priming pump is starting to feel very, well, coarse and metal on metal.. I'm sure it wasn't designed to be used daily. I have another one, ordered 2 b y mistake, so I might try swapping that out. I assume, looking at the filter head, that the fuel has to pass thru the priming pump on the way to the filter proper, so it could be collecting some crap as well.

 

[a65l]

Ok. Put some air pressure at the line leading back to the tank, I swear I felt something move. So I blew some more, and then reconnected. Started before it made a full revolution, runs great. I walked it back and did some digging. Observations are that it still bogs down, even while walking, but only so far... I didn't think there was a chance it was going to stall. Turning is tough. I didn't notice if it was blowing black smoke while loading up. Digging, lifting a full bucket of dry dirt bogged it as well, but again not so far that I felt it was going to stall. So, still low on power, I guess, but there might be some trimming that could be done on the F.I. pump. Not sure about hydraulic fluid temps, I'll go back in a bit and run it some more and check the tank temps. Engine coolant temp got barely into the green. I note that oil pressure, when it gets hot, drops into the red at very slow idle, but if you keep it at a more reasonable idle speed it stays in the green. So... I'd say 90 percent there.. still a few things to tweak. But the old girl is coming back!

 

[a65l]

Short video of it walking and doing some digging..

https://photos.smugmug.com/Property/i-ZcrgBkw/0/71881d0b/1280/20230702_152920-1280.mp4


Onsite... at least temporarialy. STill need to put the engine cover back on...

 

[Coaldust]

That’s awesome. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[a65l]

So did some exploratory digging last night. Oh... and started machine up first time in two days... rolled right over and lit off. Like it wants to do some stuff. Anyhoo, started digging around, looking for a cypress stump that might be in the way when we start excavating for real. Didn't find it, not for lack of looking, but because my neighbor pointed out that the track self-oiler had gone crazy. Well, no self oiler, so there must be an issue... and there was. When I rotated the house.. lots of hissing and gushing. Easy enough diagnosis.. and since it only leaked when I turned, and there was still plenty of fluid in the tank, I walked the machine back up to the shop. On the way, I heard some mighty thunks and clanks from the l/h track.... sure enough, that adjuster had blown out as well. So, good thing we now know how to walk tracks on and off... parts on order.

That's a relatively easy diagnosis. And the hose was very accessible too.. gotta love those hinged top covers. Too late to get it to the shop today, but tomorrow... I have to run out anyway and get another bucket of hydraulic fluid.

I know this dance. parts might not be here in time to do it this weekend...

 

[skyking1]

speaking of dances, I would learn the bucket turn with tracks like that. It puts a lot less side stress on the tracks, and tends to keep them on there more better.

 

[Acoals]

speaking of dances, I would learn the bucket turn with tracks like that. It puts a lot less side stress on the tracks, and tends to keep them on there more better.

. . . And keep the idlers forward while walking . . .

 

[skyking1]

Not to the point of turning around to go back the other direction. That's not productive at all and a great way to mess around and find out if the track wants to come off today.

 

[Acoals]

When the tracks are as loose as in the picture, you are going to have to turn around. I worked for years with a JD 792 with the tracks about like the picture above. The only way you would make it more than about 50' in a straight line was idlers forward. The slightest bit of turning with the idlers back will roll the track right off.

 

[a65l]

It's normally quite a bit tighter...

This is the day I walked it down there... note that it's reasonablly snug. It's like it is because the adjuster seals failed and all the grease is now out of the cylinder...

 

[Nige]

This is the day I walked it down there... note that it's reasonablly snug.

The RH track in that photo above is not “snug”, it’s way loose. Check your O&M Manual for the correct tension measurement.