CAT 289 high flow first 60hrs!

[Blue 02 TJ]

Nice pics. Have they solved your tracks comeing off problem yet. How is the rest of the machine doing. Our 289 should be here in two to three more weeks cant wait.

The back idler you see in the pic is the fix. It came with a single idler in the rear that made it really easy to pop off a track. Before the update during the first 40 hours the left track and right track came off. CAT was very responsive and did the retro fit to the new idler very quickly. We are lucky that we have a good service department here in Houston. I might have just had a bad moment and a random set of circumstances when the track came off this last time. If it happens again I will certainly post it here and keep you updated.

 

[catguy]

The problem is in setting the track tension, if you do it by the book you will de track it have someone use the bucket and raise the front of the machine off the ground the use the grease gun to pump the tracks I believe the first spec cat came out with was two inches from trck to bogie go one inch you should be fine, former cat shop foreman here in a cce shop.

 

[Blue 02 TJ]

The problem is in setting the track tension, if you do it by the book you will de track it have someone use the bucket and raise the front of the machine off the ground the use the grease gun to pump the tracks I believe the first spec cat came out with was two inches from trck to bogie go one inch you should be fine, former cat shop foreman here in a cce shop.

I try and keep them at 3/4 of an inch. When it came off this last time I am not certain what the tension was on the track that came off since it was checked by the CAT mechanics the previous days. The track that didn’t come off was still around 3/4 of an inch.

We are just shy of 150 hours now most of them mulching and it’s a great machine. I think the tracks need to be addressed but other than that cat is getting really close to having the ideal machine. Bump the ponies up to around 100 or 115 (without overheating issues) and have better QA off the assembly line and CAT will really have something.

(On a side note it seems most of the manufactures have issues at some point with the quality of the assembly coming off the line. It’s a shame when a well engineered product or part fails because someone didn’t tighten a screw or bolt)