If those rollers show no sign of leaking I would advise leaving alone, as oil is very thin much like ATF. Another discussion that would be helpful to find is the one on what fluid is used on sealed for life rollers. Hopefully others that have read that discussion will add to this. But I think you would need to pull rollers so you could have the plug up to fill.


As for the idler wheel grease carefully to not blow out the seal with zerk fitting if you don't have the low preasure bucket pump for button heads. And again I am sure there is discussion what is the best roller grease, but not many of us use them hard anymore. So the anything is better than nothing applies.

Cat calls for 00 grade grease--lots of guys use cornhead grease as it is more common and can be found in tubes rather than 5 gal buckets

my D3 and 941B have lifetime sealled rollers and idler--the manual calls for engine oil to the plug horizontal hight--I use 30w oil in them

I have a clamp on carry pump filler from lincoln in some 00 grease recommended somewhere in these forums ... I have a similar one attached to a bucket of #2 grease I use to refill my Shuttle Lube tubes.

Any thoughts about the possibly missing bushings where the blade attaches to the machine or the fluid coming out of the case on right hand side? (previously pictured)

for a good general purpose grease i use penrite or caltex 3% black molybdenum disulphide in ngli grade 2 it is a lithium complex grease (soap) or i use red and tacky lithium also a grade 2 grease. the beauty of moly grease is it leaves traces of moly behind so it the grease base is lost you still have the moly to protect it for a little while. both greases are compatible with each other.

your rollers may be the sealed and lubed type which use a oil normally but in hot climates grease is used but they are only lubed at rebuild time.
if leaking it's rebuild time a special nozzle is used to fill them via the bung. as for the front idler someone has converted them to normal grease nipples id did one of mine initiallyas it was missing until we found out they were cheap as from the dealer. it is best to have the original type fittings as they are less likely to break off, remember we work these things in dirt and gravel and around tree limbs etc that is also why the sealed and lubricated tracks were developed. a flush mounted bung is much harder to damage.

the pivot for the blade arm is just flogged out build it back up with braze or better yet bronze the outer shells that is not the ball. you could do the ball too but that would be difficult.

that white traces i would say is just water mixed with oil residue. check the dip stick for signs of water note the oil will be higher than the mark as the engine and trans are to be checked at idle speed.

trainzkid88 wrote:

the pivot for the blade arm is just flogged out build it back up with braze or better yet bronze the outer shells that is not the ball.
 

Took some measurements of the pivot pins yesterday. Looks like 4mm slack all around for a tight fit to the pin to the arm. What I don't get is the big divots on either side of the arm. When I push the arm to the center of the pin so the divots are on either side evenly it is a pretty good fit leading me to believe the was some type of retention clip here? Or, maybe split halves which screw together to center the pivot arm similar to the clutch collars?

On one side (pictured above) there are washers (3/4" ID 1 3/4" OD) between the two mating surfaces on the arm and the bolts are tight ... on the other side there are no washers and the bolts (5.5" from tip to tip) are loose and at least one is warped slightly. Was going to see if I can find a matching bolt / nut set locally and washers assuming this is a default configuration.

Sorry Neil, I haven't measured the items you wanted yet BUT the dozer is in our shelter now so it should be easier when I have a helping hand.

Hi Team,
as Niel said above, the original shape of the trunion system is ball shaped.
Your picture shows a typical worn out trunion system.
A cheap dirty fix is to machine some off the cap parting faces to take up some of the clearance--be aware when doing this the trunion can be tight at each end of its rotation and so some washers may need to go in to the joint to space the cap back a bit--seems to be what happened on one side at least.
It is also feasible to weld up and grind true the ball stud, cap and end pieces if you are keen and need to save a few $$$'s as I have seen done on several clients machines.
The trunion ball stud, the caps and "C" Frame/Side Arm end pieces for at least larger machines were replaceable via the Cat parts system as we used to do them at the Dealers.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

it looks like new trunnions may have been welded on at some stage so its possible replacements were available.

if your any good with a lathe you might be able to machine up some new ball pivots and have them welded on. and yes they are meant to be dry like track pins if any thing maybe a spray of dry teflon lube such as dry-glide any thing wet plus dirt makes worlds best grinding paste.

the grooves may well be a relief to allow free movement when using the full angle tilt setting when cutting a batter etc.

Operations manual helps shoot got twice as much mony in paper manuals as I do iron.