Greetings, my new to me 977L, SN 11K7373, won't hold grease on the right side. The picture below shows where the grease is coming out. Unfortunately, the track won't tighten up at all when grease is pumped in. As a result, when I was trying to move it to a safer position to work on, I skipped the track off the idler. I think I will be able to get that back on, but I am wondering what will be involved in fixing my grease leak on the adjuster. Could someone kindly point me to the procedure that I will need to do? Any information is greatly appreciated! 

     

you have a broken spring which may or may not be part of the problem.
Get some closer pictures of the track.
The adjuster slug can usually be repacked without removing the track if it's wore out enough.
Don't try it with the track half off.
Get a picture of the other idler.
Bob

Thanks Bob, I’ll get some better pictures tomorrow 

Hey Bob, here is a picture from yesterday that shows the right side. Its a pretty clear picture and I think you can see that the track adjuster isn't pushing the idler out very far at all. The track adjuster on the other side is pushing out several inches. I'll still get some better pictures tomorrow but just wondering if this helps at all. 

 

Pardon my ignorance here, but when grease is just coming out the back of the cylinder and its not tightening the track at all, does this mean the seals illustrated in the picture below are bad? Or is it also possible that something is seized up?

 

Need better pictures but it looks like something is cobbled up with the right spring.
Get pictures of both sides,
Count the number of pads on both sides,
See if those tracks have master links.
Bob

My brother in law and I had a very productive day. we used a chain and the lifting arms of the 977L to lift up the track enough to allow for large steel pry bar to put the track back on the idler wheel and rollers. Then we used attached the chain to the bucket and curled it to pull the idler forward. It moved forward almost 4 inches. From there we pumped grease into the track adjuster to see if it would hold. To our surprise and delight the grease held and began to push the idler forward after pumping in a good amount of grease. Drove the machine all around and the idler stayed in place and its holding grease. I didn't manage to take pictures until after we got the idler pulled out but see below for pics. Feeling blessed and lucky today!

 

Count yourself lucky there. Take those wins when you get them because it’s never that easy for me. Every time i have a problem like that it always ends up major. Enjoy driving your machine while it’s working.