yes old magnet my tracks have pin and bushing wear big time, but it is a winter freighting cat and the snow and ice take up the slack, LOL
i have no flat spots on the bushing, they are just stretched which is a sign of a winter freighting cat.
i was surpirsed that the tracks tighened up by only going a short distance on the slide pad. i thought of removing a track pad but i like all the track pads i can get for winter freighting.
will get a picture of the tightener bolt to show you the length.

thansk

Here is a couple of pictures of Yellercats stuff that I still had on file. Never did see a clear picture of his actual track frame. Maybe this round will bring a conclusion. The 1-5/8 in. difference in compressed length may be hard to eyeball but it's a big difference to the spring.

ok, i'm lost here, the key here to the whole project is the spring has to be in line with the sprocket, yes the spocket, that is where the track is coming from and has to be straight. so what i did on THE HOOD was line up the spring and made stoppers to keep it straight ( the spring is powerful and when up against the stopper one side it will lean one way, so stoppers must be equal so the spring is centre) now the spring is straight and the stoppers good then look at the front idler, is there too much slop in the bottom slide pads (they are replaceable)????? when everything is hooked up with out the track pulled over top, things should look straight and square.

a few LEGG pictures would be nice along with picture of the spring in the cat.

thansk

Hi KoO,
I think we may be getting our posts crossed up here. Yellercat is dealing with a different issue than alignment. We're trying to sort out the right recoil spring components for his tractor which is a late serial number but may have earlier style track frames or some form of adapted conversion:confused:

ok if his spring is too big it will not fit and cause alingment problems, LOL

ok, just thinking outside the box, LOL

thansk

If someone has the Cat Product Bulletin of May 29, 1959 .. on page 3, it details the changes to the "new" D6 recoil springs, pilots and stops. I have 99% of the Product Bulletins for this era .. but in the best fashion .. my copy of the May 29 Bulletin is missing ..

Yeller Cat have you sorted out your problem yet? Between Old Magnet and Oz Dozer they should get you on the right path for the correct spring and tightner assemblies. If you can post a picture of the track frame that would be very helpful for diagnosing the problem. Oz also made a very good suggestion in fiinding the PN number for the track frame. That may prove easier said than done.

Got plenty of old D6's around to take pictures of but not late models or D6B's and D5. Here is a picture of what the later style spring stops and guides look like. View the stops & guides only. The adjuster nuts are different on this D6B.

Hi Team,
have P/B May 29 1959 in front of me sorry cant scan yet, no savvy, anyway it shows a small pic. of the later recoil set up as shown in OM's post above.
It tells us :- "Front idler groups featuring new recoil springs, pilots and stops are now used on D6 Tractors effective with 8U10785 and 9U28328. The use of stops relieves spring tension on the recoil spring bolt, thus eliminating the source of bolt breakage.
In conjunction with these improvements, a hydraulic track adjusting mechanism is available as an attachment for D6 tractors equiped with the new front idler groups.
The hydraulic track adjuster is not directly adaptable to earlier machines. However, recoil spring stops may be adapted to earlier 4R, 5R, 8U, & 9U serial number tractors by installing a field instalation stop group."
A chart gives us:- P/No 9H9527 Hyd. Track Adj. Grp.== Attachment
P/No 1M4496 Stop Grp.== Field Installation.
Installation instructions are included in the group Form No 33064
Hope this helps
Regards Eddie B.

Hi edb,
That does help but I was hoping they had more information. They also changed part numbers for the adjusting nut, the guide and adjusting screw, the yokes stayed the same.
Yellercat,
Still waiting on those pics:)
Another thing that would indicate the later track frame is they did away with that little doghouse cover over the spring bolt at the rear spring buttress. So even if someone modified a later frame to mount the old style spring set up I doubt that they would have messed with this feature.