Hi, Grader Dude.
I am guessing that the part that the LAST tooth is broken off from is the curved rack that meshes with the pinion in the lean wheel drive box, the one that is bolted to the underside of the lean wheel top bar. If this is correct, this should not hard to find a good replacement for as there were an awful lot of these graders made and there are still many of them in machinery dismantler's yards and inventories.

As for not needed, I suspect the Cat engineers figured it might serve a purpose. There should be 'greenhorns' at either end of that rack to stop excessive leaning of the wheels and running out of rack. If that last tooth is busted out, the next one in will be taking ALL the load when starting to return the wheels toward vertical.

It might just be worth running one front wheel up a bank to see how far the axle will oscillate and if it might make detrimental contact with anything in the process. If it does look like it might hit something toward the extremity of its oscillation, you might need to weld some plate on top of the axle where the oscillation stops on the casting contact the axle. You could experiment to see what thickness might be required - if any - by placing a piece of 1/4" flat plate on top of the axle and holding it there with electrical zip ties while you oscillate the axle.

You can also do this simply jacking the front of the machine well off the ground with the blade lift controls and tilting the front axle by hand for the same effect. How-wevver, doing it thisaway, the axle will always want to go right side down due to the extra weight of the lean wheel mechanism on that side of the axle - unless MAYBE you have a NEW tahr on the left and a 'Mexican hairless' one on the right.

It's been quite a while since I had to top up a Cat 12E chain case but I seem to remember that they used 90 weight gear oil or similar.

Some of those hydraulic tanks had a dipstick inside the cap and some had a level plug as well as the drain plug. Depends on whether it was early or late, OEM or aftermarket.

I yain't much on pain-tin' so I'll leave you to figure that one out.

Hope this helps.

According the OMI I have for 99E1 and up, it calls for 24 quarts of 30 wt engine oil in the chain cases but I use 80w90 in 'em instead. Tranny calls for the same (54 quarts) and there I do use engine oil. Reason being that in cold temps I'm not sure the gear oil would go through the filter or work well in the clutch. In the knockerbox, I also use 80w90 rather than the 30 wt called for. The hydraulic system also calls for 30 wt rather than hydraulic oil, just fill to neck.

I should have done this earlier. This is from Form 33498-3, Caterpillar no 12 motor grader Operation and Maintenance Instructions s/n 99E1-up. Hope this helps. .

Thanks for the scan Ol Grump. The best I can tell the crankcase takes 24q of 15-40? I chased down the leaks I was seeing and found that near where the axles bolt to the frame between the chain cases and rear "diff" are leaking some on both sides. I wish there was an easy repair but kind of doubt so, allthough they do seem to only leak after things have been stirred up. Also the bottom of the rear "diff" looks to have been repaired with some JB weld and it is leaking as well so I may drain it and run some beads on it to stop that leak. I did some welding on the frame and and am generally working on prepping for paint. I got a gal of industrial enamel, I was going for the orginal color but it ended up more of a dirty yellow, kinda a mix between the old and new cat yellows, guess I will be able to cover all bases that way. Maybe I'll paint the cab black and shell look like a new Cat!

I have been holding off on the wiring ect.. until I get her painted. The charging problem I mentioned in a previous post has not been resolved. I priced an generator rebuild and it was around $160 IIRC that still would allow the regulator as a failure point and not produce much current at low speeds (or any speeds for that matter). That being said a reman 1 wire Chevy alternator is running about $60, and will out preform the generator, look cleaner and require fewer wires. Should it fail a replacement outta be on the shelf of every auto parts store in the country. Can you guess where I am leaning on this ones?

Deas,

I picked up the front with the blade and leaned the axle side to side and could not find any interference, other then from the chain of course, it stops things pretty close to level for my liking. It looks like someone had "re installed" the last tooth on the rack by running a bead in there with a welder, I am considering this for the other side. although the way the pinion and rack mesh together it could be tough to get out.

Dude,
You're correct. .24 qts. of engine oil is what it takes. I use Delo 400 15-40 (plus a couple quarts of Power Punch additive) all year around in mine. Same with the tranny. For grease on all my stuff I've gone to Power Punch or Permatex. A buddy with a log truck got me started on that stuff. .since he's been using it his u joint problems have all but disappeared plus it doesn't seem to thicken up in cold weather like most of 'em do.

I've been contemplating getting rid of the generator on mine and going with the 10 SI alternator as well. When working at night in winter with all lights on and both heater fans going, the generator just doesn't put out enough juice even with the engine at full howl but then I've added a few more lights (and defroster fans) than it originally had. .I like to see what's around me. Without the defroster fans, the windows really fog up hence the added fans.

Hi, Grader Dude.
If my memory serves me rightly, these old jiggers had a LOT of front axle oscillation, more than most farm tractors - helped the front wheels to climb over heaps of gravel.

The memory is a but vague now about the procedure for removing the lean wheel rack fron the lean wheel bar. I seem to remember that you can add shims to them to compensate for wear without removing the rack totally from the lean wheel bar. I also have a vague memory that you only need to undo three bolts and you can slide the whole rack out frontwards but it's 25 years now since I last associated with the beasts so I may be missing something here.

I think the notion of upgrading to an alternator is a good one.

Just my 0.02.

Ol Grump, I feel yah on the increased electrical load, I plan on having 2 lights behind the blade, one in-front, 2 to see where the heck I am going and one behind me to switch on when I backup. I had not thought about defroster fans but that makes alot of sense, where do you have yours mounted? Do you have a link to the grease you had mentioned? I looked some and could not find it online.

Dude,

The grease I buy at NAPA. .you might check at your local auto parts houses as it's not that rare. Here's a ink to check out www.powerpunch.biz/

I've got the moldboard lights, original headlights plus a pair of high intensity driving lights mounted up forward on a bracket I bolted on. Then there are the backup lights (I added another one) plus I've wired in blinking lights fore and aft on the cab. Like I said, I wanna be able to see. .and be seen at night.

This critter didn't have the original defroster fan so I bought a cheapie fan at Bi Mart and installed it where the original was. Then I added another for the rear window later last winter. With no headliner there was a problem with condensation on the inside of the roof. .the second fan took care of that as well as keeping the rear window clear. Too bad Cat didn't have a way to draw outside air to the heater back then like they do on the newer ones, that would have taken care of most of the condensation problem. But then, air conditioning in summer would be a treat too:lol:

OlGrump where are your mold board lights mounted? I am pretty sure I want to hang them from the ROPS? I think it is big beefy bracket in front of the cab and probably one infront of the moldboard maybe suspended from the frame? I have also considered doing lights on the front somewhere, probably generic plow lights so I can have turn signals up there also. Also where did they mount a fan? There is no sign of one in my unit.

For an update I got the Scarafier mounted, I am working on dialing in little details so I can hopefully get her painted before it gets too cold.