D6c Dead axle taper loose

I had it done on a D814a Ziegler mason city someone from des monies came up don't remember the cost. a few years ago.

Here is a thread onthe one I did on a D4 that may be of some help.

http://www.acmoc.org/bb/showthread.php?25802-Problems&p=170979&highlight=#post170979

Thanks Glum,
I called Cat and spoke with a service manager. He said it had been quite a while since they've bushed a dead axle. He's going to look into it and see what it would cost to have it done.
Sounded like he'd have to try and find someone old enough to remember how to do it.

They may be able to do it on site but he thought it would cost quite a bit more.....send out a service truck to disassemble, send out the machine shop truck to bore & bush it, then send the service truck out again to put it all back together.

I have heard of guys shimming the taper on the dead axle to tighten them up but I'm not sure it that's really a good fix or not.
Looks to me like Cat could have just made up a taper reamer tool on a guide shaft to clean up the taper and make it just a little bigger....then sell an oversize dead axle to fit. Would have been a lot less work. Not enough call for it now, but back in the day it would surely have been worth it.

Too bad they didn't design the axle with a shoulder and bolts like the bigger tractors....it's kind of a weak point in the smaller machines.

Agreed, a straight shaft with a keyway and shoulder would have been the way to go in my opinion.

Well, I heard back from Cat....their price for boring out the dead axle taper and installing a bushing (along with disassembly & reassembly) was $8500. That's pretty much a non-starter from my point of view. They said just to make the bushing in their shop would be most of $2500. Ouch. Not faulting them....they have to make money, but can't justify putting that much into a 40+ year old machine.

My options are, run it as is and watch that it doesn't get worse, trade it off, or fix it by other means.

Talked with a couple of independent mechanics and got some ideas. The guy that worked on it before thought the axle was a little too loose to tighten it up by shimming (he had tried that last time).
I have a line on someone with portable line boring equipment that could bore out the case. I think I can get the specs for the bore & bushing from Cat and I have a friend with a CNC lathe that could make a bushing for me. (could do it myself but his equipment would do a much nicer job)

So, would this make sense for a plan?
*Jack up the tractor in my shop, pull the track & track frame
* Pull the outer hubs/bearings from the final drive.
* Pull the sprocket, case & bull gear as a unit to avoid pressing off sprocket
* Hire mechanic to pull the axle (if it doesn't just fall out)
* Hire line boring of the bushing hole
* Make bushing or hire it made
* Hire mechanic to push in axle and help reassemble final drive.
* Install track frame and track

Kind of depends on if I can line up someone with a line boring machine and how the costs will add up.
Did I miss anything?

Are you out of range for the shaft protrusion specifications, eg. no room left to further press the shaft and reset the retaining nut while the press load is still on the shaft. I'm not big on cobb jobs but I'd be looking at a way to prevent the shaft from further rotation and I'm thinking there may be a way to lock tab the inside adjusting nut. I'm thinking weld something up as a limiting device without welding to the housing. I haven't done this or seen it done so who knows. Dowel pinning the shaft also comes to mind but then your messing with the housing. If it's at the point to where the shaft is flopping around then nothing is going to hold.