Case 850-C Bulldozer track adjustment?

Hi, I have a Case 850-C bulldozer we recently bought, and have been using it, it has 9500 hours on it, I changed the motor oil, tranny oil, hydraulic cylinder reservoir oil and cleaned air filter. i didn't get to check the final drive housing oils, I'm sure their fine, i sure hope they have oil. i mean they shouldn't have leaked out. anyways, when i got the dozer, the tracks were both tight, no slack, the way they are supposed to be, then i put another 24 hours on the hour meter of the dozer, clearing land, and the tracks loosened up, as usual, like they are supposed too. So i shot grease into both sides and tightened them back up snuggly, hardly any noticeable slack, i mean i left a little slack because your supposed to but hardly any. Then i put another, probably 20 hours on the dozer again, and they both became loose again after using it 24 hours, LIKE USUAL, they are supposed to come loose. so i shot grease into them and tightened both tracks up snug again. used it for another 30 hours, then they started coming loose again, though i noticed this time that the left Track, was loosening up a bit faster than the right track during this 30 hours of use, so obviously the left track was very loose compared to the right track, though they were both loose, so when i went to tighten them back up by pumping grease into the cylinders like you are supposed to, i was able to tighten up the right track but it was very hard to, like i had to use a lot of force to pump grease into it, so i used air compressed grease gun and did it, and it barely tightens up, or needs extreme force to. the left track, i cannot get it to tighten up, it takes grease, because i am able to pump the grease gun, "extreme force necessary" my arms are not that strong, i can only bench press 170 pounds. but thats my question, why is both tracks taking grease and not extending, i mean the right track is barely tightening, BARELY. thats why i don't think the cylinders are fully extended, maybe they are, i don't know. if they are, how big of job is it to fix and what do i do? sorry for this huge paragraph and all these words and questions, just answer the best you can. Thanks guys.

first thing take a 3/4 inch deep well shock back out the adjuster that your putting the grease in it could be you have a bad zerk clean all the old grease out where you took out the fitting.. retry when the track are real loose it helps to move the machine some.. now if the seals are bad go to http://partstore.casece.com find your machine there a brake down of the parts seal you need there. you have to brake the track slide front roller ahead to remove piston to replace the seals not a bad job if you ahve a couple H2A Mexicans to help you.. i just did a 1150c it has the gater type tracks some have a master pin more fun that way some come apart fairly easy and some are a real pain..

The tracks really shouldn't loosen much at all in the amount of time you were running it. Maybe all of the times added together it maybe would loosen a little bit, but not as much as you say it has. Kudos on keeping an eye on it though, as most don't. That being said, make sure your front idlers aren't shelled out (bushings gone), and, there are wear pads on the track frames that wear out and can bind up from wearing in one spot for a long time. Track adjuster may be leaking as well, but shouldn't cause a hard adjust like you have. You can usually tell if it is leaking if you pull the cover off right behind the yoke where the grease fitting is. If the shaft has grease around it where goes into the barrel, the seals are leaking, an easy job. A question though, do the idler side brackets, (like in the center where the shaft goes through) stick out past the end of the track frame? If so, that means your tracks are quite worn, which can also allow the idler brackets to rotate more than usual, almost jamming it from sliding in the track frame as it's supposed to. On the track adjuster, that style can allow the rod, which is essentially the piston, to be pushed all the way out of the yoke (bore), so it's not like it has anything holding it under a certain length of stroke, aside from the track itself. If the track wasn't on there, you could use a grease gun to pump the shaft right out of the barrel. Now, I've seen some of the shafts seize up solid in the bore after not being used for a long time, but that doesn't sound like your case. In that event, a Porta power hooked into the grease fitting and sometimes even a rosebud on the bore about where the seals are. Also check the little 2 bolt plates that bolt to the idler side brackets, there should be a little bit of room between those plates and the outside of the track frame. Isually, there is plenty of room between there due to wear over the years, but it's something to look at. You are fortunate to own a piece of Caseequipment, as parts for almost anything are readily available both OEM and aftermarket for very reasonable prices. I've done UC work on hundreds if not thousands of machines over the years, so if you have any other questions, ask away.
Maybe this will give you a better idea of whats in there

A leaking greese zerk on the adjusting cylinder certainly is a posability as well as leaking seals on the adjuster rod. Gobs of greese should be present somewhere with these leaks.
Whe you said it suddenly it took lots of pressure to adjust track and it didn't tighten, I would say your adjusting cylinder has bottomed out and you need to remove a track link.
Had the dozer sat for a long time before you got it???:
Loren

I had the same problem with track loosening on our 550G.The boss ordered all new tightener and I installed it. I did not take the track apart I pulled track tight with a chain and binder from the blade. You can see the seals on the chrome rod in the last pic. The dealer sent the wrong chrome rod the one in the picture is for a rubber tracked 550G. I'll get to take the other side apart this winter.

Thanks guys, yea, i already replaced both grease zits, i forgot to mention that. thank you very much for them pictures, they are very useful, especially when i will probably need to break it down, I'm not sure, but yes, and everyone else, I'm not to familiar with the parts you are talking about, maybe if you had pictures too or something, I will clean up my dozer and upload pics of the tracks and adjustments to show you guys. but thank you very much for the help guys. i will take a closer look today. i know right now, that they will both take grease if i use extreme force, but the tracks won't tighten up. so i heard one said it might be jammed because it is worn, one said it might be bottomed out, if so, all i would have to do is take a track link out? i know they are worn but i am broke and can't afford new tracks "shoes" until next year when i have a good corn crop "wink wink". So i will take pics and tell me what you guys think. So I'm asking this also, if the cylinders are bottomed out to tighten the track, i could just take a link out of each side. so how do i suck the cylinder back in then? have to be a way to get grease out of there. and if the seals are blown, then i will replace seals and shorten tracks by a link also. let me know your thoughts.

If they are worn enough to take a link out, you can just push the idler back with a stout block of wood between the blade and the idler, and free you take the grease fitting out or loosen it. Put a rag around it, or it will squirt grease all over. Will squirt out lots of grease anyhow, just won't get all over as much stuff if you cover it with a rag. Take a picture of your track links, a side shot of where your idlers are in relation to the track frame when the track is pumped up (if you can). Sometimes you can only take a link out of one side, depending on wear. Usually if a track link can be removed, track wear is very excessive, like beyond needing to be replaced excessive, but sometimes you have to do only what you can afford, and that is OK. I hate to go against what ACG says, but that adjuster essentially can't be hard to pump out due to being out of travel. If the track was off, or loose enough, you could pump grease in there until the "piston" pops out of the barrel, at the same pressure all the way on through. Does it have SALT tracks (Sealed And Lubed Tracks)? If it does, those will have a rubber plug in one side of the pins on every link of the track chain. The pins in SALT tracks are not hardened like dry pin and bushings, due to the fact that the pin and bushing is full of oil (before they get all wore out). This means that if you have SALT tracks, and they are worn enough that the pads clank together and the links are loose, there isn't any oil left in there, and they wear at a VERY accelerated rate as compared to the dry pin aND bushings that use no oil, but are hardened more to compensate for that. You don't want to take a link out if you can't get the adjuster back far enough, you won't be able to wrap the track. Get us some pictures when you have a chance and we'll see what we can do to help.

Ross

Hey, I got one photo I had on my computer, I will get more later today. But here is the front left track wheel, and the frame it's on. It looks to me like it's all the way extended out to the little square notch and that's what's stopping it from extending out anymore. So what do you say? Does that say I could shorten the track by a link maybe? That seems to be about the only thing I could do, since I can't afford any track system parts if you know what I mean. Thank you

I have never had any luck taking a link out.
Throws the track link pitch off.

From the looks of the mud my guess is you had them too tight
And the mud tightened them more and blew the seals.

When working in mud you always run the tracks a little loose when dry because they will tighten up when muddy.

Tom

I'm trying for the life of me to see what may be stopping it up, but I just can't see it with that mud, and I can't remember anything that would be stopping it up. With that being said, I'm certain you don't have enough there to take a link out. They have to be VERY worn out to take a link out, and your idler side brackets aren't even out past the end of the track frame. Usually to have enough slack to take a link out, the idler bracket will be either flush with the front of the track frame, or sticking out past the front of the track frame by a little bit. It looks as if yours is still at least 2 inches from being flush with the front of the track frame. I still say you should have more travel to the track adjuster, something must be stopping it up. I have seen people that had bad track adjusters pull the track tight with the blade by putting a chain around the idler, then welding a block on the track frame behind the idler. I've also seen where people have had the track adjuster pumped out so far the grease was coming out around the seals (out of usable stroke), so they built spacer blocks to stick in between the idler brackets and the track adjuster yoke where they bolt together. Like I said, if you don't have the money to spend on it, there are ways to get by. Just need to see what's stopping it up from going out farther. But, like I said, if that picture is with the track pumped up where it should be, there isn't enough room to take out a link. If that picture is with the track slacked off before you tried adjusting it, there may be enough room to take a link out.

That little bolt, I looked at more, yesterday, is stopping the track from tightening up anymore. I can't but a paper clip between the bolt and track adjuster. That bolt is on the other track as well. Thank you very much for everything you are doing, sorry about my complications, but I'm just wondering why them bolts are their. I guess the next step I should do is take them bolts out maybee?? Thanks, and for the other guy, I'm not workin in mud, but when I came up to park bulldozer, I had to dive threw a little mud hole, that's why that's on there.

Ah, ok. I see where I went wrong there. You are correct, that bolt is stopping the idler. That bolt holds the wear strip on underneath that lip of the track frame. There should be another bolt say 8 to 10ish inches behind that front one, that holds the rear of that wear strip in place. Many machines have those wear strips welded in place. So you technically can't just remove that bolt. You could, if you welded the wear strip on along the front of it, it's only about 3/4" wide. Then if you got to the point you were going to fix the tracks correctly, you could just nip that weld to bolt a new strip on. Or, there are a couple other ways you might be able to sneak by. You could replace that bolt with a carriage head bolt, which if there is enough wear in the idler bracket, it could slide over the rounded head instead of being stopped up by the hex head on the bolt that's on there. If the tracks are that loose, there's a good chance the idler side bracket is PROBABLY worn enough to slide over a carriage head bolt. If that didn't work, you could use a large drill bit, like an inch or 1-1/8, and basically create a countersink over the bolt hole that would allow you to use one of those tapered head allen head socket bolts to create a flush surface for the idler bracket to slide over (a bolt like pictured above). That could get you by until the tracks are worn enough to take a link out, once the idler bracket is flush or just past the end of the track frame. Welding the front end of the wear strip would be the easiest, if it were mine, and I was in your boat, thats probably what I would do. Let us know how you make out. May have to start a new post, this one is quite a ways down

Ross