Replace CRACKED End on Equalizer Bar for CAT D10 Dozer | Welding Fabrication
how you going guys Kurtis from cutting edge engineering today's job we have a d10 equalizer bar that we will be replacing the end on and the end we're going to be replacing it with was one we made in a previous video for those viewers who are unfamiliar with what an equalizer bar is it basically is an equalizing system for the track system on a d10 dozer the center of the bar is mounted up to the chassis underneath the engine and the bar then extends out to each track frame so as one track frame stands up it pushes the other track frame down so it equalizes the movement from one side to the other when they're walking over uneven terrain rocks and logs and stuff like that they have got the entire weight of the machine sitting on them and when they are working they can have a lot more weight on them if they're pushing a load or trying to lift a load and make a wall or make up a big heap so they do cop an absolute flogging but before we do that i have something i have to do that has been pissing me off for the last couple of years so we're going to go get onto that first so the windsock on the roof is sitting on a pin and every time it changes direction it squeaks if there's any wind the noises that come out of that thing are just unbelievable so we're just going to go up there and put some grease in there and sort that problem out uhh pretty high up here right so i got that sorted out so this bar actually came in to be line bored after it arrived i did a quick inspection on the bar and i found a crack in one of the bar ends and it's not something you would attempt to repair because they just don't last so the material's already been broken someone's repaired it and it just keeps failing so rather than go through that again and again and again we're going to cut the end off and replace it this equalizer bar is out of a early model d10 and we know that because the shape of the eye is slightly different to the newer model machines and the bar ends that we have manufactured so the new bar ends we have have got a hump in the top of them where all the grease ports are drilled and tapped into and they've got a hump in them to put a bit extra material there in order for strength because the early d10 bars are common for failing through the grease ports and this bar does not have the through grease upgrade that the newer model machines have so what that is that is a flat surface machined here with a thread in that for a fitting to go into and that hole is drilled all the way through the bar out through the center of the bar end to grease the bearing then there is a pipe that goes from here it gets bolted inside the equalizer bar there is a junction to a flexible hose that runs up to a junction inside the engine bay or to an auto greasing system so the machine can get grease throughout the day it can be quite difficult to get into where the grease ports are on the equalizer bar when it's fitted on the machine but these these older model machines just didn't have that available at the time someone's come up with it at a later date it was a very good upgrade but they still have the grease ports on top of the equalizer bar in case you do get a blockage or you break a hose or something like that so you can go there and do it from there on the end of the equalizer bars there are three holes that i have drilled and tapped and they also have three holes from factory so you have the center port where you put the grease in and then you have two relief valves on either side and they are relief valves so you don't over grease the bar end and pop the seals out when the fitter or the service tech is out there doing a service on the machine he can pump grease in and as long as grease comes out through those two relief ports he knows that bar end is fully charged with grease and ready for work and he doesn't pop the seals at and create himself an absolute nightmare this end is the original bar end off the equalizer bar and you'll notice there are no holes in the top of the bar for the grease relief valves to be they used to be here they've just been welded up so i did find holes on the inside from where the grease relief valves were but after it cracked someone removed those and welded it up trying to get a little bit more life out of it before they needed to do a change out on the equalizer bar so what we need to do now we need to get this set up and cut off this bar end let's check the bar the lock on so you can roll it locks it not happy with that flame that'll do right so that didn't go exactly to plan i did run into a pocket which i was unaware that it was there judging by the shape of the wear plate someone's welded to the bottom of the eq bar it should be here but it's actually about 15 mil away from that so it's the first time i've seen that happen first time i've had that happen to me but no big deal we're just going to grind this up now and get ready to fit the new end right oh so we've got the eye tacked on in place it is as parallel as it can be with the rest of the bar you really got to get these things as close as possible if not perfect if you are slightly out with your pin center it's going to create issues when the mechanics go to fit them and it will create a little bit of drama with the machine so because the bars are all cast out of steel they don't generally have many flat areas that you could reference from in order to get an eye straight again so what i generally use is the inside of the center point because it is machined it is a flat surface and it is true and concentric with the rest of the bar they don't get any wear in there because there is a big seal there protecting it so i use one two three blocks i stand my straight edges up off the center i use that to measure down to the existing bar end and then i modify the measurements in order to suit the new bar ends because these are 120 mil thick and the other ends are only 110 so you need to take that into account when you're positioning these i double checked my measurements to make sure everything was in alignment and everything was in their right position after i did that i tacked it in place and then i tacked off my weld runoff plates so i'm going to do a few passes uphill i'll back grind each pass so i get 100 percent penetration and then we can start to fully weld this out so the wire we're going to be using to weld our new bar end onto our equalizer bar is hobart xl525 it is a dual shield wire so it has a flux on the inside but it also has a gas that assists it which is 80 percent argon 20 percent co2 so i'm going to run that wire at 24 and a half volts and six and a half meters of wire a minute for the vertical ups once we get it laying horizontally we can then wind it up to about 27 volts and about seven and a half meters of wire a minute being a dual shield wire it is multi-positional not all dual shield wires are positional but this wire you can weld vertical up horizontally down hand overhead you can drag it and you can push it it really comes down to what application you're using it for because that is a cast steel equalizer bar and the bar ends we have manufactured are high tensile plate the hobart xl525 wire is a fantastic match for those two materials the weld joint actually stays a little bit more flexible than other wires out there on the market and because of that it is a great match for the equalizer bars and other components because they do take a lot of impact and there's less chances of cracking i haven't had any issues with cracking using this wire on equalizer bars or other components so i don't want any impurities on the backside of my first weld to then contaminate the joint on the other side the cleaner you get the material the better the joints going to be and that is so i get full penetration on the joint from the very beginning and then it's just a matter of moving back and forth from side to side and welding evenly so the eye doesn't pull one way right so now that we've got that bar end nice and stable and everything's really really solid what i'm going to do to finish welding this out rather than flip it on the trestles every time we're going to use our positioner righto guys so we've got the equalizer bar set up in our welding rotator we have it supported by our shop made roller stand that stands good for a couple of tonnes it's at a really nice comfortable height and i don't have to do any heavy lifting anymore for the 10 minutes it took to set this up this is going to save me so much time i can just simply turn it on spin it around weld the next side and carry on until the joint is complete first thing i need to do i need to give this weld joint a bit of a preheat then we can start welding righto guys so the welding is now complete on the new bar end the customer has asked can i please blend that well down just to clean it up so the way i do that i use my nine inch grinder to really take the bulk of the material off after the nine inch grinder i go in with a 60 grit sanding wheel to just blend that in really nicely the sanding wheels i'm using today are Sia abrasives they are really good value for money but there are other discs out there on the market that are 10 times better than these but you do pay for them the better wheel above this one would be the 3m cubitron wheel and they are just amazing if you haven't tried one i recommend you do and a lot of people often ask the question how much wire goes into a job like this so what we started with today was a brand new 15 kilo spool so i'm going to pull that out of the machine i'm going to throw it on the scales and see how much wire went into putting that end on that equalizer bar so that is 2.6 kilo worth of wire went into that weld joint and then i ground a little bit off it so there you go righto guys so the job is not complete just yet i do need to set the line borer up on this end and bore it to size if you remember from a previous video when i manufactured these i left these half a mil undersized the reason i did that is because of the amount of welding i need to do on the bar end it would more than likely distort the eye and the bearing wouldn't fit but the bar is far too hot for me to do any of that today so we'll come back to this job in the morning so the job's done now we've finished the line boring everything went exactly to plan we aren't going to fit the bearings or give this a paint job our customer has the facility and the guys to do the reassembly and then the paintwork so that's it for our job thanks for watching my hat on straight yes it wasn't the other time i looked silly oh my god it's only you that notices this i notice because it has to be straight,, why don't girls walk in uneven numbers cause they can't even [giggle] okay serious time now right are you sure you say you got it ready you think yep okay i [ __ ] look out one take ready [Laughter] okay right righto guys so the [ __ ] where we going with that [giggle] righto guys so the welding is now complete on the new bar end [ __ ] that was right right so the cup uh i'm just gonna start again so [ __ ] oh [ __ ] yeah i don't know where i was going [giggle] ahh i [ __ ] so yeah that's pretty much it so there still are grease ports there so you can go there and do it from there there [giggle ] we'll then set the line bore up and i will bore this end to size so i didn't bore the ends to a finished size i left them under size i said a lot of sizes then someone wanted to see some more blue steel [giggle] oh my god you've been practicing i have been practicing when no one's around i often look in the mirror of the forklift to go that was more of a magnum [giggle] than a blue steel okay right so i've got the equalizer [ __ ] that wind [ __ ] off train shut up where is it tip's covered in [ __ ] is there coolant in that swarf bin [ __ ] yeah oh no i really enjoyed the smoke i'm like is people gonna think our workshop's on fire sound is driving me up the [ __ ] wall shut up annoying thing [ __ ] terrible sound weeee ugh this is terrifying should i do a shot down over the side stop moving oh my god sorry wait don't move too much don't wobble it stay there don't move oh my god stop moving oh this thing wobbles a lot can go up another 2 metres yet oh my god had enough now yes UGH you can actually drive around that height nah look no no no no no stop no [nervous giggles] worried about heights ugggh that's better lower to the ground much nicer nothing like rock solid ground ow go away toot
2022-06-14 18:18
