Mechanical engineers/creative folk in da haus?

[shiftbmw]

Spend an hour and remove/reinstall the track if you truly want to be "safe" or do what you do currently, but with spotters. You could also leave the vehicle grounded and just roll forward.

You don't want to be applying enough forward force via winch or whatever to rotate the track while a vehicle of that size is on jacks, and it seems impractical to design a provision to spin the sprocket when you have the motor to do the work for you.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Roll unit on a set of hydraulic or pneumatic lifts, taking the tracks up 6-8" off the ground, place unit into neutral, Welder has an electric motor with a large, low pressure tire on a dolly type cart, and pushes it up against the tracks, wherever they may be (different size units) and "throttle" knob to slowly rotate the tracks, weld tab, rotate, repeat.

[mrsleeve]

Again weld Picks on all grouser accessible on both sides, get in it TRACK THE MACHINE fore or aft, set parking brake, shut it off, weld................. repeat till all picks are installed.

[Pinepig]

I'm going to assume when you jack these things up you only do it enough to get the tracks just far enough up to clear the ground.

Get one of these, ( or one like it )

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/heavyDutyPowerbar.php

Build a little skid cart for it to sit on so the tire does not touch the ground, wedge the fucker under the track and hit the button.

[Farbin Kaiber]

^We are on the same page.

[gstuning]

I don't have an exact number for you but it's a shit ton. The inertia of the final drive isn't all that much. Like I said, you can spin it (very slowly) under your own power. It's pretty much just the weight of the tracks (approx. 10K lbs) that makes it hard to move...

Check out this picture



See the hole in the bottom ?


Long bar goes in there and the welder can easily just use his weight when this is on the apex of the track wheels to rotate the track by leaning on the bar. No fabrication of anything needed.

Something like a pry bar of sorts.

[GaryE30]

Remember to cite your sources OP!

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

[mamzak]

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS MAKING THIS SO COMPLICATED


I watch field Mechs stick Ice picks on shit and take em off in the spring ever year IN THE FIELD (d8's-d10's, 583 Sidebooms, hydorhoes, you name it). They never pull the tracks, get under the tracks with the thing in the air or on stands, or have to signal an operator to move shit,

The get on the track on each side and weld them on get it and move it and weld more move it weld more untill done (takes about 2ish hours on a d8) . On the High track shit they just weld them at the back of the machine when the are going vertical. move it ahead and weld some more. plus when I used to get recruited to do it, this is how I did it.

Why are they even doing it any other way????? Just seems to dangerous other wise when the guy whos welding them on is moving and setting the brakes and shutting the thing down for HIS OWN safety.

And why are you guys just picking the center line of the tracks???? All you are doing there is making a GIANT ICE SKATE, You should be picking inside edge , Center, outside edge, center, inside edge ect.... but normally have them doubled up in the center
I have been around heavy equipment all my life in all kinds of terrain and weather, that pick set up pic you posted would SCARE the shit outta me if I had to run that thing on any kind of grade, that was frozen ground, snow and ice or any combination of, if I was not tied off to a D8 or 2 via a 1.125" winch line. ( note I have seen what happens when it goes bad, its not a good sight at all)


edit: Another quick question, why do your hydrohoes, have street track pads on them and not Grouser pads????

This SOP is for when we are installing the ice lugs in the shop, not out in the field...

And I agree with you, they are making it WAY more complicated than it needs to be. We just got a new safety coordinator or whatever you want to call it, and her nipples are so erect for this it's retarded. She obviously just wants to prove to management that her position is needed I guess...I have no fucking idea. haha

As for the layout of the lugs, I dont really know why the welders do that...they aren't very bright. They just like staring at their pretty blue light. :p

As for the "hydro-hoes" never heard that term...it's an excavator..but anyways, I'm not sure why those pads are on it. Maybe they were doing some work on ashphalt? I just went out into the yard and snapped a quick pic. That's only on a baby Hitachi 250... We have everything from 250's to 8000's.

[mrsleeve]

Ok so why would the SOP in the shop be any different than in the field ????

You have to cat the thing outta the shop with the picks on it. So whats the diff if you just do it a little at a time. Next why not just have the field hands put them on out there so you dont fuck up the lowboy decks with the picks ??????


Really I dont get why this has to be so complicated in the 1st place let alone now LOL

[mamzak]

Ok so why would the SOP in the shop be any different than in the field ????

You have to cat the thing outta the shop with the picks on it. So whats the diff if you just do it a little at a time. Next why not just have the field hands put them on out there so you dont fuck up the lowboy decks with the picks ??????


Really I dont get why this has to be so complicated in the 1st place let alone now LOL

If you try and understand what goes on in mangements head around here you just end up with a massive headache. haha Ugh... I don't know how it is in the states but in Canada...especially Alberta our work safe policies are tough as shit...and corporate is all about boasting about safety so we get more clients. (in their minds anyways)

We are more of a rebuild center for our machinery, so like a complete frame off every nut and bolt/hose gets changed. It takes about a month and a half. So anyways, usually we get brand new tracks to install, which obviously dont come with lugs so we have to put them on in the shop. Doing it as we walk it outside would probably work in the summer time...but I dont know if you know how cold it gets here in the winter.... Last year Edmonton was literally the coldest place on the planet for a day. It's not uncommon to see -40F during our winters. We usually try and move quick out the bay doors to minimize heat loss in the shop, especially if we are moving something like a big 793 haul truck, or a D11...those doors are HUGE.

All I know is, the new safety bitch wants to eliminate the need for the machine to be running, and give the welders control over the work. She wants to eliminate "live work".

I'm totally for safety, but it just gets stupid out here sometimes. Guess what we have to use to cut boxes at our shop? FUCKING SEAT BELT CUTTERS
Because razor blades are DANGEROUS. OOohhhhh my fuck.

[mrsleeve]

lol yeah I get all that with management

Ok if its rebulid time and you are retracking any way, why not just put the picks on the pads before you bolt them to the track links????


and who said you have to track it out the door. A shop like that dose not have the space to track a dozer 60' to put the picks on inside???

You guys are dealing with shit that is fucking heavy all the time and they are worried about "live work" LOL how the fuck do you cycle test shit???? Oh never toss a softball up in front of the bucket when you are cycle testing an excavator on the 4th or 5th rotation. It will fuck up the shop when its bouncing all over the place. LOL

[mamzak]

lol yeah I get all that with management

Ok if its rebulid time and you are retracking any way, why not just put the picks on the pads before you bolt them to the track links????


and who said you have to track it out the door. A shop like that dose not have the space to track a dozer 60' to put the picks on inside???

You guys are dealing with this that heavy all the time and they are worried about "live work" LOL how the fuck do you cycle test shit???? Oh never toss a softball up in front of the bucket when you are cycle testing an excavator on the 4th or 5th rotation. It will fuck up the shop when its bouncing all over the place. LOL

The tracks always come pre-assembled to our shop in a big roll, we just unroll them and put them on...but it looks like we are going to have to just lay them on the floor and let the welders weld on it before we put it on. We would have the space if it wasn't so busy. I have never seen a bay empty at our shop...other than to take something out, and bring something else in.

hahaha oh I know..it's so retarded. Do you guys have ET? (Electronic Technician) it's a software program that you get from CAT, so you just plug it in the machine, and you can run all the diagnostic tests from the lap-top, it's pretty wicked! But yeah, for excavator tests and stuff we just wheel it into the yard...our yard is huge, it's like 2Km long, and about 500m wide. It's an old train yard (with all the tracks removed).

hahaha I've done that with a bouncy ball out in the yard, that thing was GONE! I want to try on an extended reach excavator though.
Like this:

you would definitely fuck shit up, that would spin like twice as fast at the end of the arm!

[mrsleeve]

I dont really get into the construction shop anymore. Used to get conscripted into it in the winter when there was no field work to do building shit or putting water or sewer main in, cuz I am fairly good with a wrench.

I got outta that line of work and went more into the inspection side of things. So never used the ET for anything, as when ever that was needed CAT just showed up lol.

[MAXELHOFF]

[SIZE="4"]mamzak- Feedback? What WILL you do?/SIZE]

[mamzak]

[size="4"]mamzak- Feedback? What WILL you do?/SIZE]

We have until the end of May to find a solution. I'll keep you guys posted! Don't worry!