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I can get all along one side of the bolt boss. So I'm going to try pinpoint heat before an impact. The nut welded on better than expected so hopefully I'll be able to get it out.

Rain is falling so who knows when I'll get back to it again.
 
When using heat to remove a bolt, do not heat the bolt, heat the metal the bolt goes into. This will increase the size of the hole. If there was a practical way to cool the bolt the bolt would shrink and make it easier to remove. Doing both at the same time is ideal.

Kroil is another excellent penetrant.

When I was a teen my father's Porsche needed new valve guides. They heated the heads, put the valve guides on dry ice, and then installed the guides with a press.
 
Biggkidd said:
I can get all along one side of the bolt boss. So I'm going to try pinpoint heat before an impact. The nut welded on better than expected so hopefully I'll be able to get it out.

Rain is falling so who knows when I'll get back to it again.
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I am rooting for you!

The welding may have reduced the hardness of the bolt making it less likely to break.

May

Even if the weld breaks you may be able try drilling it again.

You mentioned a mag drill. Can you resort to drilling out the hole and install a thread insert ?

Always curious,

Ben
 
Ben this is the guide / keeper plate that keeps the bogie in line. So it has a LOT of stress on those 4 bolts!

As for a mag drill I don't even know anyone that owns one. My daughter stood behind me and braced me so I could put all the muscle I could muster on the drill.
 
Biggkidd,
I am going to assume the case is cast iron. Some simple chemistry for you (and I know it sound absolutely wrong but it does work.
With all the you have tried already go ahead with heating the boss that the bolt is rusted in. It is easily the best thing you can do.
If it fails then put a few drops of liquid dish soap in 1/2 cup of water. while the parts are warm flush the bolt as well as you can. After it cools down rinse it with clear water. Water is the best solvent for rust in iron. (for steel battery acid works better, but only slightly and if you leave it too long it will make it worse) Work the bolt back and forth and hit the exposed end with a punch and hammer (so you hit it straight on) Add more water and repeat until it starts to turn out. Flush it with more water each time you turn it until you get it out. The water will only dissolve the rust, not the iron or the steel. The impact from the hammer and punch will break away rust that grows out from both surfaces. Once the bolt is out flush the hole with a lot of water and then heat it to evaporate all the water and coat the hole with oil. Run a thread chaser through the hole to make sure the threads are in good shape. If it is too loose then you will have to install a thread insert after drilling and tapping. Good luck!
 
Got the last broken bolt out today. Got about a 1/4 to 1/2 turn before the first nut I welded on twisted off. So I welded another on and let everything cool down completely all the while soaking it in penetrating oil. Then it came on out without much more trouble. Still have to tap that hole out and get it all back together.
 
Alright! Got the dozer back together and moved down to the house. Where I'm currently flushing the radiator with TSP. That seems to be going well. Had lots of floating oil blobs come to the surface with the cap off. I run the hose down in the top every 20-30 minutes now. I was having to do it every minute or two. The last two times I did it there were no blobs. Really weird part is the radiator nor the injector sleeve are leaking right now. After awhile longer I'll go shut it down and drain it. Then in the morning I'll fill it again with water and TSP and work it for a couple hours. The flush with clear water. Once I get water and water only out of it I'll decide where to go next. Oh yeah one more thing it sounds better and seems to be running smoother than ever. No idea why anything to do with it's running would have changed on account of leaking torque converter oil or flushing the radiator.
 
Biggkidd said:
Alright! Got the dozer back together and moved down to the house. Where I'm currently flushing the radiator with TSP. That seems to be going well. Had lots of floating oil blobs come to the surface with the cap off. I run the hose down in the top every 20-30 minutes now. I was having to do it every minute or two. The last two times I did it there were no blobs. Really weird part is the radiator nor the injector sleeve are leaking right now. After awhile longer I'll go shut it down and drain it. Then in the morning I'll fill it again with water and TSP and work it for a couple hours. The flush with clear water. Once I get water and water only out of it I'll decide where to go next. Oh yeah one more thing it sounds better and seems to be running smoother than ever. No idea why anything to do with it's running would have changed on account of leaking torque converter oil or flushing the radiator.
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Congrats BK. Took a lot to get there, but sure sounds like major progress to me.
 
Dozer life is so cool! All but cleaning up the mess anyway. Got a hour or so taking down a patch of trees maybe 30x70. Wasn't a lot of trees maybe 20-25 and only a handful were larger than 6 inches with the largest about a foot across. But they are all down & out. Now the fun of cutting it all up starts. My already huge brush pile is going to get even larger. Hmm that gives me an idea maybe I ought to go dig a big pit by enlarging one of the larger stump holes and fill it instead then I can burn it more contained then push the other pile in it.
 
After a little thought I switched gears and got back on the dozer. The ground is in perfect condition for pushing trees down! Started clearing for the fence line I want to put in. Dozer was warm after working hard for an hour or more so I cooled it down shut it down and walked back to the house. Filled a jug with water to carry back to top it back up. I did see the radiator has started leaking again. No surprise there, the surprise was when it stopped for awhile. lol Anyway I'm headed back shortly to push some more. Trying to bust through part of one of the old slash piles the loggers left. Which's pushing this little D4 to it's limits. Trees have grown all up through and old cedar trees are laying partly stacked and partly turned every which way.

Still saying dozer life is fun!!! LMAO
 
Biggkidd said:
After a little thought I switched gears and got back on the dozer. The ground is in perfect condition for pushing trees down! Started clearing for the fence line I want to put in. Dozer was warm after working hard for an hour or more so I cooled it down shut it down and walked back to the house. Filled a jug with water to carry back to top it back up. I did see the radiator has started leaking again. No surprise there, the surprise was when it stopped for awhile. lol Anyway I'm headed back shortly to push some more. Trying to bust through part of one of the old slash piles the loggers left. Which's pushing this little D4 to it's limits. Trees have grown all up through and old cedar trees are laying partly stacked and partly turned every which way.

Still saying dozer life is fun!!! LMAO
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Thank you for that story!

For the foreseeable future, a dozer is not something I will be able to play errr... work with so I enjoy living vicariously through tour reports. If you can share an image or a dozen ;) I would appreciate them.

Ben
 
I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow Ben. I just now came inside and it's dark 30.

Ended up spending the better part of the day on the dozer. Had a freaking blast too! Got way more done than I expected to. The one east west fence line is done. Well done with the major clearing anyway. Made a good start on a north south line too. I'd guess I put about 12 gallons of water in the radiator today so she's leaking pretty good. But hey that's okay. I got no problem stopping every hour or two and refilling the radiator. Gives me a break from taking that beating. First time I've seen some of this ground in 13-14 years. Need to check and see how much fuel I used before I start using it again. I had about 12-15 gallons in there. I think the tank holds about 30. I almost got stuck in one real wet bottom. Had me seriously worried there for a few minutes.

Oh BTW my youngest (16) managed to get the tractor stuck. Took 4x4 the diff lock and pushing with the bucket to get it out. Thank the lord she stopped trying when she did or we might have had to pull it out with the dozer.
 
Biggkidd said:
I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow Ben. I just now came inside and it's dark 30.

Ended up spending the better part of the day on the dozer. Had a freaking blast too! Got way more done than I expected to. The one east west fence line is done. Well done with the major clearing anyway. Made a good start on a north south line too. I'd guess I put about 12 gallons of water in the radiator today so she's leaking pretty good. But hey that's okay. I got no problem stopping every hour or two and refilling the radiator. Gives me a break from taking that beating. First time I've seen some of this ground in 13-14 years. Need to check and see how much fuel I used before I start using it again. I had about 12-15 gallons in there. I think the tank holds about 30. I almost got stuck in one real wet bottom. Had me seriously worried there for a few minutes.

Oh BTW my youngest (16) managed to get the tractor stuck. Took 4x4 the diff lock and pushing with the bucket to get it out. Thank the lord she stopped trying when she did or we might have had to pull it out with the dozer.
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I was moving a trailer load of compost yesterday to get near the raised beds. Hit a wet spot and the trailer tire sank almost to the axle. Had to get the big tractor to pull everything out. Little tractor was just spinning
 
I don't know why the engine is running better, but my guess is that the oil sludge was not pumping through the system well nor was the sludge carrying away as much heat as clear water. The sludge may even have been an insulator.
 
Caribou said:
I don't know why the engine is running better, but my guess is that the oil sludge was not pumping through the system well nor was the sludge carrying away as much heat as clear water. The sludge may even have been an insulator.
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I think it's just from actually being run and getting hot. I just bought this in the fall and never used it more than about a half hour - hour at a time. Yesterday it ran the best part of the day and today it ran all day.
 
Wow time really does fly when you're having fun! Been on the dozer since about 9am and just came in thinking it had to be close to lunch time only to find out it's a couple minuets till 4pm! SHOCKING... Haven't made nearly as much progress today as I was yesterday. At least it doesn't seem that way to me. My oldest daughter came out and said wow you've been busy pop so maybe just a perspective thing. lol
 
Ouch just really realized how much fuel the dozer is using. Not sure I can afford to use this thing very often. I probably burned 15-20 gallons of diesel yesterday and another 15-20 today. I'm also seeing some significant transmission or converter oil leaks. Hadn't noticed that before. He told me it leaked everything before I bought it so it's not a surprise. As they used to say in real estate it's JAM (just add money). Ugh lol

The girls took a bunch of pics and are supposed to email them later so pics once I get them. Just found out neither girl got pics of all trees I've got to process in to firewood. lol There are a LOT of small trees and probably the brush that are going to be left to rot down but all the hardwoods over 3 inches will be firewood.

I've probably got a month or more of clean up to do after yesterday and today's clearing. Then I'll see about finish grading. maybe! lmao I'm TIRED!!
 
While I agree that fuel use is sometimes a shock, the amount of work done per gallon is a fair bit. Fuel consumption in equipment is rated in horse power hours per gallon, a dozer is probably 8 to 14 hp-hr per gallon
 
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Tirediron said:
While I agree that fuel use is sometimes a shock, the amount of work done per gallon is a fair bit. Fuel consumption in equipment is rated in horse power hours per gallon, a dozer is probably 8 to 14 hp/hr per gallon
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Q
Should that be...

hp-hr

?

Yeah I sweet the details. :rolleyes:

Ben
 
Tirediron said:
While I agree that fuel use is sometimes a shock, the amount of work done per gallon is a fair bit. Fuel consumption in equipment is rated in horse power hours per gallon, a dozer is probably 8 to 14 hp/hr per gallon
Click to expand...

It does do a pile of work and that's a fact. I'm just use to my little Jinma tractor using a 8 gallon tank every other couple weeks unless I'm plowing or something pulling hard. Heck it'll pull a two bottom 16" plow two days on a tank of fuel.
 
Please understand all I've done so far is to push the regrowth off there is still a LONG way to go before it'll be done.
 

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You can save all that diesel by using a swede saw, axe, shovel, and pick. It will take you a little bit more time but the savings will be...worth it? You're spending a huge amount (20 gallons) of diesel for a mere few months of your life. Is the pleasure you're getting from riding around on that toy really worth all the expense?
 
Caribou said:
You can save all that diesel by using a swede saw, axe, shovel, and pick. It will take you a little bit more time but the savings will be...worth it? You're spending a huge amount (20 gallons) of diesel for a mere few months of your life. Is the pleasure you're getting from riding around on that toy really worth all the expense?
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LMAO

I spent a few years with that little tractor and chainsaws and hardly cleared that much. I'll pay the fuel and enjoy the ride long as I'm able! Until now we've lived here 14 years and I only managed to finish clearing about 4.5 to 6 acres. I'd bet I scraped at least two acres in two days. Granted that's no where near finished but still a lot better!
 
Just back from NAPA. Picked up 15 gallons of AW68 for the dozer. Also went to get fuel, diesel has gone up to $5.29. Called Mike to see if he's let me use his parker oil act. to get off road diesel since it was ONLY $4.79 a gallon. He met me there since he was going by anyway and I got 30 gallons. Looks like I'm burning about 2 gallons an hour when I run the dozer. Plus it leaks a couple gallons of fluid in 10-12 hours of work plus all the water. lol Maybe we should name it leaky? lol I'm working on finding and fixing all the leaks. Already slowed several down or stopped them. Oh well on the plus side I have a half dozen new 5 gallon oil buckets to use now. lmao!
 
Spent another 8ish hours on the dozer today. This time I started halfway down the east property line and went south until I hit the creek / southern property line. Then turned west and went until I all but got the dozer stuck. I'd guess I made it close to halfway along the southern line / creek. Next time I will probably try and work from the point I wanted to turn at along the creek back toward where I nearly got stuck. I am worn out to the point of being rattled!
 
Biggkidd said:
Spent another 8ish hours on the dozer today. This time I started halfway down the east property line and went south until I hit the creek / southern property line. Then turned west and went until I all but got the dozer stuck. I'd guess I made it close to halfway along the southern line / creek. Next time I will probably try and work from the point I wanted to turn at along the creek back toward where I nearly got stuck. I am worn out to the point of being rattled!
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Tool or toy...

I read the kid in you enjoying the toy (learning device) that keeps you motivated to employ the tool to first improve the performance of your solar array and now define your perimeters. Nice.

Q

Are you getting your money's worth?

You are making me consider get a small multipurpose tractor for our own property.

Ben
 
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