HB11B track question

[ACEd]

Looking at a 1973 HD11B that has track issues. Need info/help.

First the left track is missing 3 pads and both tracks show lots of wear. Sprockets appear good. How much trouble / cost to replace tracks?

Second the tensioners are stuck. Owner says he tried to force grease in to adjust, but old grease is caked hard and can not clear blockage. How do I deal with this if I buy the dozer?

Last what is such a dozer worth - well used, but usable otherwise?
 

[NCWayne]

Cost to replace tracks with new would be way more than the machine is worth. You might find a good set of used tracks but even then your probably gonna pay upwards of $3000 for them, on a good day. Either way you go, tracks and anything else undercarriage related is going to be expensive.

As far as hydraulic track adjusters my suggestion would be this. Open the fittings like your collapsing the track and see what happens. You might have to bump the idler with another machine to push it back, but doing so will let you know if everything is actually locked up or not. Too it should push much of the old grease out and maybe clear whatever is not allowing the new grease to be pumped back in. That said I've never run into a machine where it simply sitting makes the track adjusters not take grease. How long exactly has this machine been sitting unused? IF the fittings are actually blocked clearing them shouldn't be that big of a deal. However if the adjusters have been sitting so long that they have rusted, and will not move, then there's no telling what your getting into. I've seen them where the bore on the adusting cylinder was so rust pitted from sitting that there was no fixing them. Even new seals wouldn't seat because of the rust pits.

All of that said, a machine that old isn't worth alot to start with. With any kind of major undercarriage problems like your describing are, or potentially are present, I personally wouldn't give over scrap value for the machine regardless what shape the rest of it was in.

Hope this helps, and Good luck.
 

[jm.]

Wayne I love the way you explain things.. reall good jb.. I know this is a conservsative site and for old equipment but somethins I cring when a man says he is going to bring back a old td or some of thowe old 50 year dozers. They will spend more than they can ever think of getting out of the things but sure are a lot of folks the like to mess with old iron. Hope you are have a good week.. Got a little rain here and things looking better. jm.
 

[NCWayne]

Thanks. Personally I enjoy taking old stuff giving it a new life.....as long as it's on another man's dollar...LOL Seriously people running into problems like this post talk about are so common it's not funny. I get people all the time talking about buying a machine that "only needs a $200 part. The thing they don't understand is it will often take me two days labor to change that one part. Then there will probably be another day, and another $500 in parts, to fix all of the other stuff I find wrong along the way...and that's if they are lucky.

Now for someone like me that does this kind of thing for a living and has the tools and knowledge to do it all, it can be cost effective for me to fix up something for myself. But when you have to pay someone else to do it for you, it can get expensive in a hurry. Independent or not, no mechanic can work for free, not if they like to eat and have a roof over their head like everyone else......Personally I just wish I could get everything I've got in the works right now done and get paid so I can afford to get my A/C in the house fixed. Thankfully the last few days haven't been hitting 100 since the upstairs unit went down too. I really wish we could get some rain but I live in about a mile square area that will get rain all around without a drop falling on me. This has happened so many times over the 20 years I've been living here I can't count them all, but I can count the 4 times in the past two weeks when it's happened.....It's a mixed blessing though. No rain, I can get all of the work I need done outside, rain and the corn fields belonging to couple of farms around me all stay nice and green........