For any that remember my posts awhile back about getting jerked around by the machine shop working on the block, etc, for a customers D6 dozer, well that ordeal is finally over. Actually the machine shop part of it has been over for a few weeks now. Once I got everything back it then took me a couple of weeks to get everything back together and ready to set back in the machine. The basic engine wasn't that bad and if that was all there was to it it wouldn't take that long to do. But when you throw in the time spent machining the tool to install the rear main seal, machining the tools to rebuild the fuel transfer pump (time making tools not charged to the customer by the way) and ultimately getting the engine 'dressed out' with the oil coolers, pumps, lines, torque converter, hydraulic tank and control station, etc, etc., it turns a simple engine rebuild into a bit more of a major undertaking. All together the manual says the 'assembly' weighs in around 3500 lbs.
Anyway, got it all complete last Sunday and after putting out a few 'home fires', headed out of town on Tuesday to put it back in. I had everything setting between the frame rails and bolted down, the lines hooked back up, etc all by the end of the day on Tuesday. Wed morning I started putting together everything the customer had taken off before I got in on the project. This included the fan, blade cylinders and their cross bar, the hardnose, belly pans, etc, etc. By the end of that day we fired it up for the first time. This is when we discover that it won't shut down. I hadn't spent any time on the fuel pump, at the customers request, so I was expecting the worse. They had had the pump off and spent several grand at the dealer right before I got called in on the deal, and had been old the pump was OK. Since it was almost dark by that time I checked the problem the next morning and found the pump was indeed fine and the problem actually lay in the throttle linkage's friction mechanism. One of the coil springs inside had broken one coil and it has the mechanism jammed. A little cleaning, oiling, and resealing, and everything worked like a champ.
Other than one OH $hit moment when the engine turned over under power for the first time, clunked, and seemed to lock up, things went pretty good. Thankfully the engine didn't lock up. What had happened was I had to make a guess at the length of the bolts in the aftermarket fan and chose ones just a bit too long. They protruded past the back of the fan hub, where they were hidden, and were hitting a bolt head on the water pump. Six shorter bolts, replacing one pinched O-ring on the thimble between the fuel filter housing and the pump housing, and the 'ole girl was ready to push dirt.
Since the hood coveres the hydraulic lines going to the cylinders and I had told the customer that one of them was already at the 'may pop' stage, it was left off for them to put on later. Thankfully that was a good idea because within ten minutes of pushing the line let go with a massive spray of oil.
While I removed some broke bolts from a chipper and did a few other odd jobs the customer went to CAT and got a new line made up for me to put on. By 6 that afternoon the 'old girl was setting back by the building, awaiting a good bath to remove all the oil from the blown line, and I was on my way back home.
What should have been about a month and a half to a two month project wound up taking one day short of 4 months because of the machine shop. As satisfying as it was to hear the engine fire off and see the machine out there pushing dirt for the first time it's still almost a 'downer' when a project like that is finally done.
OH well, tomorrow is another day and I've already got another engine to rebuild, an excavator to repair, a bucket truck to repair, a Bobcat needing some work, a 6-71 blower to rebuild, some fab work to do for another customer........and hopefully something else to put on the to do list by the time I get done with all of this stuff.
Anyway, got it all complete last Sunday and after putting out a few 'home fires', headed out of town on Tuesday to put it back in. I had everything setting between the frame rails and bolted down, the lines hooked back up, etc all by the end of the day on Tuesday. Wed morning I started putting together everything the customer had taken off before I got in on the project. This included the fan, blade cylinders and their cross bar, the hardnose, belly pans, etc, etc. By the end of that day we fired it up for the first time. This is when we discover that it won't shut down. I hadn't spent any time on the fuel pump, at the customers request, so I was expecting the worse. They had had the pump off and spent several grand at the dealer right before I got called in on the deal, and had been old the pump was OK. Since it was almost dark by that time I checked the problem the next morning and found the pump was indeed fine and the problem actually lay in the throttle linkage's friction mechanism. One of the coil springs inside had broken one coil and it has the mechanism jammed. A little cleaning, oiling, and resealing, and everything worked like a champ.
Other than one OH $hit moment when the engine turned over under power for the first time, clunked, and seemed to lock up, things went pretty good. Thankfully the engine didn't lock up. What had happened was I had to make a guess at the length of the bolts in the aftermarket fan and chose ones just a bit too long. They protruded past the back of the fan hub, where they were hidden, and were hitting a bolt head on the water pump. Six shorter bolts, replacing one pinched O-ring on the thimble between the fuel filter housing and the pump housing, and the 'ole girl was ready to push dirt.
Since the hood coveres the hydraulic lines going to the cylinders and I had told the customer that one of them was already at the 'may pop' stage, it was left off for them to put on later. Thankfully that was a good idea because within ten minutes of pushing the line let go with a massive spray of oil.
While I removed some broke bolts from a chipper and did a few other odd jobs the customer went to CAT and got a new line made up for me to put on. By 6 that afternoon the 'old girl was setting back by the building, awaiting a good bath to remove all the oil from the blown line, and I was on my way back home.
What should have been about a month and a half to a two month project wound up taking one day short of 4 months because of the machine shop. As satisfying as it was to hear the engine fire off and see the machine out there pushing dirt for the first time it's still almost a 'downer' when a project like that is finally done.
OH well, tomorrow is another day and I've already got another engine to rebuild, an excavator to repair, a bucket truck to repair, a Bobcat needing some work, a 6-71 blower to rebuild, some fab work to do for another customer........and hopefully something else to put on the to do list by the time I get done with all of this stuff.
