Just purchased a HD4.

Hi everyone, I just purchased a HD4 crawler, believe to be a 71 or 72. 

DMiller wrote: Rails have no lube, Rollers under MAY have had when new, replacements not so much.  Rails for these are unobtainable.

Ray54 wrote: AC used sealed only grease every 1000 rollers rollers back as far as the 1950's. So I would not have expected them to do any less on your little guy.

Ray54 wrote: Back in the 60 and 70 a white grease was what was used on the AC rollers. Pull the plug shove nozzle in, which put new grease in the back. You pumped until new clean grease was coming out around the pipe nozzle, put the plug in and you had it grease for the year. When I ran out of the last bucket of the white in the 90;s just used what ever roller grease I had for Cat 100 hour rollers. Well if the manual says a 100 hours, grease is cheap compared to parts, and labor to change parts.  On Cat 100 hour rollers you have be careful if you use a normal grease gun and not a low pressure volume bucket pump made to grease track roller. The grease gun puts out a lot more pressure and you can blow the rear seal out and not know it.

Ray54 wrote: I have had some Cat sealed for life rollers. The first one I saw a leak on lasted only a day or two. So the next one I made a grease fitting and pumped it full. Found a plug that screwed in and drilled it for a fitting. It has lasted at least a 1000 hours. I checked it several times and had a lot of grease and was not leaking so you could see it. Still good I hope but tractor is rusting away awaiting other work I may never get to. For a time every time something happened to one old D6 another was calling my name to put a offer on it out there.I lost track but pieces of 8 I think. The Cat ones look like they are filled with ATF or something equally thin. So I would fill any of them with cornhead grease.

my h has one roller on each side that has the buttonhole, i don't have that fitting to grease them. the others have grease zerts, probably been replaced at some time or another.  the best advice i can give you is to make sure your final drives have oil in them.  hopefully you won't but some parts are very hard to find and expensive for sure.  the track is suppose to have 1 1/2 inch slop in it but one of the biggest reasons those tracks try to come off is the front idler. keep it full of grease will help. if those pins wear it causes the idler to wobble some. ive had mine for over 10 years. im in no hurry so it serves me well.  mine is a 2200 gas. yours is a 2200 diesel.    tae care of it, fix it right when needed and enjoy it, 

pinball wrote: my h has one roller on each side that has the buttonhole, i don't have that fitting to grease them. the others have grease zerts, probably been replaced at some time or another.  the best advice i can give you is to make sure your final drives have oil in them.  hopefully you won't but some parts are very hard to find and expensive for sure.  the track is suppose to have 1 1/2 inch slop in it but one of the biggest reasons those tracks try to come off is the front idler. keep it full of grease will help. if those pins wear it causes the idler to wobble some. ive had mine for over 10 years. im in no hurry so it serves me well.  mine is a 2200 gas. yours is a 2200 diesel.    tae care of it, fix it right when needed and enjoy it,

With 6 different tracked vehicles over last 40 years and 2 now still used - 
With 15 or more Motorcycles with chain drive primary and final drives 
 The idea the chain pitch changes as chain stretches from wear is well known . 
You do not measure wear between pin to pin of 2 links but over 4 or more 
 The rollers or bushing has to align with sprocket tooth to index - inside wear is one part you can't see, outside wear at sprocket contact is easy to see and feel .
 If you have ever seen the inside of a crawler chain of the metal to metal wear with egg shaped inner hole in bushing and one side of the pin worn in over 1/4" it's easy to see how  alignment becomes a issue . 
  A motorcycle chain is something I replace at about 10,000 miles but lube several times during that period , in fact I keep a couple chains s I can remove and clean one chain while riding with another being cleaned and re-lubed as well as carrying a small bottle of chain lube on bike also .
 My H4 D was owned for over 10 years with one rebuild of tracks (turning) . My HD5G I have ran over 40 years and only ONCE did I shorten track one link - to get it moved from jobsite onto trailer to get it to the shop to replace the tracks .
 Removing that 1 link changes full geometry of track to sprocket wear pattern - in the short time it works but for machine life it's a real problem .
 If you ever noticed on a motorcycle the hooked shape pf a sprocket tooth it's from chain wear - and it's the same on a crawler  .  with an elongated chain, the rear sprockets will quickly get worn so the chain skipping  will occur with a new chain – due to worn rear sprockets. Rear sprocket wear (except an extreme one) is impossible to determine by looking. Even a fraction of a millimetre wear is enough to cause skipping of a new chain. 

Thanks for the replies and information everyone, all very helpful!
I was able to get the fluids changed and everything adjusted, put the batteries back in and drove it a little to see how it runs. Everything seems to run good now except the track issues.
I checked out the bushings and they have already been rotated once. The tracks definitely can't be run the way they are now, just because with the threaded adjuster not in the yoke the tracks won't stay on very long with everything being loose, and I'm sure other things will break.
So the dilemma of letting it sit until I can possibly find replacement parts, or remove a link. I'll have to do more research and see what replacement parts I can find, if any.

I think removing a link, or maybe lengthen the adjuster rod a couple inches is a good SHORT TERM SOLUTION for a TEST. ..( im not sure there is enought LENGTH to remove 1 link and still FIT).... You just got the tractor, so you may want to RUN IT a little before you get in deeper..

Edited by steve(ill) - 03 May 2022 at 5:50pm

steve(ill) wrote: some more data....... https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=crawlers&th=107568

This is a pic of the left side I have adjusted to the factory 1 1/2" of sag. The tensioner rod is adjusted completely out of the yoke and only grabbing on the lock plate. Notice the front of the slide is completely forward, even the front bolts were removed on the shims to allow it to move further forward. So even if I shimmed the tensioner rod there is only about 1/4" the idler wheel could go further forward, but then the issue of the tensioner rod allowing the yoke to move around would still be a problem.

Is the parts wear pretty even side to side on the undercarriage, or is the right worse than the left? From your first photo it looks as you may have a skipping problem with the chain and sprocket wear once the track is tightened up. I'm not certain you will be able to fit the track with a link removed as Steve pointed out also. Thinking I would fabricate another adjusting rod of additional length to tighten them up and prove the tractor worthy of further investment?

It may work Vetter.... but each link is 7-8 inches between the pins ?  That seems like a lot to make up..... But you dont know till you try........

Edited by steve(ill) - 04 May 2022 at 8:55am

Your left side track is facing the wrong way - and also it looks like sprocket teeth are SHARP and worn beyond limit .
 Track pads are loader pads not dozer - 
Kind of a point where it might be a time to find another owner rather than chase good money into something - One reason my H4 got traded off - became anothers problem and not mine