HD5G track idler wheel repairs?

Hi,  I have for a long time now had trouble with throwing my left track whenever I would back up and turn. The grease tensioners would not hold track tension. Maybe seals are dried out and bad? 60 years is a long time for rubber to hold together. Anyway Ive always been able to beat the track back on before with prybars and a sledge hammer. This time I finally said "enough". I decided to remove the track from the idle wheel and see what I may be able to repair. I found the slides on the frame to the idle wheel bearings rusted frozen. Strangely at a slant pointing inwards toward the frame. So this may have been part of the problem along with the loose tensioner. Also found the idle wheel itself worn on the middle of the wheel. Where the center raised lip is. its not very square like a good one should be. Instead its worn almost thru on the inside edge. So my question is this: is it even possible to weld up the area and grind smooth to build up to a better shape? I really dont want to spend many hundreds of dollars on spare idle wheels off of ebay if I could fix what Ive got.  It appears to be steel. But is it cast or some kind of forging? Will I need nickle rod or is normal rod ok for this?

More pics:

Do you have access to a lathe large enough to spin the idler? I'd turn it down to get fresh (and hopefully non-work hardened) metal. Then weld it up and machine it back down again.

Not sure if it is an effect of the photo, but that track frame looks like it is sprung to me. Might be a good time to do a complete tear down of that Left side track frame. As Coke said, since everything is apart, now is the time to check for axle straightness, bearing play, seals, rollers, etc.

Andrew



Edited by Andrew_D - 28 Mar 2014 at 4:17pm

Thanks for the advice everyone. Im not sure how I will proceed yet, but It is good to know that I can weld it if I choose that path.  The photo of the track frame sprung is a distortion of the photo. It actually straight. I will be replacing the sliding shim steel that is rusted and broken. The idler wheel and axle spin true on the bearings. Not bent as I can tell. Suprisingly, the bearings are smooth and tight. Feels like they still have lube as they turn! very happy about that. Im happy that I can weld this wheel as I had been told that it wast cast and near impossible. But replacement is looking unlikely in the short term as im low on funds. But I will look for a pair of better wheels in the future. On a side note, I had always had my tracks tensioned loose as I could not get the grease tensioner pistions to move. I cleaned that all up and found I had been putting grease in the wrong zerk to get it to move. I was able to clean and get grease into the other zerk fitting and watched the piston expand. So im very hopeful now about being able to put proper tension on track once I get it back together. Again thanks for ideas.

Some more pics:

Keep the pictures coming, it is interesting about the hydra-justers.

Don't over tighten the track when adjusting - to tight will cause many problems also . 

Have a metal shop make rings the same diameter as the idler from 1/2 dia. CRS. Weld the ring to the idler as a base for the hard face welding. Given that the CRS is soft it will save a lot of welding. It is easy to make a mess when a large number of hand welded passes are needed. You have a large amount of material that is worn off your idler. Welding rod is expensive too.

Pictures :

You need to get some counterweights on the back of that machine - it is way out of balance with a loaded bucket . Mine has 2 weights a thick and thinner one . 

@ Coke in MN,  Yes you are right about needing counterweights! Mine has none. But id thought about adding a frame to hold two 55 gallon drums. Then filling them with water. That way they can be removed easy enough if needed. Just drain them. What do you think?

Water would work but then the problem with ice chunks in colder weather . 

$400 is a very good price. I paid $500 for mine in 2005 off Ebay. Cost me that much again to get home. After parts and repairs another $1000 or so, I have a working machine. Not like new, but it has paid for itself again and again over the years. A good investment that I enjoy. 

SHAMELESS wrote: the left track always came off mine too when doing the same thing, always suspended the unit in the air and pryed it back on, I found the tenshioner bolt had run outta threads to keep it tight nuff, took it out, had a machine shop lengthen it...can't remember how much...thinking it was about 2-3 inches, put it back on, adjusted it and never had anymore problems! the reason I had it done, was that the previous owner had done the same thing on the right side!

    Shameless; what you doing up at three in the morning? Ole lady (oops, I mean your loving wife) kick you out of bed? Anyhow, do you still have that outfit? Darrel