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Bearings...bearings and more bearings

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Our cats are just full of bearings....From the steering differentials to the track guide wheel hubs.
Axles like the Tucker uses...or the OC12/C4 that the Thiokols use as well as other machines.

WATER ENTRY is a common issue and within a short time will cause irreparable damage to the contact surfaces of the bearings.
It starts off as etching of the contact surfaces and then the damage progresses to deeper pitting that finally destroys the bearing....

The seals used on most guide wheels are pretty sketchy at best at keeping water out.
SNOW WATER is the softest water on the planet and will creep into nearly any place......
The Wheel bearing seals are right down in the combat zone ....covered with snow, ice and slush.
The wheels create heat as do the bearings....When the machine is stopped after the run and allowed to cool as slight vacuum is created in the beaing housing due to the air contracting after it cools......THIS SUCKS the water right into the bearing....

Next morning or next day or ???? The water gets churned into the grease and starts to do it's sinister deed.
YESSSSSSSSSSS...Most hubs have grease zirks....or Bearing Buddies......These help A LITTLE to force out water and keep grease in the bearings.

MOST seals on the track wheels are designed to keep water out and let the grease move outward.....FORCING THE WATER OUT......

Nice thought.....Once the water gets in and is mixed with the grease...IT IS THERE.....

I have not found even one set of bearings on my cat that were any good....Most are worse shape than 10 miles of death valley fire trail.
Many years of drag boat racing and dunking the trailer to get the boat off taught me the lesson well.

The only way to prevent failures is to do maintenance at the end of the season......Drop the tracks....yank the wheels/hubs and take them apart.

Guaranteed ...you will find water in some if not all of the bearings.....

Believing that the bearing buddy will save you from a wasted spindle out in the middle of nowhere is literally playing Russian Roulette .

Not if it will happen...just when

I opened up the bearings on two aluminum wheels off a Thiokol yesterday and the bearings were just like all the junk on my 2100.
Rusty corroded junk....

With the cost of spindles (Part of the axle on a Thiokol) plus the pain in the AZZ to repair it...or worse yet....A breakdown in the brush miles from the truck and help......Bearings are very cheap indeed.

Unlike the cats the run on the ski slopes day in and day out ...That have several buddies to come drag them in when the break.....Privately owned machines like ours depend on US to make sure they don't break down.

The rear axles on the diffy steer type cats are also highly susceptible to water related failures.

The OC12 HAS 14 precision ball and roller bearings in the assembly.
2 pinion bearings (One is a heavy roller bearing)
2 carrier bearings (Heavy ball bearing)
8 drop box gear bearings (4 each side ..heavy ball bearings)
2 outer axle bearings. (Double row ball bearings)

The OC12 has a vent in the top cover to allow the case to breathe..

The vent has a hose that SHOULD be run to a spot above the diffy and looped with the end pointed down and a filter screen on the end.
(Something that will not freeze closed and allow pressure to blow seals)

Again the water issue...Snow packs in and around and on top of the diffy....Let the machine sit and cool off....our old nemesis is back.....Water can get sucked inside the box.

The diffy oil can be drained and flushed out...unlike the grease in wheel bearings.
Oil changes are cheap insurance that will HELP keep that big gear box healthy.

Even a small amount of water can and will go to work eating away at the surfaces of the bearings....

By the time you know you have an issue.....IT IS WAY TOO LATE

Cats are not like your Mercedes ...that any odd noise can be heard.....nope...the carnage will be catastrophic by the time you know something is amiss...
Magnetic drain plugs are a plus....but these types of boxes do churn up metal particles due to the bands and all the big gears and thrust washers.

Mostly we want to prevent water damage and "Shellout" from bearing degradation.......As bearings degrade and fail they start shedding particles of metal...this junk goes through all the rest of the bearings and gears and causes more damage.....which further accelerates the destruction.

Just some food for thought.

Next time you are rolling down the highway for a weekend at the lake and see some hapless soul on the side of the road with smoke coming up from a wheel on his boat trailer.....YUP..Water got in those bearings and put him along side the road.....NOT IF...WHEN.

Out on the highway...it is a pain in the azz, but not likely deadly...Up in the mountains miles into the back country it can be a serious issue....and turn deadly very fast..

Maintenance of the gear boxes and hub bearings (Among other things) that are subject to the ravages of water....is the ticket...
 
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