Track alignment

[J Jensen]

I have what appears to be a 1956 HG crawler. The tracks seem to be at an angle in the front. The left tracks seems okay the right track tilts in at the bottom. How do you adjust or check this? The only alignment is at the rear by the sprocket, correct? The forward springs are for leveling of the front of the crawler and so there is some give, correct? Also my oil pressure seems extremely low when warmed up, like 5lbs or so, is that normal? I have been told these engines run low pressure. This is a 4 cyl. Herculese flathead. My idea is to replace my top heavy wheeled tractor with the lower center of gravity Cletrac tractor to work on the hill sides where I live. Any help is appreciated. Thank-you!   John

[Blake Malkamaki]

What width of HG is it? As far as oil pressure, 5 psi is enough.

Blake

[walter hudson]

there is not an alignment adjustments on these . the front buffer springs should both be set at the same length. there are several places to check for excessive wear which could cause your problem . the rear trunions {where rear off track frame mounts }, the lower spring mount , and wear in the  front idler shaft . you could have a bent track frame whish is a problem i had once .
                                         good luck
                                                  walter

[mtncrawler]

If your front truck wheel is slanted as you look at it from the front, to me that is an indication of a bent axle on that side. Are your track shoes wearing unevenly too?

[Blake Malkamaki]

Is the track frame tipped in uniformally from front to back? While parked on a level surface, check the vertical level of the track frame at front and back. If they are the same, the axle may be bent. If they are not the same, the track frame may be twisted.

I know my older E tows out slightly at the front of the track frames. Never seems to hurt anything though.

Blake

[jbandka]

Hello, I have seen many HG/OC's with this same problem and you may want to check the front idler bearings/shaft as this is a common problem with this model. I believe that the basic problem was neglect over the life of the crawler and when they got towards the end of their useful life they were just neglected like I said before until they wouldn't go anymore. It was probably noticed that the tracks were starting to tilt in or out but was just easier to keep running it that way rather than stop and repair the machine that was still doing its job, as I have seen these so bad that the tracks and idler will flop back and forth 4"-6" on the spindle but keep on going and not throw a track. They would bind up and kill the engine once and awhile but again was (in the mind) probably easier to just restart the crawler a few times when it locked then to fix it...