N.E. Oregon. New OC-3 owner!

[Will_Faulkner]

Good morning all!  I have recently bought a new 1952 Oliver OC-3 with a 4 way hydraulic dozer blade and a 3 point hitch.  It took a while to get it home as everyone wanted to see it when I stopped for fuel and food.

[hotratz]

Welcome. Post some pictures of your machine in the OC-3/OC-4 section when you can. Those three point hitches are rarer than hens teeth.

[Will_Faulkner]

I will certainly do that.  It looks like I need to rebuild both Idlers and at least one roller.  One can reach in there and wiggle them by hand.  The grousers need to be welded up higher as a previous owner welded 1/2 in plates over the center of each track pad and the grousers have worn down even with those plates.  The brake bands also need to be inspected.  A grease pot was thrown in with an unknown type of grease in it.  More research will need to be done before I use any of it.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of "shovel ready projects" for the little slug and I am enjoying every bit of it!

[Lowspeedlife]

Will, your OC3 with a three point hitch is indeed a rare bird, would love to see some pictures. As for the "grease pot", that may be why your rollers & idlers are worn. The rollers & idlers should only be supplied with oil, 90 weight mineral oil to be specific. Many people thought grease would be better but once dirt gets into the grease it becomes like grinding paste & wears out the roller/idler bushings. You are supposed to oil all the rollers/idlers daily, this pushes out the dirt to reduce wear. The only exception to this is John Deere "corn head grease" intended for corn harvesting machinery, it is a solid when not in motion but as soon as it gets moved around it becomes a liquid.  Good luck. Scott

[Will_Faulkner]

I have tried to post some pictures to no avail!  So far I have disassembled the final drives on both sides, all six track rollers, and partially the two front idlers. I have not yet decided if the main springs will be rebuilt this year or next.  My final drive shaft on the right side was wiggle loose and could be removed by hand with no resistance. Unfortunatly this will require a trip to the machine shop to bring the orifice back to factory specs.  It was so loose that the drive gear was tilted far enough to begin wearing through the track spacer on the bottom of the spacer.  It is a very good thing this was caught before the spacer was good for nothing but scrap!    In order to take off that track spacer, the three point hitch had to be removed to clear access to the transmission case rear cover, which when removed gave access to the bolts on the inside of the transmission case holding on the track spacer.  The three pt hitch was bolted above and below the spacers, and clamped to the spacers themselves!  I have just concluded a phone call to Zimmermans for all the parts required to rebuild both final drives.  The machine shop quoted me 4-8 hours plus materials to complete the repair....ouch!

I will try to post a picture of the 3 point hitch again: