Track Frames Off!

In order to get at the sprocket you need to take the track frames off. They are the long yellow iron frames that run the length of the crawler. This did not go well. There are two ways to take the track frames off. Both options involve large nuts (1-1/4 & 2 inch) that are tight, dirty, rusted, and beat-up from 50 years of work. I have a 24 crescent wrench and put a 4 foot pipe on it for leverage. I could jump up and down on the pipe and nothing moved.

So I soaked things down with WD-40 (I need to make a trip to town for the good stuff: Knocker Loose, Liquid Wrench, etc.). and I would come back and try again. I tried something I heard about in Farm Show magazine http://www.farmshow.com/. It involves heating up the suspect nut and then putting candle wax on it. The theory is as the nut cools the wax gets sucked into the threads and thus gets between the rust and metal and lubricates. NO SUCH LUCK.

I don't have a full-blown torch, just a propane bottle torch used for plumbing. However, I continued to use it to heat the area and let the WD-40 suck into the threads. Finally, with the help of my next door neighbor (he had a large wrench as well) the big 2 inch nut gave way. This allowed me to pull the long connecting rod that goes across the machine and both track frames dropped to the ground after ten minutes of grunting and pulling. Then you simply roll the track frames ahead and out of the way on your previously laid out tracks.