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J5 steering issues

B

buster

New member
My J5 has started making clicking sounds when pulling the steering levers. It happens when turning left or right. Does anyone know what would be the cause of this? Could it be the bushings in the differential?

Buster
 
Are the tracks tight enough that you can be sure the drivers aren't slipping in your tracks when you turn?? They will click each time the teeth pop out and slip a notch.

Just something to consider. Not sure what would cause a clicking noise in the diff.

Good luck, Kirk
 
Hi Buster
Is this your first run since the hull rebuild, or have you been using it for a while ? If the track tension is all right, you might want to drain that diff and take that cover off. Those 6 pinion gears get pretty delicate as they wear , best to make sure they have all their teeth .
Throw a few pics up of your finished project.
J5 Bombardier:hammer:
 
I'll tighten the tracks a little and try it but i doesn't sound like the problem. It's a metalic snapping. I can hear it echo through the hull.
When I put it together the gears looked fine to me. I cleaned it up(the picture was before that)and replaced the bearings but not the brass bushings. They were a little loose but not bad. If tightening the tracks doesn't work I will pull the cover and take a look. I have not hauled any wood yet. Still having minor issues. Last winter I was having an overheating issue. I had a 2 core radiator an I was blaming it on that. Last month I bought a 4 core aluminum radiator and thought I had solved my problem. I took it out and rode around for around an hour. The temp came up to around 210 and stayed there for most of the run. But the last ten minutes it started to climb. I parked it in the garage and after a minute blew antifreeze out the radiator. I don't understand why it won't run cool. It was around 10 degrees that day. I have just installed a plow and am hooking that up. I'll get some pictures of that soon.

Thanks for all the input.
Art
 

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Looks good Buster
Does it still run hot with the side panels off, and the fan is a puller ? Diff wise , the clicking just started this season and was ok last year ?
Keep the pics coming J5 Bombardier
 
It didn't make any noise last year. I was just looking over my tracks and I think I found the clicking. The inner track guides are hitting on the spring cans on both sides. Also I found that all my tires are under inflated. They are between 20 and 40lbs. Would this cause the noise or would it be loose tracks. it is pouring out today so I won't be trying it. As far as the overheating I have not tried it with the panels off. And yes the fan pull through the radiator.
 
if you have the radiator above the engine my understanding is the panels and seal of the engine compartment is critical. you could also have a bad head gasket leaking combustion chamber gasses into the cooling system while under load. pop the radiator cap and run it a bit so your thermostat opens up than check for a steady stream of bubbles coming up in your cooling system.
 
Hi Buster
Jack the tire pressures up to 85-90 pounds and re-adjust tracks to take care of the dogs hitting the spring cans. One nice thing about a tropical J5 is to remove the side covers on a mild day , which I do quite often. Hope that solves your heat issues, keep us informed.
J5 Bombardier:hammer:
 
If your J-5 has a flat head Chrysler 6-Cyl. you should pull the water distribution tube out of it and see if it is plugged or rusted to nothing. You have to pull the water pump to find it. It likely will not come out with out a struggle but a new one usually cures those engines from overheating.
 
I had the Same clicking noise due to guides hitting spring can just after restoring my J5 and track rebuild. My track tension seemed ok but the rig would begin to bounce or "porpoise" after hitting a few bumps when traveling along. The clicking would happen when busting through crusty snow or hitting bumps and tussocks. I determined more track spring tension was needed "not just tighting the tracks". You can add more spring tension to the track tensioning wheel by moving the spring link to the second attach point on the walking beam. I don't have a great photo of it but you can see in the photo on the left side of the walking beam where the link that comes from the spring in a can, you have two mounting holes that give you more or less spring tension. I added more tension and it ended the clicking under normal driving conditions. But I have very briefly heard it happen again but only when climbing over a big log and going to fast while doing it. It made for a stiffer ride but decreased the bouncing while traveling effect allot. Im assuming this condition is due to my springs are old and have probably weakened over time. But I plan to use them this way until they bust.

On the overheating issue. My J5 runs almost too cool!. My temp gauge normally says 140 and the highest I've seen it is 160 pulling a load of moose meat and camp through a swamp. But I boiled out the core and removed the copper manifold thing in the head and cleaned it up good. I bet you have a coolant blockage in the engine block or head restricting circulation.
 

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Imp you are from, Alaska we don't call them tussiks out here in the bush .it was in fact a tree hugger doing some research for the national guard that introduced me to the word kept saying hummoks and tussiks problem is she couldn't define either one. I believe she was too worried about hurting some ones feelings, calling them what the natives have, since the whaling crews first came first came to this land.
 
Yea I call them different names in different company but who cares what ever the name is as long as we know what were talking about. What do elder bush natives call them?
 
After tightening the tracks and inflating the tires the clicking stopped. like you said it does it a little when going over bumps a little to fast. I assume my springs are weak but I think I can live with it. As far as the heating, I have ford 300 6cyl instead of the old flat head. I had heating issue right from the start. Radiator was a new 2 core installed in back of the engine. Engine was rebuilt. I have gone over everything. I even went as far as replacing the engine with basically the same results. You could start the engine and watch the temp climb non stop to 220deg at which I shut it down. I took the thermostat out and busted the middle out of it and put the shell back in. still no different. I could run it about 15 min before it would overheat. This year I bought a new aluminum 4 core radiator. now it will climb to about 180 to 200 and hold there for about 45min of just riding around. After that it started to climb. I haven't even tried pulling any trees yet. it doesn't really make sense to me. I don't have room to install an electric fan to help push the air so i've run out of options. I just can't run it for very long.
 
How about a couple of pictures to show how everything is situated? When you swapped engines did you use the same water pump?
 
how about a pusher fan also check exhaust I have seen restricted exhaust do the same thing. I believe your heating problem is because you have a pulling fan instead of a pusher fan also you will need sufficient air movement to make it work well look at a 966 the whole top of the engine compartment is open.
 
buster said:
After tightening the tracks and inflating the tires the clicking stopped. like you said it does it a little when going over bumps a little to fast. I assume my springs are weak but I think I can live with it. As far as the heating, I have ford 300 6cyl instead of the old flat head. I had heating issue right from the start. Radiator was a new 2 core installed in back of the engine. Engine was rebuilt. I have gone over everything. I even went as far as replacing the engine with basically the same results. You could start the engine and watch the temp climb non stop to 220deg at which I shut it down. I took the thermostat out and busted the middle out of it and put the shell back in. still no different. I could run it about 15 min before it would overheat. This year I bought a new aluminum 4 core radiator. now it will climb to about 180 to 200 and hold there for about 45min of just riding around. After that it started to climb. I haven't even tried pulling any trees yet. it doesn't really make sense to me. I don't have room to install an electric fan to help push the air so i've run out of options. I just can't run it for very long.
Click to expand...

Are you really at that temp? Mixing the wrong sending unit with the wrong gage will read incorrectly, I have done it !

Check with non contact temp reader with the laser pointer they really are not that expensive about 60-80 bucks many uses around the shop
 
Snowtrac Nome said:
how about a pusher fan also check exhaust I have seen restricted exhaust do the same thing. I believe your heating problem is because you have a pulling fan instead of a pusher fan also you will need sufficient air movement to make it work well look at a 966 the whole top of the engine compartment is open.
Click to expand...

Don, does a pulling fan draw air into the engine compartment & does a pusher fan push air from the engine away from the engine through the rad ?? I have a 300 ford in a bombardier B12. Where can you buy those fans.

I forgot to mention that I will have to get my rad recored. The original had 3 cores. The local rad shop says they can easely change it to a 4 core rad. I will take this route when ready...

OT.
 
the puller fan is like you have in your car it will pull air in and across the engine generators and equipment with rear mounted engines will have a pusher fan and blow air back through the radiator and out side. when using a pusher fan you will have to have a good source of cool air to blow across the radiator. as far as pusher fans I would look at a ford industrial dealer or an industrial specialty dealer also you may be able to get a large enough electric fan to do the same
 
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