Two 988s standing in the same pit can carry teeth three rungs apart, and the badge on the fender will not tell you which. The loader tooth tables have no 988 section: the machine is printed beside individual rows in the J450, J460, J550 and J600 groups, and each group has its own tooth, its own pin and its own base casting. A quotation that starts from "988 — send me teeth" gets corrected at the port.
1. The teeth printed against the 988
From the J450 standard long up to the J600 standard long, the wear metal goes from 11.6 kg to 30.3 kg and the A dimension from 290 mm to 395 mm — a J600 point is 2.6 times the casting of a J450 point, and a hand's width longer.
| Rung | Profile | Tooth | Weight | A × B × C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J450 | Standard short | 9W-8451 | 10.4 kg | 260 × 132 × 112 mm |
| J450 | Standard long | 9W-8452 | 11.6 kg | 290 × 128 × 108 mm |
| J450 | Heavy duty long | 9N-4452 | 16.0 kg | 310 × 138 × 117 mm |
| J450 | Abrasion | 9W-1453 | 15.9 kg | 333 × 132 × 142 mm |
| J450 | Rock penetration HD | 138-6451 | 21.9 kg | 355 × 132 × 48 mm |
| J450 | Wide | 107-3450 | 15.9 kg | 295 × 138 × 225 mm |
| J550 | Standard short | 9W-8551 | 16.0 kg | 280 × 158 × 138 mm |
| J550 | Standard long | 9W-8552 | 18.5 kg | 336 × 154 × 140 mm |
| J550 | Heavy duty long | 9N-4552 | 25.5 kg | 352 × 162 × 145 mm |
| J550 | Abrasion | 9W-1553 | 22.0 kg | 382 × 151 × 165 mm |
| J550 | Rock penetration HD | 138-6552 | 30.2 kg | 385 × 160 × 55 mm |
| J600 | Standard long | 6I-6602 | 30.3 kg | 395 × 195 × 170 mm |
| J600 | Heavy duty long | 7Y-0602 | 42.0 kg | 415 × 195 × 170 mm |
| J600 | Rock penetration HD | 135-9600 | 52.2 kg | 450 × 195 × 65 mm |
| J600 | HD abrasion | 6I-6603 | 57.5 kg | — |
The rung is only half the decision. Inside the J450 row the weight runs from 10.4 kg for the 9W-8451 short to 21.9 kg for the 138-6451 rock point — so the hard-rock J450 tooth outweighs a standard J550 tooth by 3.4 kg. "Bigger teeth" is not what changes a 988's production: the rung says what the nose is, the profile says how much steel is in front of it, and the two are chosen separately.
2. What the 988 shares with the 980, and what it does not
The bolted side of the ladder ends at the J450. 8E-2467 is the last top bolt-on row in the loader adapter table, printed against both the 980 and the 988 — one casting that lets a 988 owner change a base with a spanner instead of a torch. Above it nothing bolts from the top: the J460, J550 and J600 rows are printed as weld-on castings only.
There is a trap in the weights that catches anyone pricing by rung. 8E-2467 is a J450 casting at 25.5 kg, while the smaller J400 top bolt-on 6I-9898 is 27.5 kg. The bigger nose is two kilos lighter, because the two castings carry their metal in different places. Freight inferred from the letter is wrong in both directions.
3. The four adapters printed for the 988
One bolts on and three are welded, and that split decides who can fit them and how long the machine is down:
| Adapter | Rung | Mounting | Weight | Printed size | Machine lines as printed | Fastener |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8E-2467 | J450 | Top bolt-on | 25.5 kg | 455 × 156 × 45 mm | 980 / 988 | Bolt 5P-8361, nut 5P-8362 |
| 8E-0464 | J460 | Flush weld-on | 20.0 kg | 483 × 104 × 45 mm | 972 / 980 / 988 | Welded to the lip |
| 114-0464 | J460 | Weld-on HD, two strap | 20.8 kg | 435 × 150 × 50 mm | 972 / 980 / 988 | Welded to the lip |
| 107-3554 | J550 | Weld-on HD, two strap | 42.9 kg | 548 × 160 × 65 mm | 980G / 988 / 992 | Welded to the lip |
The two weld-on families are not variations on each other. A flush mount casting such as 8E-0464 is cut into a pocket and welded round its edge — 483 mm long but only 104 mm across, because most of it sits inside the plate. A two strap casting such as 114-0464 or 107-3554 wraps the lip top and bottom and is welded along both straps, which is why it runs 150 mm and 65 mm of strap where the flush casting runs 104 mm and 45 mm. The weld prep follows: a pocket has to be cut back to clean plate, a two-strap casting can be burned off and re-seated.
The weight spread is what appears on the shipping invoice. Between the lightest (8E-0464 at 20.0 kg) and the heaviest (107-3554 at 42.9 kg) sits 22.9 kg per point — 458 kg on a 20-point lip, 549.6 kg on a 24-point one. Half a tonne of extra casting, paid for on every shipment and again at every rebuild.
4. Pins and retainers travel with the rung
The pin is where a mixed order fails quietly. Each rung has its own bore and its own pair, and the numbers sit close enough together to be mis-keyed at the counter:
| Rung | Pin | Retainer | Alternative pin / retainer | Teeth on the rung |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J450 | 8E-0468 | 8E-8469 | 114-0468 / 107-3469 | 9W-8451, 9W-8452, 9N-4452, 9W-1453, 138-6451, 107-3450 |
| J550 | 6Y-8558 | 8E-5559 | 107-3378 / 107-8559 | 9W-8551, 9W-8552, 9N-4552, 9W-1553, 138-6552 |
| J600 | 6I-6608 | 6I-6609 | 113-9608 / 113-9609 | 6I-6602, 7Y-0602, 135-9600, 6I-6603 |
Look at the J450 row beside the adapter table: the pin is 8E-0468 and the J460 adapters are 8E-0464, 8E-0465 and 8E-0466. One digit apart, both live on the same machines, and one is a 20 kg casting while the other fits in a hand. We quote the pin against the tooth number and the adapter against the lip, never from the same line item.
Retainers fail quietly too. 8E-8469 holds the J450 pin and is neither the J400 retainer (8E-8409) nor the J550 one (8E-5559) — three numbers that all begin 8E-8 and none of which interchanges. When a set starts walking pins, the retainer was usually wrong first.
5. Where the catalogues disagree, and how we quote
The 8E-0464 rung label. It is printed as the J460 flush-mount casting in the adapter tables, and the same number is printed as the adapter against the J450 tooth rows in the teeth tables. Both printings are in our source, so we do not correct one with the other — we ask for the casting. A photograph of 8E-0464 beside a J450 tooth still answers 8E-0464; the label was never the deciding fact.
Weights, metric against imperial. 107-3554 is 42.9 kg metric and 92.0 lb (41.7 kg) imperial; 114-0464 is 20.8 kg against 41.5 lb (18.8 kg); the J600 rock point 135-9600 is 52.2 kg against 130 lb (59.0 kg). The gaps run both ways and reach 2 kg on one casting — 48 kg of freight across 24 points. We print the metric figures because our warehouse counts against them, and we weigh every casting before dispatch: the number on the packing list is the number on the scale.
6. What to send with the enquiry
- The casting number, photographed on both sides. A worn number still beats measurements; a wiped one means we work from the bolt pattern and pocket instead.
- The machine plate, dash number included — 988B, 988F, 988G, 988H. The suffix changes the casting the catalogue prints against the machine.
- Point count by position — left corner, centre, right corner. Corners wear differently and are ordered in different quantities.
- The profile currently run, photographed on a half-worn tooth. It settles standard long against HD long against rock point without guessing from machine size.
- For a bolted base, the bolt condition. 5P-8361 with 5P-8362, and if the holes are oval the casting is not the only part to replace.
We supply the loader side of the J-series as aftermarket castings — teeth, adapters, pins, retainers and hardware quoted on one line, FOB Shanghai or CIF. Nothing here is a genuine Caterpillar part; the numbers cross-reference fitment only. For the background, see the bolt-on and side-pin adapter guide, the 950 / 966 / 980 guide, the full J-series ladder, or the bucket teeth catalogue.
FAQ
Q: What bucket teeth fit a Cat 988?
A: Four rungs: J450 (9W-8452, 11.6 kg, 290 × 128 × 108 mm), J460, J550 (9W-8552, 18.5 kg, 336 × 154 × 140 mm) and J600 (6I-6602, 30.3 kg, 395 × 195 × 170 mm). The adapter casting fixes the rung, not the badge, and each rung carries its own pin.
Q: Is 8E-2467 the right adapter for a 988?
A: It is the bolted one — J450 top bolt-on, 25.5 kg, 455 × 156 × 45 mm, bolt 5P-8361 with nut 5P-8362, printed for the 980 and 988. Above it the J550 and J600 rows are weld-on only, so a bolted lip is choosing inside a list that ends here.
Q: Which pin and retainer for J550 teeth on a 988?
A: 6Y-8558 with 8E-5559 (alternatives 107-3378 and 107-8559). J450 takes 8E-0468 with 8E-8469, J600 takes 6I-6608 with 6I-6609, and none crosses into another rung's bore.
Q: Can I fit J600 teeth on a bucket built with J450 bases?
A: No — the nose is cast into the adapter. A J600 tooth needs the J600 base printed against the 6I-6602 row (119-8604), and the castings are not close in size: 25.5 kg at 455 × 156 × 45 mm against 42.9 kg at 548 × 160 × 65 mm.
Sources
Tooth numbers, weights, printed A × B × C sizes, pin and retainer pairs, adapter numbers and machine lines come from the loader teeth and adapter tables of the COHIDREX TRASTEEL TSJ catalogue (metric, 2025 edition), read against the Black Cat Wear Parts 215.1025 imperial catalogue for the weights quoted in pounds. Where the two disagree, both figures are printed and the gap stated rather than averaged. Caterpillar part numbers are used to cross-reference fitment only; nothing on this page is a genuine Caterpillar part.