Rubber or steel on 4-5 ton excavator?

[Dr_Zinj]

Ugh. I remember bolting on rubber pads on M113 tracks.

 

[LarJea]

I run steel with bolt on rubber pads on a 6 ton yanmar and like them a lot. They don't tear up my yard as bad as running with the straight steel tracks, plus a whole lot easier to clean than the steel tracks by themselves and if I should tear up a pad (don't know what that would take, they're pretty tough) I could just bolt on a new one.

 

[David Devuono]

In my opinion, given that I know nothing about excavators, If you have a blade, you can get away with rubber tracks because the blade provides the resistance that you would get from steel tracks. I had to pull a one ton tracked (small) vehicle with seized steel tracks in snow and it took two tractors totally 3 tons with tire chains to move it. I would like to see a 5 ton with steel tracks tug-a-war with a 5 ton with rubber tracks. Of course these are diggers and not dozers.

 

[David Devuono]

Nobody has mentioned this and it may not be an issue on an excavator, but it seems to me rubber tracked vehicles always move faster than those with steel tracks. It's not that they CAN move faster, but there is less noise and wear from high speed. Not sure...???

I am not sure if thats true. Saw a video of an A1 Abrams tank doing like 40 mph. I know it has rubber inserts, but the tracks are steel. Ripsaw is another fast all steel tracked vehicle. Probably mostly due to making things easier on lawns and asphalt for the smaller jobs that are done. Also for the average jobber, a rubber tracked vehicle is safer to load on a steel trailer. (self taught by U-tube)