New grouser bar on 450C

[greenmojo]

My traction had been slowly degrading over the past year or so with the dozer, and finally it was bad enough that I could barely get any type of cut going, before I was spinning and fighting for grip.

I didn't even know grouser bar was an option, and a local rock quarry owner suggested hitting up Pape for some grouser bar.

My brother came up and over about 3 days or so, welded on new bar on both tracks.

What a difference it makes, it feels like a completely different machine, and moves dirt like a dozer actually should.

10 sticks was about $300 from Pape.

~Moses

 

[Wolfy]

Looks much easier than how my dad used to build up grousers, which involved many passes with a mig welder. The only downside is, with so much traction you will make a mess turning.

 

[dieselcrawler]

Bet that took more than a pound or two of rod... how much of what did you use?

 

[firemanmike69]

Nice looking job

 

[greenmojo]

Looks much easier than how my dad used to build up grousers, which involved many passes with a mig welder. The only downside is, with so much traction you will make a mess turning.

You nailed it... My first turn down near the gate, left piles of dirt 8 inches high...

Bet that took more than a pound or two of rod... how much of what did you use?

Bought a 50 pound can of structural 7018, and used about 1/3 of that I'd wager.

Nice looking job

My brother deserves the credit for welding, its his day job... I am a crappy welder, bought me a new Miller Digital Elite with flames on it... yeah, didn't help... still a crappy welder. ;-)

~Moses

 

[Gordon Gould]

He did a pretty nice job. How much grouser height did you gain adding the bars ? They looked like they were about 1-1/4 inch or so to start with maybe.

 

[greenmojo]

He did a pretty nice job. How much grouser height did you gain adding the bars ? They looked like they were about 1-1/4 inch or so to start with maybe.

I'll grab a tape and check, I wouldn't want them any taller actually. Now instead of spinning, I have so much traction that it will just bog the engine down.

~Moses

 

[Wolfy]

What gear do you run? On our 450E's, my dad likes 2H but I prefer 2L.

 

[greenmojo]

What gear do you run? On our 450E's, my dad likes 2H but I prefer 2L.

2L, and sometimes kick it down lower when trying to get things "just right".

The grouser bar is now around 2 inches on most of the tracks... Been running it in the snow the last few days and just love it.

~Moses

 

[ch47dpilot]

I see this is a pretty old thread but have a question about welding on grousers. I have a JD 450E. Has anyone used flat bar instead of the premade bars used in this thread. If so any downside. I was thinking about just getting some 1/2 or 3/4" x 1" flat bar, cutting into 16" lengths and welding them to shoes.

 

[jdtractor]

Hey big guy ! I have been around track tractors all my life. We have done exactly what you have stated. The first was a jd 350 dozer... the grousers were worn out. We bought 3/8” x 1” flat bar and I stick welded it along side of the original grousers. It worked fine... we debated weather to weld on top but decided along would work also . We also asked several equipment dealers there opinions, all said either way .... The undercarriage was starting to wear also so we figured what the ****. We had no problems.. only lots of welding ��. I now own a 450e series dozer JD. the grousers were worn half way when I bought it along with the undercarriage. I bought the regular grouser bar but instead opted to replace complete undercarriage instead because of work I had planned on doing and didn’t want track problems.. considering it was a lot of steep hillside work. The only thing you might notice with the flat bar that you are considering is it most likely won’t be hard and wear quicker over time if you are on hard surface work.I will last but not like regular hard bar. By that I mean all the grouser bar I been around has been classified as hard bar specifications for track grouser refurbishment. I bought mine at a undercarriage parts repair shop.... we cut it with a gas powered chop saw for a smooth finish. It came in 10’ sticks I believe not sure, but we bought enough length to do all grousers. It was approximately 3/4 wide and tapered x 1” like the pictures on this forum. Another thing to remember is you don’t want them to exceed the original height . you have to be able to spin and turn the tracks. If not the final drives won’t last. I’ve seen a few that the owners went over and it created problems.i hope this helps you.

 

[Alan W.]

They use to run an ad in Rock& Dirt for the weld on grouser bars. If I remember they had various heights and widths.

My uncle mig welded them on a 455 loader and a lot of them broke off. I prefer the 7018.

 

[jdtractor]

At the time we did the 350 we used 6010-6011 x 1/8 . We had several pounds from other welding jobs left over. We also have a couple of mig welders.... 1 capable of welding up to 5/8” we didn’t have them until after the 350. Wish we had them !would have been quicker.