Rubber Track Life

[yankeerider]

How does one know when a rubber track has reached the end of its useful life? If it breaks, that's obvious. What I'm wondering is whether "end of life" might be simply due to a track stretching to where proper tension can't be achieved and the track won't stay on the machine?

 

[johnrex62]

call me naive, but when it won't work anymore isn't that broken also?

 

[brain55]

How does one know when a rubber track has reached the end of its useful life? If it breaks, that's obvious. What I'm wondering is whether "end of life" might be simply due to a track stretching to where proper tension can't be achieved and the track won't stay on the machine?

Are you looking for an hour number? I consider a rubber track worn out when what ever traction surface has worn off and it is virtually a slick. I have seen many people run them far past this point.

I was a mechanic for a fleet of Bobcats. We had (7) T300's, (9) T180's, and (1) T190. The factory Bridgestone tracks would last about 1200 hours. Aftermarket replacements, I expected about 600 hours out of them. The factory Bridgestones cost more than double what the aftermarkets do. I have never seen a track stretch or wear to the point of not having any adjustment left. Normally they will break before that.

Brian

PS. I will steer you away from Solideal tracks, PM me and I will explain why. There is no way I could do it politely enough on an open forum.

 

[yankeerider]

Thanks for the responses so far.

No, I wasn't looking for an hour figure. From the various reading and research I've done, I had formed the conclusion that 1500 hours was a reasonable estimate of what to expect for life expectancy.

The issue I have is that my Cat 303c CR mini-ex has about 1520 hours, original tracks I'm pretty sure, and there seems to be no adjustment left on the left side track. (I released the tension to check the rollers, then re-tensioned it.) The tension is loose compared to what the Cat manual calls for.

I bought this machine back in May, and the left track has gotten noisy- a slapping or flapping sound. I think my retensioning quieted it a little, but the noise is still there. I'm quite confident it's coming from the track, not the sprocket/final drive or idler.

So, even though I intend to operate it until there's a clear failure, I'm just wondering if people have to replace tracks that are intact simply because they can't maintain tension and/or the tracks won't stay on.

This being my first tracked machine, I'm not sure how quiet I should expect the tracks to be.

 

[brain55]

Running them until they break is a luxury of the homeowner. When I was running our fleet, it was my job to make sure they didn't break or to catch them before they did if possible. Because they never break at the end of the day after being loaded on the trailer. They always broke in the middle of the job with the worst possible access for me to be able to get to the machine to swap them out, and typically up against a deadline. With Cat you might not have an issue with them being in stock, but as the recession has wore on, Bobcat always having them in stock is hit or miss. At the height of the construction boom I kept 1 or 2 sets of the 2 different sizes I used on hand, but we were putting 100+ hours a month on those machines.

I would be concerned that something is binding in the tensioning mechanism without being able to adjust it properly. Like I said I have never seen one run out of adjustment before, but I haven't worked on that Cat machine before either.

Brian

 

[yankeerider]

Thanks again, Brian. My concern is that i'll be working the machine in a rugged, heavily wooded area at the back of my property where this machine made sense as being the right size for access and the work I'm doing there. So, even though I'm on my property, I'd like to make sure I'm reliable before venturing there.

My next step will be to pull the cover over the adjusting mechanism to see if I can determine if I am getting full stroke. Maybe a visit with the local Cat service manager for particulars on this machine is also in order.

 

[tuckinlugz]

I am not sure about your machine, but on my ASV track loader you can only tighen the track so far with the tension rod. After that you can remove some bolts in the tension assembly and move them to a different hole to start ovr again. I am sure there is probably a similar thing in your machine. Look for some holes in a line somewhere around your adjustment area. Or call the dealership and ask someone that will know. Mike

 

[Eagleview]

Are you sure the front idler bush/bearing hasn't failed not only causing the track to be loose but also the cause for the noise ?

 

[MarkV]

Brian may be able to answer this. I was talking to a Bobcat dealer and commenting that I was seeing more wheeled skid steers on dealers lots when I thought tracks were taking over the market. He was telling me he thought things were turning back to wheeled loaders because of the cost of track replacement. It was his thinking that materials and labor on tracks were costing about $1K per 100 hours.

MarkV

 

[brain55]

Brian may be able to answer this. I was talking to a Bobcat dealer and commenting that I was seeing more wheeled skid steers on dealers lots when I thought tracks were taking over the market. He was telling me he thought things were turning back to wheeled loaders because of the cost of track replacement. It was his thinking that materials and labor on tracks were costing about $1K per 100 hours.

MarkV

I don't think it is just track replacement, you can buy aftermarket tracks for $2000-$3000 a pair depending on the machine. What really drives up the maintenance cost is the drive motors. A skid-steer drive motor will typically cost less than $1500 and a track-loader drive motor will cost $3000-$4000. that is what pushes the cost up to that $1000/100 hours.

Brian