Tracks. Now, which brand?

jklingel · Mar 2, 2008

From reading here, it appears that most tracks are similarly tough, and similarly priced, unless I missed something, and the Loegering are apparently "the best". Roger that? As a very cheap alternative to the more common tracks, has anyone run TractionTracks? Are they too simple to be real? If you read closely, they do make them w/ 1/2" side chain, which they don't recommend until you get into the 14 x 17.5" tires. They can not possibly be as tough as "real" tracks, but maybe for a person who will use them 50 hrs a summer they would do????? Opinions? Experience w/? Anyone read reviews about? Check out http://www.tractiontracks.com/ and type away. Thanks. john

jerry · Mar 2, 2008

I wonder if they would have as much flotation in muck as something like the tracks plus track? They are more open which may help in sticky clay soil though.

mllud · Mar 2, 2008

jerry said:
I wonder if they would have as much flotation in muck as something like the tracks plus track? They are more open which may help in sticky clay soil though.

They have a vedio on E-Bay. I watched it and they took it thru some nasty muck. For 600 a pair you could buy 5 pair for the price of a set of loegering. I would consider them for myself. I am a home user. If I was in the business I would buy loegering. I would let them know you have a 85 H/P loader. You can read some reviews on E-Bay.I dont Know if thoe are real reviews.If you are planning on ocasional use they may be something to consider.I have a feeling once you get a taste of using tracks you may use them more than anticipated. I dont know if ill ever wear out the pins and links on my loegering. If I do Im looking at 5 or 6 hundred to rebuild them. Mike

mllud · Mar 2, 2008

mllud said:
They have a vedio on E-Bay. I watched it and they took it thru some nasty muck. For 600 a pair you could buy 5 pair for the price of a set of loegering. I would consider them for myself. I am a home user. If I was in the business I would buy loegering. I would let them know you have a 85 H/P loader. You can read some reviews on E-Bay.I dont Know if thoe are real reviews.If you are planning on ocasional use they may be something to consider.I have a feeling once you get a taste of using tracks you may use them more than anticipated. I dont know if ill ever wear out the pins and links on my loegering. If I do Im looking at 5 or 6 hundred to rebuild them. Mike

I agree with Jerry on floatation the pads are narrow Mike

jklingel · Mar 2, 2008

mllud said:
I agree with Jerry on floatation the pads are narrow Mike

No question about these tracks being inferior in bogs, but since I anticipate more "rainy day" use than real bogs, I am looking for a cheap, adequate way in. Ha ha. Cheap ----> expensive way. The tracks I've liked are the narrower bar types (McClaren Diamonds?), primarily because they are cheaper and one person can man-handle them more easily, yet they'll do for me. I THINK they will suffice for my intentions, but like mentioned above, I may find that tracks are "that great" and wish I had invested in real tracks. IF, and only IF, I get a pair of these and they hold together, I should be vastly ahead of tires-only.... I hope. My concern is whether or not the side chains actually hold up, so I hoping to hear from someone independent of the company that has experience w/ them. What the hell; it's only money, so I may be the person I am looking for. I WILL inform the company that skidsteer forum will be waiting for a review w/ bated breath, too....fwiw..... j

skidsteer.ca · Mar 3, 2008

jklingel said:
No question about these tracks being inferior in bogs, but since I anticipate more "rainy day" use than real bogs, I am looking for a cheap, adequate way in. Ha ha. Cheap ----> expensive way. The tracks I've liked are the narrower bar types (McClaren Diamonds?), primarily because they are cheaper and one person can man-handle them more easily, yet they'll do for me. I THINK they will suffice for my intentions, but like mentioned above, I may find that tracks are "that great" and wish I had invested in real tracks. IF, and only IF, I get a pair of these and they hold together, I should be vastly ahead of tires-only.... I hope. My concern is whether or not the side chains actually hold up, so I hoping to hear from someone independent of the company that has experience w/ them. What the hell; it's only money, so I may be the person I am looking for. I WILL inform the company that skidsteer forum will be waiting for a review w/ bated breath, too....fwiw..... j

I have never used McClaren but believe they have a good product for the money
I am a dealer for tracksplus.com and have several sets of theirs out the last 3 years without any complaints. They will outlast the tracks made with the chain pivots point 4 to 1. They have a large shoe, made from vary hard steel, rockwell 48 to 52, and are light weight which improves floatation and make instalation easier. The only thing they won't do well is run in wet, sticky snow. Which build up inside the pads as ice balls. Dry snow is no problem.
The "chain" track are said to have a @400 hour life. You kinda get what you pay for. Logeuring had the only track out for several years and as a result they comand a premium. They are a good track, but they are expensive too. Ours are typically around 1/2 their price and McClaren and Prowler fall somwhere between.

www.skidsteer.ca
Ken

mllud · Mar 3, 2008

skidsteer.ca said:
I have never used McClaren but believe they have a good product for the money
I am a dealer for tracksplus.com and have several sets of theirs out the last 3 years without any complaints. They will outlast the tracks made with the chain pivots point 4 to 1. They have a large shoe, made from vary hard steel, rockwell 48 to 52, and are light weight which improves floatation and make instalation easier. The only thing they won't do well is run in wet, sticky snow. Which build up inside the pads as ice balls. Dry snow is no problem.
The "chain" track are said to have a @400 hour life. You kinda get what you pay for. Logeuring had the only track out for several years and as a result they comand a premium. They are a good track, but they are expensive too. Ours are typically around 1/2 their price and McClaren and Prowler fall somwhere between.

www.skidsteer.ca
Ken

Ken
I see you have spacers. On my LX865 My wheels are reversable. They are offset wheels. Did you try to turn your wheels around?
My wheels may be aftermarket. 12x16.5
Mike

skidsteer.ca · Mar 3, 2008

mllud said:
Ken
I see you have spacers. On my LX865 My wheels are reversable. They are offset wheels. Did you try to turn your wheels around?
My wheels may be aftermarket. 12x16.5
Mike

Mike
I could have turned them, but this loader has the agrevating problem of losing air from 2 tires, from about a lb per day.
So I wanted the valve stems accessable. I could have drilled the wheels and added stems to both sides, but the spacers did provide more clearance to help prevent the tracks from scratching the loader.
Ken

2COR517 · Nov 4, 2008

skidsteer.ca said:
Mike
I could have turned them, but this loader has the agrevating problem of losing air from 2 tires, from about a lb per day.
So I wanted the valve stems accessable. I could have drilled the wheels and added stems to both sides, but the spacers did provide more clearance to help prevent the tracks from scratching the loader.
Ken

Where did you get your spacers? I have a JD 170 that I might want to put chains on for snow work.

skidsteer.ca · Nov 7, 2008

2COR517 said:
Where did you get your spacers? I have a JD 170 that I might want to put chains on for snow work.

I can get them through Tracks Plus and now also Mclaren which I added to my list of suppliers.
I am now running the McLaren diamond tracks on my 773 and hope that they won't suffer the snow packing inside issue as I use that machine for mowing atv and snowmobile trails in the winter months some.
The diamond track are defintie harder on turf then the tracks plus as they tend to punch the cross bars down into the grass and even the packed gravel on my drive. They weight almost twice what the tracks plus do which is a + or - depending on your application
As for floatation the diffence in most application would be less then you might think. There are almost alway some firmer points in the ground and tracks help by riding up on the firmer points that are located anywhere between your front and rear tire, as oppose to needing to be right under the tires only. The manufactures like to show the machine equiped with their track charging though soupy watery mud. However trust me under that soup there must be something a fair bit firmer as no set of tracks will make your skidsteer a boat. Even a dedicated track loader would sink out of sight in that type of mud. (and they have a much longer track and often wider too) Even if you could go through it what could you possibly do to a jobsite like that anyway, when its almost flowing to the lowest point of the land?
Ken

jklingel · Nov 7, 2008

skidsteer.ca said:
I can get them through Tracks Plus and now also Mclaren which I added to my list of suppliers.
I am now running the McLaren diamond tracks on my 773 and hope that they won't suffer the snow packing inside issue as I use that machine for mowing atv and snowmobile trails in the winter months some.
The diamond track are defintie harder on turf then the tracks plus as they tend to punch the cross bars down into the grass and even the packed gravel on my drive. They weight almost twice what the tracks plus do which is a + or - depending on your application
As for floatation the diffence in most application would be less then you might think. There are almost alway some firmer points in the ground and tracks help by riding up on the firmer points that are located anywhere between your front and rear tire, as oppose to needing to be right under the tires only. The manufactures like to show the machine equiped with their track charging though soupy watery mud. However trust me under that soup there must be something a fair bit firmer as no set of tracks will make your skidsteer a boat. Even a dedicated track loader would sink out of sight in that type of mud. (and they have a much longer track and often wider too) Even if you could go through it what could you possibly do to a jobsite like that anyway, when its almost flowing to the lowest point of the land?
Ken

Ken: those TracksPlus tracks look pretty skookum. Why are the McLaren so much heavier? More pad area? Thicker all the way around? Do you anticipate them last longer than the TracksPlus? Why is their double weight a + or -, depending on app? (A reference to heavier lasting longer?) The snow packing happened w/ which brand of tracks? Sorry for all the questions! john

skidsteer.ca · Nov 10, 2008

jklingel said:
Ken: those TracksPlus tracks look pretty skookum. Why are the McLaren so much heavier? More pad area? Thicker all the way around? Do you anticipate them last longer than the TracksPlus? Why is their double weight a + or -, depending on app? (A reference to heavier lasting longer?) The snow packing happened w/ which brand of tracks? Sorry for all the questions! john

McLaren use more pads for a given wheel base and the pads weigh more, but they have less ground surface contact area. Which makes them really punch into the ground, that gives great traction but is hard on the surface (especially if its grass)
McLaren tracks run smoother on hard surfaces because there are more pads.
More weight is good and bad depending on the applications. The heavy track counterweights the machine and lowers the center of gravity so for some jobs thats a plus.
It also sinks you more on soft ground, so there its a minus. They are harder to wrestle onto the machine and do up. So if you remove and install your tracks often its a minus. (also conside how many flat tires you have a year when thinking about this, though tracks should prevent some flat by protecting the tire, more so with the Tracks plus as they cover the tire more with the bigger pad)
You have to use the tool supplied with McLaren tracks as they are just too heavy to man handle. The tool works farely well provided you keep the dirt off the thread, which is not easy to do when field installing dirty tracks. Tracks plus are lite enough a 1" ratchet strap is all you need to pull them together. Having acces to a air compressor and deflating the rear tire until they are done up helps with either brand.
Less weight and a larger pad is = to more floatation on soft ground. Tracks plus in theory also consumes less hp and fuel to operate as the engine has to carry the extra weight around. The diffence is not huge though.
Tracks plus also uses a 5/8" pivot pin where McLaren is @ 9/16" (must be metric) Tracks plus floats the pin in both the pad and the side link, it is free to turn in either piece.
Mclaren locks their pin to the pad isolating the wear in the side link. So the pad does not wear at the pivot point but the side link wears twice as fast as it must take all the pivoting in one spot.
As for life expectancy the jury is still out, hopefully the more expensive McLaren last long enough to justify the extra price with more hours of life. But in the end I think its more prudent to buy the track that suits your needs the best.
Ken

\

jklingel · Nov 10, 2008

skidsteer.ca said:
McLaren use more pads for a given wheel base and the pads weigh more, but they have less ground surface contact area. Which makes them really punch into the ground, that gives great traction but is hard on the surface (especially if its grass)
McLaren tracks run smoother on hard surfaces because there are more pads.
More weight is good and bad depending on the applications. The heavy track counterweights the machine and lowers the center of gravity so for some jobs thats a plus.
It also sinks you more on soft ground, so there its a minus. They are harder to wrestle onto the machine and do up. So if you remove and install your tracks often its a minus. (also conside how many flat tires you have a year when thinking about this, though tracks should prevent some flat by protecting the tire, more so with the Tracks plus as they cover the tire more with the bigger pad)
You have to use the tool supplied with McLaren tracks as they are just too heavy to man handle. The tool works farely well provided you keep the dirt off the thread, which is not easy to do when field installing dirty tracks. Tracks plus are lite enough a 1" ratchet strap is all you need to pull them together. Having acces to a air compressor and deflating the rear tire until they are done up helps with either brand.
Less weight and a larger pad is = to more floatation on soft ground. Tracks plus in theory also consumes less hp and fuel to operate as the engine has to carry the extra weight around. The diffence is not huge though.
Tracks plus also uses a 5/8" pivot pin where McLaren is @ 9/16" (must be metric) Tracks plus floats the pin in both the pad and the side link, it is free to turn in either piece.
Mclaren locks their pin to the pad isolating the wear in the side link. So the pad does not wear at the pivot point but the side link wears twice as fast as it must take all the pivoting in one spot.
As for life expectancy the jury is still out, hopefully the more expensive McLaren last long enough to justify the extra price with more hours of life. But in the end I think its more prudent to buy the track that suits your needs the best.
Ken

\

Ken: As usual, very good info. Thanks very much; that really helps a person decide. john

rock · Nov 22, 2008

jklingel said:
Ken: As usual, very good info. Thanks very much; that really helps a person decide. john

Thanks, Ken. Good info. I read somewhere on the forums that the McLaren tracks are really heavier duty than most tracks on the market (it sure seems that way when you compare their weights), but what do you think about it? They do seem quite thicker and tough built, but these are just pictures.
Also, do you have any experience with the other two McLaren brand tracks, the Protrac Magnum and Rubber? I can see from their web site that they offer a lot of floatation and lower ground pressure ( seem to be much safer for the ground), but how about actually running them?

skidsteer.ca · Nov 30, 2008

rock said:
Thanks, Ken. Good info. I read somewhere on the forums that the McLaren tracks are really heavier duty than most tracks on the market (it sure seems that way when you compare their weights), but what do you think about it? They do seem quite thicker and tough built, but these are just pictures.
Also, do you have any experience with the other two McLaren brand tracks, the Protrac Magnum and Rubber? I can see from their web site that they offer a lot of floatation and lower ground pressure ( seem to be much safer for the ground), but how about actually running them?

Rock
I sold a set of the rubber padded McLarens to a fellow out in Alberta. I should send him a email and see what he thinks now that the summer is in.
They looked quite heavy duty and you can remove the rubber pad and bolt the steel magnum shoe in its place so you have the best of both worlds
I have some pics of them, I try to get them put up
Ken

Tracks. Now, which brand?

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