OTT tracks

[Skidmarx326]

Has anybody had any trouble with wheel bearings running OTT steel tracks? I had to flip my tires around to gain enough clearance to clear the boom arm, but I know this adds more stress to the wheel bearings. OTT tracks or a tracked machine? Pros and cons to each? I have a wheeled machine and have heard that maintenance on tracked machine gets real expensive real quick.

 

[farmshop]

We ran steel tracks for years. Think we went through 3 sets of tracks between a 773f series a 250 John Deere and now a s590 Bobcat. Never had a bearing failure. We now have a t320 which replaced a t190. The track machines are great for what they are designed for. And yes they are speedy to maintain although if you are the only operator and are diligent in keeping things up it probably wouldn’t be as terrible

 

[bobcatguy]

If you maintain a track machine correctly your maintenance cost will be a bit more than for a rubber tire machine. A lot is made of the cost of tracks, sprockets, idlers and rollers... but it really isn't that bad. A new set of narrow tracks costs me $1000 for a T650, non roller suspension idlers, $175, sprockets around $175 as well. Biggest thing is making sure you keep good lube in the final drives. I had a T180 that took out an outer shaft seal on a final drive and even that wasn't the end of the world. $1800 later I had a rebuilt final drive that I installed myself. For OTT you have to be careful how tight you run the tracks because not only are they hard on the bearings they're hell on the drive chains and sprockets. I have had multiple machines with excessively worn chains due to the use of OTTs. There is no comparison in my opinion between a rubber tire machine with OTTs and a rubber track machine. The rubber track machine wins that battle every time.

 

[farmshop]

If you maintain a track machine correctly your maintenance cost will be a bit more than for a rubber tire machine. A lot is made of the cost of tracks, sprockets, idlers and rollers... but it really isn't that bad. A new set of narrow tracks costs me $1000 for a T650, non roller suspension idlers, $175, sprockets around $175 as well. Biggest thing is making sure you keep good lube in the final drives. I had a T180 that took out an outer shaft seal on a final drive and even that wasn't the end of the world. $1800 later I had a rebuilt final drive that I installed myself. For OTT you have to be careful how tight you run the tracks because not only are they hard on the bearings they're hell on the drive chains and sprockets. I have had multiple machines with excessively worn chains due to the use of OTTs. There is no comparison in my opinion between a rubber tire machine with OTTs and a rubber track machine. The rubber track machine wins that battle every time.

Maintenance cost depends on type of use for us tracks typically only last about a 1000 hours assuming something does happen to prematurely wreck one. These are wide tracks on a t320. Sprockets every couple years or 1500 to 2000 hours usually 3 tracks to rollers in our use. Ctl does do almost everything better but you can’t drop the tracks if you know you are going to be pounding pavement for extended periods