It's been a year and 300 hrs. since I replaced my original tracks with McLaren. I had 2088 hrs on the old original tracks. So far the McLaren tracks are doing well. I also got the additional satisfaction that Bobcat had decided to offer the same tracks on my loader. I do notice a more aggressive bite in the dirt but have to watch the tender turf areas. When I did the change I had to replace sprockets, rear idlers and the shields that cover the drive motors. I mainly use my loader in dirt, so I hope to get just as much life out of the McLaren tracks as the original.
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those travel motor cover / shields are ridiculuslly expensive , aye , I been bending a plate over them and welding them up
As far as the Replacement track for the RC50 60 here we had a customer bring a set to us and we fitted them, i can show you the photo's of us having to press them on with a portapower. The bair wheels then lasted 80hrs and collapsed the bearings, once the bearings collapse in an alloy wheel it is goodbye wheel. He is also not so happy about the tread pattern to rough a ride. His words were i wont be going down that road again.
nilestracing
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- Dec 19, 2009
- Messages
- 8
dunno about the other brands but the prowler dtl tracks i bought this fall are terrible they spin full time wish i could get a refund from ward on em less than 15 hours and yea theyre terrible..
Just as I said before, you're taking a big risk when you buy Chinese or Korean, and I know Prolwer is a Chinese importer. But in a tough market like now, the price really matters, so who can blame ya...
What we do is to try to get a bargain price from the reputable makers. Right now, it's a buyer's market, so if you know who and how to ask, you can get a great deal on damn good quality products.
nilestracing
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- Dec 19, 2009
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- 8
the biggest thing about buying expensive tracks is resale.. are you gonna sell it or keep it ? if your keepin it you get what you pay for if your selling it tracks dont matter as long as they have good tread kinda like puttin $2000 michelins on a rusted 83 ford f150 lmao
Well here we go again. 900 hrs on the McLaren Tracks and something has broke. Warranty period was for only one year and we are now at two and half. Notified Mclaren with a photo to ask what they see the problem to be. Mowing on a slope Thursday sent the track off the front idler in to the machine. Fixed and limped back to the barn. From my previous track replacement I still had the good old original track in the weeds. Replaced the McLaren for now with the old orginal track. Now I have to decide which tracks to purchase. Bobcat originals are $1400 each. McLaren will be $2378 a set delivered. With the 2088 hrs I had on the OEM tracks and now only 900 hrs on the McLaren, which is the best to acquire now. 2990 hrs on the T190 now and will keep as long as I can afford to keep. So I will most likely go back to the Bridgestone OEM tracks for the reaminder of my loaders useable life. Just a little follow-up to my experience of tracks. As far as the machine and its use, you can't beat a track machine on dirt. For my use in the nursery and fields, The T190 has the best investment I have ever made.
I have said it before that the OEM Bridgestones are the best thing out there and will give you the most hours unless you have a disaister like cutting them on rebar or concrete or such , it mostly holds true with anything that if it is cheaper it is not as good for the reason that corners were cut and materials are not as good ---- for instance this weekend I was doing some sanding and had picked up a pack of sand disc from Harbor Freight Junk , I used up 10 disc of sand paper and got as much done as with 2 sheets of quailty name brand paper , I paid alot less but did I really save anything , NO ----------------the Taij tracks which our local dealer sells seem to hold up well, seems to me if you take the amount you paid for the track and the hours you get out of them veruses the OEM they come out close to the same dollars per hour of use , but then if you factor in the down time , the time it takes to go pick up the track and install it , then OEM is still better unless you are working in some extreme conditions that puts the track in harms way for an early retirement then use the cheap one
Our dealer here has had a lot of luck with the new bobcat tracks they've been selling aftermarket and as the service manager says...they're mclaren. guess there are a few different versions they've been selling out there. may need to try a set with our t200, they're just about shot all to hell.
by the way...how do you determine when we should change a sprocket out? Is there a wear indicator or anything on them?
New sproocket would be needed if the sprocket shows alot of wear on one side of the teeth. Looking like a comma on the front side, towards front of machine. I replaced mine with the McLaren tracks but will not need to this time. Got a set of Bobcat OEM coming Wednesday. McLaren offered a discount for a new set but still not enough to change my mind this time around.
gtstang462002
Well-known member
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- Mar 27, 2010
- Messages
- 77
Little trick to get a little more life out of your sprocket is to swap them from left to right; right to left. You spend about 87% of the sprocket life going one direction. That means the whole backside of the sprocket is barely getting worn, I like to get the most out of my $700(OEM price) sprocket.
bobcat_ron
Well-known member
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- Aug 6, 2007
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- 334
I bought new Mclarens Next Gen TDF's for my TL130, and I really love them, so much smoother and better traction, I've only got 50 hours on them, the only downside it going over pavement, go really fast and take a slight turn and they will run off, I've had that happen 2 times and stopped and reversed, but other than that, they are awsome. I paid just over $3300 CDN right to my door.
As far as manufacturing goes, there are more than 3 plants making tracks worldwide, and while no construction tracks are made in the USA, Camoplast does make some AG tracks in the US. I know of active plants in China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Poland and the US. Camoplast bought Solideal a few months ago and they are still sorting that all out. As for OEM vs original, since companies like Solideal make a lot of the manufacturers tracks, but stamp them with the brand of the machine name, its hard sometimes to know whose tracks you are buying, but I agree with the one guy who talked about the no BS warranty, that's where the rubber meets the road, pun intended. We buy our tracks for our rental business from a dealer who we know is trustworthy and who has helped us out with a couple of warranty returns and we've had no problems. I would recommend everyone find such a dealer and build a relationship, shopping around and buying off ebay is like shooting in the dark, you never know what you're going to get. If you've got a real person, who isn't some guy sitting in a trailer in the desert surrounded by containers of tracks they bought direct from China, you're going to be better off, even if it costs an extra 5-10%. Better to buy a track with a 1000 hour no BS warranty than to buy two sets of slightly cheaper tracks that only last 600 hours. Just my humble opinion.
By the way, for anyone interested, we buy from a place in Ohio called Midwest Equipment, they have a couple of websites, why I don't know, but they do. You can google them and find their URL address for certain, but I think the main one is http://www.tracksandtires.com I could be wrong though. Let google be your friend!
I may be wrong, but I think 1-2 years ago Camoplast also bought another Korean track maker called Taeryuk, or something like it, that was going down due to poor quality tracks and this is how they entered the MX and CTL rubber track business. Until then they only made non-metal insert tracks, such as for ASV etc. Now that Solideal is also gone, I guess there will be only Bridgestone, McLaren and Camoplast to choose from besides the numerous Chinese cheap makers. I wonder if Camoplast will manage to come out with better tracks than Taeryuk and Solideal ever came up with.
I keep hearing that Solideal was sold and is gone , but the store down here is still open and selling Solideal tracks , I installed two 180 wide tracks yesterday ----they are not good tracks but they did give good warranty as I changed a bunch of freebees warranty replacements with no problems out the dealer , guess that is one reason the failed so many returns -------right now if you were looking for a lower price track I like the Tajis ( spell check ) , our local dealer offers them as an alternative , much cheaper and they last , I have never seen one break in two yet and would take them over a set of McLaren taking pricing into consideration , the is no substitue for Bridgestone but you have to pay for them , my Grandma use to say " you can't make chicken salad when all you got is chicken $hit "
