T-300 Track Life

[htf75169]

Hey all, we have a 2007 t-300 with appx 1600 hours on it. Around 900 hours, the left side track lugs broke where the sprocket meshed with the tracks. Bobcat said it was worn sprockets and replaced them claiming they were a "wear item" and not subject to warranty. Have any of yall experienced this? What is the typical track life hour wise (I know this depends on conditions etc)? What is the typical sprcket design life? Bobcat has not told us these figures. The new sprockets now 700 hours old are starting to wear and cup again. It would be nice to have some data to backup when it comes time to replace them again if need be. Thanks

 

[Skiddy]

Did you keep yopur tracs tight as you are supposed too?

 

[htf75169]

Did you keep yopur tracs tight as you are supposed too?

Yes, greased and tight according to manual recommendations!

 

[Fishfiles]

Your into a deep subject that goes off in all directions , first off the standard Bobcat warranty is 1 year or 1000 hours , you can pay for longer time with an extended warranty , I have never had involvement with the issue of sprockets being a warranty issue with 1600 hours , you didn't mention if you had the machine since new or bought it used , 1600 hours on a set of tracks is really good as far as I am concerned , I think it's pretty rare you see a set go over 1200 , as far as sprockets I have seen them go less more than more of that mark , you must have stood on the mud all the time and don't do any demo or trash pickup to last that long , how long they last depends on so many factors , operator's style , surface conditions, an I seem to think weathr conditions play a part , extremme hot or cold has effects on them , and if the track or sprocket is a quality piece , the after market ( other than Bridgestone which is OEM ) tracks out there don't last as long and I find that they eat away at the sprocket faster than OEM , the timing just doesn't match up as good , there are a lot of different quaility sprockets out there , some are very cheap and don't last long at all , I know this subject will give you a headache

 

[htf75169]

Your into a deep subject that goes off in all directions , first off the standard Bobcat warranty is 1 year or 1000 hours , you can pay for longer time with an extended warranty , I have never had involvement with the issue of sprockets being a warranty issue with 1600 hours , you didn't mention if you had the machine since new or bought it used , 1600 hours on a set of tracks is really good as far as I am concerned , I think it's pretty rare you see a set go over 1200 , as far as sprockets I have seen them go less more than more of that mark , you must have stood on the mud all the time and don't do any demo or trash pickup to last that long , how long they last depends on so many factors , operator's style , surface conditions, an I seem to think weathr conditions play a part , extremme hot or cold has effects on them , and if the track or sprocket is a quality piece , the after market ( other than Bridgestone which is OEM ) tracks out there don't last as long and I find that they eat away at the sprocket faster than OEM , the timing just doesn't match up as good , there are a lot of different quaility sprockets out there , some are very cheap and don't last long at all , I know this subject will give you a headache

This machine was bought new, used in a tree growing operations used n mud and sand alike. The tracks were replaced at 900 hours due to broken lugs where the sprocket and track mesh. 1600 hours isint alot on this machine but we also have a case skid steer that gets used as well, it has been a great machine but has close to 6000 hours on it. We were just trying to get a ball park estimate on track and sprocket life as they are NOT covered by the extended warranty according to bobcat. Thanks

 

[Iowa Dave]

Your into a deep subject that goes off in all directions , first off the standard Bobcat warranty is 1 year or 1000 hours , you can pay for longer time with an extended warranty , I have never had involvement with the issue of sprockets being a warranty issue with 1600 hours , you didn't mention if you had the machine since new or bought it used , 1600 hours on a set of tracks is really good as far as I am concerned , I think it's pretty rare you see a set go over 1200 , as far as sprockets I have seen them go less more than more of that mark , you must have stood on the mud all the time and don't do any demo or trash pickup to last that long , how long they last depends on so many factors , operator's style , surface conditions, an I seem to think weathr conditions play a part , extremme hot or cold has effects on them , and if the track or sprocket is a quality piece , the after market ( other than Bridgestone which is OEM ) tracks out there don't last as long and I find that they eat away at the sprocket faster than OEM , the timing just doesn't match up as good , there are a lot of different quaility sprockets out there , some are very cheap and don't last long at all , I know this subject will give you a headache

To those of you that know far more than me (which is all of you, I guess...). When the sprockets start to show a pretty good amt. of wear, why couldn't you switch them side-to-side to wear the opposite 'side" of the tooth of the sprocket? I guess this would assume that the sprockets wore more from moving frontwards than from backing up. I know this works on sprockets for chains that always run the same direction--if you have a chain and sprocket that are mirror-images of each other, such as on 2 different sides of a machine, you can swap them side-to-side and have brand-new wear surfaces. Same as buying a new sprocket. Why wouldn't this work on the sprockets of a rubber-tracked loader??

 

[andrcurrie]

To those of you that know far more than me (which is all of you, I guess...). When the sprockets start to show a pretty good amt. of wear, why couldn't you switch them side-to-side to wear the opposite 'side" of the tooth of the sprocket? I guess this would assume that the sprockets wore more from moving frontwards than from backing up. I know this works on sprockets for chains that always run the same direction--if you have a chain and sprocket that are mirror-images of each other, such as on 2 different sides of a machine, you can swap them side-to-side and have brand-new wear surfaces. Same as buying a new sprocket. Why wouldn't this work on the sprockets of a rubber-tracked loader??

This is what bobcat recomends in the service manual, flip the tracks 180 degrees and switch sprockets from side to side. The manual suggests doing this every 500 hours to promot even track and sprocket wear. Also wash out the tracks as it willl prolong life especially in acidic top soil.