I've acquired a 973. Always wanted one and a couple big lake jobs and a lot of brush seemed to be a good excuse. It has double grouser pads and I'd like to have single grousers like my 963 has. Looks like 26 inch will fit and I've found that D7 e f and g pads will fit. Do any of the other breeds of dozers use the same bolt pattern? I'm looking for some used pads with the grousers worn down to around half which should work great on a loader. That's about where dozer guys seem to throw them away for new ones. Almost all my work is in clean clay and black dirt so a thinner worn pad will be fine. Thanks
Just remember dozer shoes are designed for pushing a blade THROUGH the dirt not carrying a bucket full, steering with a loaded bucket will severely side load the undercarriage, rollers, rails, frames and sprockets.
Some 973's came with 26 inch pads. I like the single grousers on my 963 although you can tell the turn alot harder than double grousers. I've learned to try to do most of my turning backing up, it helps alot. I do realize wider pads load the undercarriage more but trying to stay on top is worth it.
Have you considered welding grouser bars on your existing pads? It might save you a few bucks. Just my $.02
I've done that before around 70 to 80 hour job. It has narrow pads and I'm after as much floatation as I can get. I've been told I should be able to pick up used pads for around 10 to 15 apiece. I think there is just under a hundred pads on it so a thousand to fifteen hundred I can't afford to shut down a machine for a week or two.
Does your current set of chains have 3/4" or 7/8" pad bolts? I believe some of the Komatsu dozers used CAT interchange pads, just check the bolt pattern.
Yair . . . . I have noticed references to "time out" for relugging grousers before . . . why? They don't have to be done in one hit, three or four after work every evening and they are done in under a month. Cheers.
I believe mine are 3/4. Hard to work on it if it's 50 miles from the house down in a field. I'm pretty much set on the widest pad I can put on it also.
Looks like a 1P9810 is a 26" with 3/4" bolt holes.... buck a pound for new. 26" is for an LGP 973, dunno what that entails.
I'm kinda off-grid due to a broken laptop (smart phones weren't meant for people like me) but here's a suggestion for those with SIS access. What are the part numbers of the LH & RH links for the OP's 973..? Maybe if it has Cat links on it he can tell us, if not the Serial Number would be the key. Then find out what other machines use those links - one of them somewhere is bound to be a dozer with single grouser track pads. Voila......