Hello everybody, So now that I have 2 nice running 977Hs, (see ) I'm thinking it sure would be nice to replace the worn out tracks on the older machine. I can't afford new ones and the ones on it are done. The rest of the components are new, I had to steal it's tracks for my other machine a few years ago, the rest of the undercarriage on that machine is also in very decent shape. So what I'd like to do is find some used tracks that still have some life left in them somewhere. What other tracks would fit these machines? I heard somewhere that some of the older D7 track groups were similar, and I would actually love to have some single or double grouser pads for working in the bush which is where my machines spend 99% of their time... If you guys could let me know what other tracks would fit I'll put up a wanted ad in the local area and see what's out there... Thanks and Happy New year!
This is what I know, older d7 with s/n prefix 17a has the same rail but only has 37 links your loader should have 40 links the only other machine I'm aware of that close is a 977k but you'll have to remove a link it has 41 links but pitch and height all same, there could be something I'm missing this is off the top of my head but pretty sure that's it. New rails probably be around 1850.00 each plus hardware and that's allot of doe :my2c Mike
Watch going to single bar pads, there are good for traction but hard on the final drives!
An old 977H should be running an 8"pitch track chain..the newer 977Ls went to the 8.5"pitch track chain(rails) Anyway by now the older 977H or K series tracks are VERY hard to find that a worth even buying..most are all clapped out and that is the reason those old girls wind up as scrap..too costly to put $10,000 undercarriage on a machine worth about 5K,unless you have a passionate love affair going there..are the rails worn out or just the bushings? you could break track,lay them out and build up the bushings with weld and grind smooth with a 4"mini grinder..Ive done it,it took a few weeks of work; but it works in a pinch for a low-use farm machine
Thanks for the replies guys. I'll keep my eyes and ears open to see if I can find something reasonable out there for a good price. Otherwise I'll just take a link out of the tracks to tighten them up. The rails and pins are worn out pretty good, when I had them on my other machine one of the track pins actually came out while I was working hence I swapped the tracks over to the good machine. Now that they're both good machines I want to be able to use both of them............
If you want to get real creative have seen sprocket segments on cat 951 which wasn't suppose to have. The guy put the adapter on inside out so he could get the right spacing to get the rails to ride in the right place for the undercarriage rollers. The sprocket bolts were on the outside and the nuts were on the inside. It worked! So you may have to look for an undercarriage from a 977K and improvise.
That's actually a great idea Maurice, the machine in question does have sprocket segments so as long as something bolts up I guess the sky is the limit... Never thought of that!
Dumb question, would the tracks off of a Terex 82-30 work if they're also 8" pitch? A friend of mine has about 6 of these machines in various states of exploded view and if you guys think they would fit I'll ask if he's got some semi-decent tracks laying around...
Only way to know is to measure the rails for wear(pin to bushing & segment eye) first then measure the bushing diameter, the rail width(internal and external), the segment width(for dual lip rollers), the depth of rail to bushing and compare to the 977H specs. Not too much spec literature on those machines anymore.
Thanks for the help DMiller, I'm gonna go over there with my tape measure next time I'm home and see... I have heard of guys converting their green machines to Cat undercarriages so I figured it should work the other way too...