Today, while at work, my boss and I were watching a farmer drag around a grain drill that was about 60 feet wide, with a 75C Challenger, planting wheat next to the job we are working on. YES-planting wheat in Febuary! (He started in November, but got weatherd out). By the way we are working in the same area that "Old Tusko" was made famous! We got to BS'n about the days when farmers would use D6 Cats and such to farm with, as well as the days when scrapper cans were pulled with Cats. As we sat there, talking, we got to wondering about undercarriage wear-out. Granted, the rubber track Challengers were made for a reason. And we also know a little bit about undercarrige wear, as we track the wear and costs on our dozers. We still see quite a few of them old D6's out on farms. I quess my question is, what kind of life would someone expect from a Cat pulling a farm implement or a scrapper? Is the life shorter or longer? We all know that reverse, side slopes, as well as abrasive materials will kill a undercarriage pretty quick. I would think that all the weight on the drawbar would cause excivise wear on the final drives (low track) or the rear idelers. (high track) Any help would be appreciated! Jason
I have heard that the U/C lasted fairly well on those cats because they didn't turn much. Seeding in Feb :beatsme must have been desperate.
Ag Cats ? Hello JTL, The Ag Cats (Agriculture Cats) and the Construction Cats are different animals. Specific built for their purpose. The Ag Cats are built for pulling and the Cons't Cats are built for pushing. The undercarriage differs, in # of rollers, diameter of front idler. The transmission in Ag Cats is different ratios, Higher geared . Direct drive. No Power Shift Tranny's for shuttle work. Hydraulics are different ! Air cleaners are extended. The differences are there. You cannot convert an Ag Cat of any brand, to dozer work money wise ! Too costly ! Somebody brought up some old Allis Chalmers Ag Cats , to Alaska, hoping to make some $$ . Pristine condition, no market, even to convert, too costly !
track wear Jason,we farm and do contract eartmoving,tracks will last far longer on farm work than dozing or pulling a scraper,when one of our D8ks runs out of its tracks on civils work we use them on one of our 22As for farm work,the grounds level going on farm work unlike the rough ground conditions for civils, also on farm work we still use a D6C and D5B,and challenger 65,cant remember the last time i bought tracks for them,hope this helps. Roly
Thanks for the input guys! I can see where pulling a plow or drill over some what even ground would take the stress out of the pins and bushings. Ive seen quite a few of the old D6c's out on the Pallouse, and noticed all the differences between an ag Cat and a construction Cat. As far as seeding in Febuary, this area here in Oregon only gets about 4 inches of moisture a year. It warmed up a bit last week, and the frost came out, so just about everywhere you look, you see someone doing some farming. I think they are getting itchy trigger fingers though, it started snowing at about 2 this afternoon!! I'm thinking they might get more than 4 inches this year! Jason
hahaha, the days when scraper cans were pulled with cats? everyone still uses 8's, 9's and scrapers around here. I actually just bought another D8H-463 team from Minnesota, 5000 original hours on the tractor. it came from the power company. Paid enough for it, but where can you find a D8H with 5000 original hours and was a factory scraper tractor? My favorite configuration is a D9G on a 463. No push cat required in even the hardest of clays. And as for draw bar wieght that you talk of, thats why scrapers were designed with a front dolly, the only wieght on the drawbar was the wieght of the 6 foot long steel tube. I once saw a contractor pulling a direct mount scraper meant for a rubber tired farm tractor with a D7, can you imagine the strain on the finals with 30,000 pounds on the draw bar while loaded?