Just wondering if anyone could tell me why any other company hasn't made a highdrive dozer yet, I mean I know they have or had the patent. But that's gotta be up by now. Right??
Could be that the competition has designed their own solutions to the reasons Cat built the high track, and to give them up and start new would be a step back for them. Only 2 real players in the big dozers where the high drive is mainly found. Cat pretty much let it go on the smaller machines, as the real value is on the larger machines. Komatsu has raised the final drives some, and built a bogie undercarriage, and that is the 2 main reasons for the high track. There are others, but that is the main ones. Komatsu has a machine design that works well, and they apparently feel no need to change it in that major of a way. Deere/Liebherr makes but a handfull of larger dozers, so they really aren't considered a player, and the rest only make small to mid sized machines, where there would be little value in it to change to a high track system.
Cat is now stopping the high drive on big machines too. D7E electric drive is not high drive. No doubt it will go on the rest of the line when the electric drive takes over there too.
another reason for the high drive is that the transmission can be removed from the back instead of taking the whole cab off like the old Cats.
I don't think that they are necessarily stopping production of the elevated sprocket. I believe it just another way to offer more alternatives to the customer. If anything, I think they will produce conventional undercarriages alongside elevated sprocket undercarriages. Similar to D4H/D5N...... Unless of course, you have inside info, and by me writing this, I look like a big idiot.
http://enr.construction.com/products/equipment/2009/0624-CATRevealsHybridDozer.asp Cat's High drive is not going anywhere.... Some will always prefer a Komatsu, most want the CAT. I believe much of the reason we have not seen a high drive komatsu is the cost in retooling their factory and design. Cat's patent on the high drive ran out some time ago. The high drive has more than just a maintenance advantage on the low drive units. These machines are fully suspended, with the rear idler being part of the bogie assembly you have a much better footprint in uneven terrain. Ever pioneer a road on a rocky hillside in a large komatsu?