Today we swapped out one set of tracks on my D4D with 18" pads on them (wore down to about 1" of grouser bar height) for another set that came off one of my scrapper machines. It went pretty well for being our first time doing it. We walked out of one set & into the next ones. The replacement pads are 16" wide with about 1 3/4" of depth.
How did the sprocket wear match up from one set to the next?
To me the wear on the chains looked similar, but the pads on the set I just put on, have much better grouser height.
Just a bit of a tip for you on this sort of work, do 1 track at a time as it's easier and a lot safer, plus it saves a load of messing about if you join the track at the sprocket end, so you pull the free rolling chain up over the idler rearwards, having an excavator to help is handy but not needed to manage the task, this is just the way I do it as a common thing, we all do thing our way I understand. tctractors
Same here. We were always taught to do one track at a time so that the machine can be driven back and forth of the other one. Nowadays with elevated sprocket tractors it's even more important because you have no drive or brakes whatsoever if you separate both tracks and the tractor will tend to roll away if the ground it's set on is not perfectly level.
Ok, thanks for the tips on track installation. One question I have.......if the one being installed is pulled up over the front idler towards the rear sprocket, to be joined there, how do you get it up & over the idler without the assistance of another machine?
Yes, I can see how a "run away" tractor can be a real problem on unlevel ground, especially with the high drive. We talked about doing one track at a time before we started the change over yesterday, but decided to do both at once. One at a time would afford better control for sure.
Pretty easy really. To start with you position the tractor over the tracks so that the master link sticks past the front idler by a no more than couple of feet, preferably less. This is especially true if the blade is still installed because you don't want the loose end of the track fouling the blade as you roll it on to the idler. The rest of your track will be laid out behind the machine. Pretty much exactly the opposite to what your first photo above shows. You then connect a sling or chain from the master link on the loose (front) end of the track chain to the sprocket, running it over the top of the idler and the carrier roller as you go. Slowly back up the tractor and the loose end of the tracks will be pulled up and over first the front idler, then over the carrier roller and finally over the sprocket. You may need the assistance of some cribbing or a long bar to persuade the crocodile to go up & over the carrier roller but if you align it the right way in the first place it's generally not hard, especially on something as small as a D4. A good tip here is not to fix the sling/chain to the crocodile itself but to the next link behind it. Obviously you will need to do this process in a series of small bites, repositioning the sling/chain on the sprocket each time you run out of space. As you do so the track chain is fed under the tractor and over the idler back towards the sprocket. When you get the two ends almost together the master link half at the rear end will need to be sat up on to a piece of 8" x 8" cribbing which keeps it tight into the sprocket teeth. Smack the 2 halves of the crocodile together, master shoe and bolts on (not forgetting to apply liberal quantities of anti-seize to the bolt threads, the shank, and under the head), tighten up, and Bob's your father's brother.
metalman, you have an excavator on the site so its a very simple task to drag the track to the rim end, the crock clip can be held up with anything from a bit of stick to a bit of stone resting on the chain pinned through the nut areas on the next link back, if you don't have anything at all with a tow pin what ever you can always use a level hoist (pull lift) I have posted many times pictures of myself fitting track groups on dozers with nothing but a pull lift, it takes only a few min's once you master the art, but I never would attempt to do both tracks on a dozer in 1 hit, this is not putting your efforts down as credit to you the job was very well done, but as I do it for my living the risk of a runaway tractor is great, the sprocket is set higher than the bottom rollers, so struggles to get a good contact grip of the bushings, as I have already said well done on a sweet little job and credit to you for fitting them on the correct way around, many fail on this detail. tctractors