I have a "cheap" set of over tire tracks (ott) on my S250. Basically 2 chains with bent 1/2" plate "pads" running on the tires. I think 16 pads on each side. Pics here: TractionTracks and Equipment Mirrors | Statesville, NC TractionTracks is a family-owned, Internet-based business providing high quality grade over tire chains and equipment mirrors at reasonable prices. tractiontracks.com Has worked great, way better than tires, aside from ice. Awesome in snow though. Machine is used to plow in winter, load logs on a firewood processor year round (muddy area... like instantly stuck without the tracks mud), etc. Looking to add grousers of some kind to help with traction. Was thinking 1/2" bolts with the end poking up, maybe 2 on 1 pad, 1 on the next? I'd probably just blow a hole with plasma cutter and weld the bolt vs expecting nuts to stay tight. Or welding 1/2" rebar, 2 toward the edge, next pad 1 in the middle?... I've seen it done plenty on woods machines like feller bunchers and dozers. Not too worried about how it does on hard ground, or pavement,, I take the tracks off if I'm dealing with that. May end up buying a for real set of tracks in the future, but they are $$ and these work well.
Back in 2012 I bought a bunch of these 4” ‘corks’ good quality steel and not that expensive (could be sliced down to 2” pretty easy). I have used them for armouring mini-excavator buckets, between teeth/sidecutters etc. they stand up really well. They also seem to weld up nicely. Seems like the bolts (grade 8?) you are suggesting would make really good studs also. May look at those tracks as our Deere 270 skid is useless in mud! Years ago we had a set of OTT for a Bobcat 763; worked great, but pretty small machine to ‘run’ them.
They sell grouser bars, but a stick of rebar, which is probably enough for both tracks, is $12. I might even have some laying around, can't remember if I kept it or threw it out when moving.
I'd be worried they might get too much traction and be hard on the drive train. Especially on long wheelbase machines, the over the tire tracks have been known to take out axles. Usually when driving over something because it pulls the tracks too tight for the weight of the machine. Small grouser bar would probably work but I'd use longer pieces instead of little short pieces like ice corks on dozers. Improves traction without digging in too much.
Drive chains could be another potential issue.
They break, they break i guess. OTT wouldn't exist if they constantly destroyed skid steers.
I have used a Cat 236B skid steer that had over the tires track for over 2000 Hrs and the chains were still good. Of course the oils were changed on schedule and the tracks not kept too tight. Some other skid steers have broken chains that were small for size and broke with no tracks. I have a 2022 Deere 332G with big chains and am planning to get a set of same exact tracks for work in soft conditions. They definitely do give you a large traction advantage over rubber tires. Price is decent compared to Grouser brand or some other expensive ones such as Loegering and others. Easy to put on once set up and not too heavy. Thanks for posting the supplier as I have been looking for a set for less than $2000 dollars. Simon C
They are maybe 125lbs each, so not too hard to put them on or take off. Takes maybe 1/2hr-45 mins to put on without racing the clock, probably could do it in half that with help. I made a tensioner from a ratchet chain binder, helps a ton. They need to be pretty tight or just end up spinning the tires in them and that tears them up.
The wheel bearings and chains on a Deere 332G are huge from what the dealer told me, and not known for ever breaking, not even adjusting from what I was told. Will put on fairly tight as you said to prevent tires spinning inside of. Grouser brand are more than $7000 from dealers the last time I checked, lots of money for low usage. Grousers are very heavy also , not movable by hand hardly. I watched their video on assembly and usage and was satisfied. Grousers are amazing for pushing power but too much money even used, and have not found 1 set for my machines huge tires. Thanks Simon C
A Mustang dealer here had a lot of problems with OTT's on the larger skid steers with a long wheel base. You'd certainly want to be more careful when using them than with only tires.
Around $4500 for Grouser tracks.
We ran Grouser OTT's on 843's, 853's and 863's from the mid '80's until 2003 when we bought our first CTL. Never had any issues on any of those machines. The OTT's went on in November and came off in April every year. The only PITA was getting a flat. This was before all the tire sealant compounds were on the market. Once we foamed filled a set and ran the OTT's...man that was a mistake. Destroyed that set of tires quickly. The nice thing about the Grousers are they were rebuildable. Built up many a set with 1/2 re-bar and changed the dog bones out in one set. Changing the dog bones out was a tedious task but made them almost like new again.
So around $6000 Canadian. Just curious about the price of the tracks in your photo (if it’s okay to ask; if not, no problem).
$1500 maybe. Been a while
Thanks! sounds like a fair price.
When I worked at a CAT dealer and then Bobcat the only problem I ever really saw was the tire wear. Most people put them on and never take them off so when you do try it's a nightmare.
What brand out of curiosity, are those tracks with pads on that nice green painted Cat. Looks pretty good. Simon C
I got to ask my buddies that still work at CAT. It was one of the machines we did for CAT defense to send to the sea bees.
I ran loegering tracks on 95Xt's and 465 Case machines. Never had an issue, but those machines were massively built. You could do a lot a work with those tracks on. As CM1995 said, getting a flat really sucks. The Loegering tracks I had were called Trail Blazers, the grousers were like 3" with traction bars on top of that. It gave the machine some floatation as well as traction. Worked very well.
I found some 3/4" rebar in the yard, so thinking of using that. Thinking of just 1 piece across the length, to help keep it from bending
Found some rebar in my woods. Small pile of 5-6ft lengths not far from the shop so maybe leftovers from the slab. Been there long enough to be entwined in brush and small trees. Took me a while to wire wheel and cut them, but have one side almost done. Should finish it today if it doesn't keep snowing. Was going to do shorter pieces or a pattern like a dozer, but realized the pads keep flexing and bending which is why the track tension is all over the place. First one I did I just welded the ends and middle but decided to do full welds to help brace the pad and hopefully make up for the poor welds. Wasn't able to 100% clean them, so I'm sure some if it is that. 1 piece across the pad mostly straightened them. Dunno if they'll stay straight. Might ride a little smoother on hardpack, the rebarr will allow the pad to rotate along the tire without transferring as much to the machine.
The rebar should help quite a bit on slippery or frozen surfaces, like if there is solid ground under some mud. The rebar will grip much better than a smooth surface. Bottomless mud might bury the machine more.
One side done and about 1/3 done on the other side. Used probably 6-7lbs of wire, had to run to the store and get another spool. Could have sworn i had one on hand but it's MIA.
All done. About 16hrs labor and 10lbs of welding wire.
So far working great, other than it's really rough on driveways. Don't know how bad the $$$ OTTs are for that? Would be nice being able to leave them in for everything. Takes probably 20 mins to pull off and maybe an hour to put on. I use a modified chain binder to tension them, which kind of works.
Why not use turnbuckles?
That's what a chain binder is more or less. Just way heavier duty.