I have a Cat D4G. I was wondering what the longevity for hours is. I know there are a lot of factors on soil types. I run mostly 70% dirt and the rest sand. I'm sure moisture is involved also. I currently have 2000 hours and my sprockets are becoming pretty sharp at the tips, the bushings look fairly well though. It seems to me that the bushings will easily outlive the sprockets.
Ask this guy. They handle all my under carriage parts. Great bunch of guys over there and this is what they do all day every day. Quicktrax http://www.bulldozertracks.com
I have heard that our D6R's last around 5,000 hours. The D6T's have the new system-one undercarriage and will last much longer.
Your going to see a pretty wide range of hrs there are a lot factors. We have seen anywhere from 2K- 7K hrs one our undercarriages depending on those factors.
We have deere 850's and usually expect around 5000 hrs. At 2000 to 2500 hrs we replace the sprockets and turn the bushings. I would have the bushings checked if your sprockets are that worn. Other than soil types I'm a firm believer that running dozers fast wears the tracks quicker. Oh yeah I always keep a pretty close eye on the track tension and adjust as needed.
What's involved with turning the bushings? Do you have to press the pins out or do you just heat the bushing and turn them with a pipe wrench- sorry if that sounds stupid. In the past I just went and bought new track chains. OEM Cat chains are around 3500.00. So if spinning the bushings are easy that route makes sense.
You have to take the chains to a track shop, they will have a special track pin press for the job. Ours all go to the local Cat dealership.
I agree with dozerboy, anywhere in the 2k to 7k range depending on machine and material conditions. Our 15's back in the day when we put anywhere from 1200 to 2000 hours a year on them we could get 3 good seasons out of them. Lot depending on all the projects we were involved in as well. Kinda like teeth, cutting edges etc. I've gone all season on a set of teeth for our 860 JD scraper and then get on one project and in 3 weeks i've wore the bottoms off em. Trbo
If you have a dealer somewhere near you could get one of their product support people to measure it for you. They provide that service for free. They can tell you the most cost effective way to get the most for your dollar. Having said that you do need to remember they make their money by selling pin and bushing turns and new undercarriage. I used to make them show me their published specifications on wear before trusting any of them. On the G series Cats I have seen oversize bushings on some tracks which made it so you didn't have to turn them. You just replaced the sprocket segments before they got too sharp. On the number hours you can expect it really does depend on the material you are running in and the kind of operator you are. In my area small dozers probably average between 3,200 and 3,800 hours to destruction and I've seen a whole lot less hours on some brands. We are generally in mixed sand and gravel and the small machines do mostly grading and maybe small clearing and grubbing.
I would CERTAINLY replace with genuine CAT parts!! That being said we have a D4c LGP that lasted 2000 hrs. on original U.C. When it was time to have it replaced it went out for bid. Local John Deere dealer won bid? They did complete U.C. repacement. When we got it back all rollers had "made in Italy" stickers on them. Within 20 hours they were all leaking oil!! Dealer would not make them good, so we replaced with CAT rollers. Now at 700 hrs. later It squeeks so bad you cant hear yourself think. The rails are worn out, sprockets shot, you name it! So guess where its going this winter? CAT HOUSE!!