I know this question has alot of variables but I run my 6R in about every kind of soil there is and I had my undercarriage inspected a few days ago. I have not got my report back yet but they told me the specs. 46% wore on bushings, 12% to 19% wore on rails, pads at 6% wore, front idlers were 31% and the rear were like 19% (cat replaced the rear idlers at about 1000 hrs due to that they were out of round), and I cant remember what the rollers were. This machine had 3411 hrs on it when it was measured. The tech told me I should get around 7000 hrs on the U/C if I decide to turn the bushings when they reach 80% wore.
I had customers running their original Cat u/c between 7000 and 10000 hours. They did not turn their pins/bushings. These were D6R and D6M machines.
LSC, everybody around here generally dont get but about 4000 hrs on a U/C. That would be nice to get 10000 hrs on it.
That is just the high average some of my customers get. They build oilfield locations, skid drilling rigs, etc. I can assure you, that the Cat pro-line u/c is well worth the money. The rollers and idlers have alot more meat on them.
I would have said around 4000hrs would have been good going!
Wow, it would be nice to get that kind of life out of undercarriage. Our tailings dozers get 1000 to 1500 hours and then you replace EVERYTHING. Brian
we has around 12 d6r series 3 and d6t in our company all with system one lgp undercarriages after 3000 hours they are worn about 40 % and we change the tracks from right to left to even out they should hold up for around 7000 hours
I wish my machine had the system one u/c. I got to run one for a coulple of weeks and they sure were alot quieter than the regular u/c that my machine has.
i can tell you that it is only quieter for the operator inside the cab on the outside it is more noise especially when you go in reverse butits an smooth undercarriage to run on
6h undercarriage I'm not really used to dozers, so when i was considering the purchase of an 86 d6h i had an undercarriage shop visit the site to rate the undercarriage. At that time i was told the uc only lasted around 2000 hrs typically, in southern ontario conditions. I now wonder if the machine had a mechanical clock. That makes a big difference. Electric clocks have extended the life of everything...amazing! Ken
watglen, the newer machines do have an electric clock but they also have an odometer that tells you the total miles of the machine and it also breaks the milage down from forward to reverse miles also. Any more most of the u/c tech guys use the milage versus the hrs of most machines because of the idleing issue.
I remember you mentioning this uneven wear in another thread a while ago. Did you uncover what the cause was? or have you just had to accept it happens and you can cure it by swapping them side to side ?
no the cause of the uneven wear has not been found yet however it is not as bad on the new d6t model but still an issue but here in denmark the cat dealer gives minimun 6000 hours garanti on the system one so they swap the tracks over for free only takes a day and normally is done at 3000 to 3500 hours after that it should be able to go another 3500 hours but strange with that uneven wear though
Thanks, that is quite amazing that they cant find out why but fair play to them if they swap the tracks over at thier cost, you still loose the tractor for a day but I suppose some would argue that you would loose it for longer on a pin turn Has anybody else encountered this problem ? I dont run dozers, just intrested. :drinkup
track wear Atlas Rob, on our D8 tractors pulling boxes the LH track wears and streaches more than the RH,due to the fact the driver is looking over his right shoulder and where he can always steers the machine to the right,working around the job clockwise thus putting more wear on the LH side,after the P&B turn we swop them over:thumbsup
You know that had never occured to me, the seat is twisted 15 degrees or so clockwise in most dozers, so your naturally going to favour one direction where possible because you always look over the right shoulder due to the angle of the seat.
Thanks Roly, I rather hoped you would see this post, that is quite amazing but at least you know why . Do you run system one on any of your D6's ( if you dont mind me asking ) have you heard of similar problems to what grunk has experienced?
system one Hi Rob,no we dont run system one,i cant justify the 40%-50% extra cost when were already getting 6000hrs or more from the heavy duty standard tracks.:thumbsup
an standard heavy duty normally lasts 3-3500 hours in denmark but then it is litterally falling apart:beatsmemaybe its because all dozers in denmark is lgps with the widest tracks on them they might be a littler harder on the tracks than an xl u/c as an example but any way in denmark the system one is a big succes and i gues you will get similar more hours if you try them out on your machines:usa remember i am not an salesman for cat i am just an ordinary operator giving out some of my experiences
Cant argue with the logic in that Knowing that Roly's machines dont work in perfect material by any means I suspect that the longtivity of the undercarriage has a lot to do with the working conditions, maintenance regime and the quality of the operators on the machines. That is in no way meant as a slur on any other dozer operators or owners that dont get such life out of running gear.
What percentage should a tractor with 600 hours have on it? The tractor is a 1997 Case 550G
Not wishing to sound like a smart *ss. It will really depend on the ground conditions and the operator. For example, my understanding, is if the machine was working in sandy abrasive ground turning sharply a lot unneccessarily and being top slot reversed then the running gear could show signs of severe wear already. On the other hand with a steady operator final trimming stone, turning very little ( you dont want to mess up what your trying to grade ) and spending 90% of the time in 1st gear then there will possibly be very little sign of any wear. The other factor of course, is it OEM ( original equipment manufacture) a good aftermarket or Chinese running gear. Hope this goes some way to explain why you might not get a precise answer :drinkup
Like Rob siad above, there are huge differences in applications. I currentley have over 5,000 hrs on a D-8T, and it is not even due for a bushing turn yet. That tractor spends 90% of its time doing finish grade work with GPS. On the other end of the range for me is having it last only 2,500 hrs untill completely worn out. Working in everything from sand, gravel, rock, mud, and occasionally plain old dirt, doing high production work. Some of our members have talked about conditions that wear out undercarriage in as little as 1,000 hrs. It takes a lot of experience and local knowledge to predict the life of the gear you are running.
Do the track rollers usually need lubrication or are they sealed?