New here and have a few questions. My Snowmobile Club has a John Deere 35D and some of the maintenance has fallen to me. Most of the basic service I can figure out (there are after all instructions on the machine). We did however have an front idler assembly that was toast, we have an new aftermarket idler coming to replace that side. I removed the other one to check it and it seems pretty tight, I took it apart to check the seals pin and bushings and want to lube it when I put it back together. I would have thought that it would take grease but it seems like it gas some sort of gear lube in it now. So the questions what kind of lube shout it get. My second question while not an intimidate concern is about the tracks it has rubber track which I think will last us a year or maybe two. We use the machine out on our snowmobile trails which means we probably travel more that most per hour of use. Often we have to unload it somewhere and travel a mile or so down the trail into the woods to get to the job site where we may only work a hour or so. Our snowmobile trails con be pretty rough in places with lots of rocks we're thinking we might be better off the steel or hybrid tracks. I'm wondering if anybody has any experience with making the change over and if you found it cost effective over the long haul. We are thinking about getting a flail mower for it in a year or two so our travel time may even get higher. Russ Neal Milton NH
i have a komatsu with the road liner pads which are steel chains with rubber/metal individual pads. so far they seem to last pretty good even on rough stone/ broken concrete. i havent had any break or get damaged and i imagine the steel chain will last pretty good. but they do scuff up lawns a bit more than the conventional rubber tracks. the new tracks whether it be steel or a hybrid set will last longer but probably be quite a bit more expensive. how many hours do you have on the machine now and how long do you plan on keeping it? if your only going to keep it for the amount of hours another set of rubber tracks will last then the steel arent worth it. if your planning on using a flail mower and the machine is getting close to replacement you might be better off with a 50 size machine so you can get a bigger mower so you can mow more and faster.
Remember we're a non profit volunteer club. during the snow season we groom about 75 miles of snowmobile trail using two Tucker Terra's we get reimbursed on a hourly basis for grooming but the excavator is solely on us. Finding the money to buy a bigger machine is problematic. The club purchased it after a couple of great winters when they were pretty flush with cash. The other consideration having a machine that isn't to hard to move around using a volunteers truck as the tow vehicle. Our annual hours right now are probably only 30 or so that would go up I think with the flail mower. The machine right now has about 850 hours and is I think on it's second set of tracks.
You guys must really be beating on it for an idler to go at 800 hrs and go through 2 sets of tracks, on my last 35 with rubber tracks the original set lasted 3500hrs. But having that low of hrs on it I'd imagine it'll last the club a long long time. As for the gear lube, your right it's just gear lube most of the time and it wouldn't hurt to drain and refill it or just top it off
Given the hours you put on, rubber tracks should be fine. Not sure of JD, but putting steel tracks on mine requires different idlers etc. I find rubber tracks can take it over most anything, but driving in shot rock (avoid spinning tracks) or driving over sapling stumps 1-2" will puncture tracks. With long transit trips, I'd be changing the drive motor oil. A manual will tell you what lube to put in idlers...can get those online for $10. Mine are sealed, so no lube required. What kind of terrain are you clearing?