I was thinking about this , this moring at if your where to buy a mnin ex. what ever the size what is the best track to get> 1. All steel 2. all rubber 3. or a steel under and rubber padds on top. so which will perform best? which will last longer? will one be better over the other?
probably depends on where i'd be using it. If i was doing site work or working in the street id get either rubber or steel over rubber. If i was doing demo I'd buy the steel tracks. A friend of mine does a lot of demo and he has a Cat 303CR with steel tracks.
It would depend on the jobs that you have lined up. I would recommend rubber tracks for road work and going into an existing yard or property, therefore i would belevie that the rubber tracks have a little more ground pressure than regular steel tracks to displace the weight a little better(correct me if im wrong), to make not so many ruts. Needless to say i would also assume that a rubber track would ware out quicker than a metal track. But also depending on the situations that you would put it through.IMO
I think its: They have more surface area to make less ground pressure. :wink2
The rubber treads on my Takeuchi tear the heck out of lawns. The dog bone shaped tread just sinks into the lawn, and any turn just digs. The steel tend to tear lawns less, if they have short grouser pads. For comparison, the Cat 247B that I rented with asv treads could run on lawns and turn without hardly any damage, just a different tread style. Having owned 2 rubber tracked machines, I personally like steel better. The Kubota that I rented for a year didn't leave much for marks at all. Most people like rubber though, thinking it won't tear up lawns. And on a small machine, walking across pavement does almost no damage. The rubber always grinds sand and grit into the pavement making some marks, so either way, marks are left.
I've owned both and my current machine has rubber tracks on it. If I was to buy another one I would seriously consider going back to steel. The rubber tracks are nice for crossing sensitive sidewalks and driveways but are hell on grass. The rubber grips the grass where the steel just slides. I think the wear is worse on steel but then again a guy shouldn't be using a mini for a dozer. My 2 cents jr
I've had the same experience with rubber tearing up grass worse than steel. The steel tracks with bolt on rubber pads are usually smooth. I have only used that kind on a larger machine so it still ripped up the grass, but I'd bet on a small machine they would be nice.
I like steel with bolt on rubber a very hard track to break and repairable if they do break and the rubber is much harder then rubber tracks.Here's a pic. of mine. minimax
If you are doing a lot of landscaping on existing lawns then the rubber will tear up the lawn, but if you are doing new const or small demos the rubber is the way to go. when you have to replace the rubber tracks they are only about 1500 a side and can be changed out in a few hours, the steel ones called undercarriage wear out the rollers, idlers, sprokets, tracks and links and on an equal size machine will tend to cost as much a 4 x' more. I have a 2005 304CR with rubber tracks and I love it. I would not get steel tracks on a mini unless I was doing strictly heavy demo, then I would also look at going to a 320 size machine
I put new tracks on my Hitachi UE12 last spring, cost me about $1400 CAD for the pair, and a one day, one person job, including the 5 hour round trip to go get them. This is a small machine, about 4400 lbs, they did have steel as an option, but I've never seen one that small with steel. As far as damage goes, I find that if I'm just traveling across the lawn to do a job, I can minimize damage on sharp turns by using the bucket to take some weight off one end of the tracks. Or another thing is to do it when the grass is wet, the tracks slide easier then too. If I'm going back and forth carrying something, then I just plan on having damage to repair when I'm done anyway. Mark