Hi, I just bought a dozer that has a few missing or bent track shoes. The remaining shoes are at about 50% so i hate to replace all of them at this point. Is there any issue with having a few shoes with 100% grousers? I could see it potentially stressing the chain in that area if the tracks slip and it catches something solid. Am i over thinking this?
How is this for an answer? Maybe.... A lot depends on how many you are talking about. If you are operating on hard surfaces the ride might be rough. If you are pushing hard and the track with a couple of high cleats grabs you may make an unplanned turn. I probably wouldn't do it for no other reason than the ride. Can you find some used shoes?
I would live with it until I could find some used ones.
You could always cut the new one down to the same height as the old ones.
Leave it to a farmer to come up with that one! (Before you start cussing me out check my occupation.)
Good thought on trying to find used ones. I haven't visited the local Komatsu dealership yet...they may have a used inventory. I also considered the idea of cutting the new ones down, but that does seem to be a shame. I'll be using it on heavy clay so I doubt it will affect the ride that much.
If it were my home machine, and I couldn't find a suitable used Kommie pad, I'd find a used D6 pad or something close and drill/burn new holes offset an inch or so from the existing ones in the pad, then trim the pad even with the rest. You should be able to find somebody local with a plasma table that could modify a half dozen shoes in about an hour. It's not rocket appliances. Greyson
Its easier on the undercarriage if all the track pads are the same height especially on hard or frozen ground because if one shoe holds the rail up higher in one spot, the idler, rollers, and sprocket all have to bump over it in turn causing a rougher ride but also more wear and strain on the undercarriage etc. Just trim down the replacement(s) to the same height and you're good to go. Think of it as having a 1" bump in a train track and imagine what that would be like.
Unless it's the foreshortening effect of the camera in the OP, to me the existing shoes look awful wide unless you are working in a bog 100% of the time. Has it ever crossed your mnd to wonder why the shoes got bent and/or shoe bolts got broken..? If your answer was that it was caused by the wide shoes then you win today's star prize. If it was me and the machine was going to be working in anything other than out and out boggy conditions I'd be looking to shave something off the ends of the existing shoes as well in an attempt to prevent any more broken shoe bolts.
just another point to consider. I agree with Nige. the reason the pads start bending or breaking happens when the grouser section wears down which weakens them and they can't support as much load out on the ends. the wider the pad, the worse it is. One reason there may be some pads missing is because they may have been bent so severely they were rubbing on the final drive housing in the upper area. I've seen a d6 wide pad that it happened to and it wore a hole in the final drive housing section of the main frame and allowed crud to get into the steering clutch area and plug the filter. if you clean off the area real good you may be able to see some wear marks where the pad(s) may have rubbed.
I would use it for an excuse to build up the rest of the grousers to the height of the new ones. You can buy weld on grouser stock in the width you need to match the new ones.
Its timely that you mention the width. I measured last night so that I could be sure what size replacement to order and I was shocked to find it was a 26 inch shoe. Having little to no experience with heavy equipment, I didn't initially notice how wide they were. It looks like the standard equipment for the D65e is 22 inches, correct? To answer your question, everywhere I plan to use the machine will be high and dry. I thought the busted/bent shoe's may have been from someone working in rocky conditions, but I agree that the longer tracks are probably much more prone to stress. I'm not sure about shaving them down though...seems like that might require a lot of time and cut-off wheels. ;-)
I would also opt for the narrower shoes and NEW shoes for all points with new bolting. If not working in a quagmire or as Nige put it a Bog then the 22" shoes are just fine. Check the gauge on the rails first, seems to be a lot of space between those shoes as well, probably about due for everything.
The space you see is due to the shoes being bent, although its possible the gauge is also on the low side(I haven't measured). There are probably 6 or 8 shoes bent like this in random places on the machine. Since this will basically be a farm machine, I'll probably put a few hours on the current ones to see how they do. I was mentally/financially prepared to replace them all if needed but I'd rather get everything I can out of them. I guess one benefit of the wider tracks will be when I get ready to "track in" the pond dam I plan to build.
Yair. . . . If you cut those pads back to (say) sixteen inches you will noticeably increase traction with the grouser height you have, it will push better, turn better, walk over timber and rock better and, in dry country, do every thing you want. At that width the existing pads will hold up better and, with the welding on of some round bar or bar stock they will last for many years. It's an oxy acetylene job to cut them but really no big deal . . . it's two cuts, take the same amount off either side, don't laugh I have seen plates trimmed down asymmetric. (grins) Cheers.
Unless anyone says different I'd cut those shoes down to no more than 20", working on the assumption that if a D10 can run on 24"-wide shoes a D65 ought to run fine on 20" shoes. Filling the gaps with 26" shoes is only asking for more trouble. A plasma cutter would be a handy tool in this instance.....
Before getting to carried away with buying pads ,cutting,welding and any thing else you need to fix this . I would check out the wear on chain, and rest of undercarriage
Was basing my information on those shoes that are not so bent. The overlap on the shoes is not looking good. If the rails are worn pretty far and the pins themselves worn into bushings these will snake pretty badly sideways, my own pile of iron has this issue and will throw a track in a heartbeat if not paying really close attention. Not a good day to reload a rail in a bad spot to move a machine back into an area to work more on it.
Call a track shop if you have one close to home for some used shoes . I might even straiten the bent shoes while at it . Use new hardware when going back together . Clean the mating surface on rail and shoe up with a grinder and torque the **** out of the bolts . Good luck with it Jason .
Hey guys, Thanks for the follow up. I didn't get email notification of the most recent replies for some reason so I'm late with my replies. I haven't done anything to the shoes yet. I did call the local Komatsu dealer and it sounded like they didn't keep any used inventory. I've finally been able to use the machine for a few hours and it seems to be doing very well. Most of the rest of the undercarriage seems to be in pretty good shape to my untrained eye. I haven't noticed any issues with snaking/popping while in use. I'm still in awe of the amount of work that can be done with this machine in short order. I started working on establishing some logging/firebreak roads on my land and the work I did in 2 hours would have taken me 2 days with my Massey 255 w/front end loader. I'll try to post some pics/vids soon.