I used my new to me Takeuchi TL130 last night to help a friend. Basically moving about 10 yards of dirt and loading onto a dump truck. I'm new to tracks and I was surprised by how many snaps and pops and squeeks the tracks make? BTW- the tracks and sprockets are reasonably new (less than 100 hours) and I didn't expect that they'd be as smooth or quiet as tires but man... there were some scary noises especially backing up. I got out a couple of time to see if I had rocks or something lodged and I saw nothing significant and the machine never slowed down or hesitated but I've got to ask... are track/bogey/sprocket binding/pop noises normal? Are they more pronounced in reverse? Do they improve as things wear in? BTW- they seem adjusted slightly on the loose side but do hang down about how that manual suggests. The tracks are not OEM and I even lifted the machine thinking maybe did someone put the wrong pitch sprocket or tracks on but it seemed OK up in the air. BUT even up in the air, the tracks weren't what I'd call smooth? They seemed to bind and jump and grind more than I would have expected. Also- even though they're newish tracks, there are some deformations in the tracks where it looks like a rock may have bent the outer edge of a link etc. Any opinions or similar concerns going from wheels to tracks?
If those little upright links are bent on the inside of your tracks, that's not good. But otherwise the ride is generally not that smooth. But you shouldn't feel any binding.
My ASV makes a lot noise. Rollers on the drive cage rattle, tracks snap and pop. Especially obvious when turning and going downhill at the same time. Pretty much done it since new and worse as the drive lugs wear out. Be careful of hard turns on pavement when carrying a really heavy load. At least on my machine it is a sure way to pop a track off.
Well that makes me feel a little better. My vertical links are ok it’s the outer edges of the lugs where some are slightly deformed from rocks. These tracks a little wide than stock 16 vs 13 and the noise is definitly track to sprocket/idler/bogey and not planetary or motor noise. Yeah lots of creeks and pops and squeeze. Very disconcerting
Probably worth making a video so others can hear what you’re hearing.