hello, I'm looking for any solutions to my excavator sinking in soft soil conditions. I have a 336 next-gen and I already have wide tracks from factory. I know I can swap out for lgp track shoes, but was looking for any other solutions anyone might have??
How wide are the installed track shoes right now..?
Standard Cat wide tracks are 30". I found a company called ff polymers that make a custom width track shoe, but I was hoping for other solutions besides just the wider track shoe option. I've heard of a plate that mounts to the undercarriage?? Also any unorthodox solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Wider grousers are the only option to add on the machine. Even on my 336EL, I find that swamp pads are necessary in muck. Mine has the 33.5" (850mm) triple grousers, beings that it is an L and all. Being in the Marcellus Shale activity area, swamp pads are readily available here, and relatively inexpensive. Plates would "float" the frame, taking weight from grousers (and increase the chances of "stiction").
Same as what hmc says above. The standard track shoes are actually metric 750mm (29.5") wide. The 850mm shoes are readily available from Cat or aftermarket, swamp shoes would be aftermarket. Going up 100mm in standard shoe width will reduce the ground pressure by around 13%. The 336 should be a pretty common shoe bolt hole pattern so there will be plenty of suppliers that offer something to fit. Unless your machine is an L, in other words it has the longer-than-standard track frame to help with the low ground pressure effect, whatever you do is trying to polish a turd because of the short track frames.
Good day It is not uncommon to use wooden mats to decrease the ground pressure having two you can jack ball them to where you need to excavate. Kind regards Uffex
Thank all of you for your quick responses. I really appreciate all the support.