Is it proper to always have sprockets downhill when your going up and down slopes? Please advise?
That's always been how I do it. Only time I don't is if I'm heading down a slope on a machine with a blade.
Good answer thanks..any particular reason for this?
To keep the bottom of the track in tension.
you also have the track tensioner spring that can compress on a steep slope, can make the tracks loose enough to skip on the sprocket
Good point, is there also a weight issue as well?
The weight is not enough difference to matter much, but keeping the bottom of the track tensioned and set into the teeth on the sprocket is a big deal. With the sprockets uphill, the teeth can jump across the pins, and the track can bunch up under the rollers, possibly causing a derailment. In addition, the wear is much greater as many more links are in tension when driving the "wrong" way, leading to premature wear. In extreme conditions, proper placement is critical, as a track coming off or even just jumping teeth can cause an accident.
Depends on the grade of the slope. If it's particularly steep, I always run with the sprockets pointed uphill, simply because that additional weight of the sprockets and track motors becomes a very big deal at radical angles.
Does that tighten the top of the track and loosen the bottom providing less traction?
If you are going to throw a track then those are the ideal conditions to do it.If my track chain is going to bunch up I would rather it be on top where it has chance of running straight as opposed to who knows what underneath.I have many times had to pull myself up a slope that the machine would never climb by itself and my sprockets were always downhill by design.Ron G
Interesting point, Ron G. However, in 24 years of operating excavators and feller buncher, I have yet to throw a track ascending a hill with my sprockets pointed uphill. I have, however, benefited by having that additional weight out front if I had to reach out and scratch up some material for additional traction, or to lift the machine to get over an obstacle such as a stump.
I agree with what JDOFMEMI pointed out. It may be psychological on my part, but the machine seems to climb better and easier with the sprockets downhill as well.
Let me offer this,I have been around a couple and have thrown a track or two and the one common denominator every time I lost the track I was traveling toward the drive sprocket but we can all learn,right?I really don't like having to replace a track if I can help it since I usually work alone and very often the machine with the thrown track is also the only machine on the job.It would seem to me that at the steep angles that the excavator would be the difference in the weight of the drives as opposed to the idlers would be minimal and the dead weight of the finals might be more of an obstruction when climbing over obstacles than having the flexibility of the cushioning effect of the idlers to help you over whatever needs to be avoided.One thing is for sure,if it works for you,do it.I was trying to give advice as best I could and I certainly did just that.Ron G
I was taught to always have the sprockets behind you when possible. I went through a undercarriage training with cat and they talked about wearing things out faster traveling in reverse and also operating the same way. Plus in an emergency instinct kicks in and you automatically know what ways to move the track. I would also guess if it wears the pins and stuff more in reverse then it takes more power to move the tracks that's way. That's just what I was taught and my opinion.