It would appear to me that this would be the next step in the evolution of ctls I know bobcat offers one , Iam surprised cat didnt counter yet.
cat has on the two largest ones. salt tracks and all.
For the life of me, I don't know why anyone would want that option? A CTL rides bad enough.
demo work, flagstone quarries... where you used to use a 350 or a 450 deere or simular trackloader
That's not a Cat option, as far as I know... there are aftermarket options, but I don't think Cat has officially released SALT tracks (or metal grousers of any form for that matter).
Very few CTL's that have rubber tracks have options for aftermarket steel tracks. I guess availability would depend on what machine you have.
my bobcat dealer dropped off a steel tracked t320. it only had a smooth edge bucket so it didnt push to it's full ability. for $70,000 it is a very expensive tractor. it had good features like a torque control and was very fast. if a bought a ctl it would have rubber tracks just b/c i own a dozer and i believe the rubber track is much more versatile. the machine pushed very well in pit run and a pushed off maybe 30 loads in an hour , it was tough because of the bucket.
I would have to think the first outfit to have swap out interchangability(rubber to steel) is going to have the rig to beat, I run hoes 99.9 percent of the time but my boss threw me on a cat ctl and I did a dynamite job with it, and if you knew my dozer grading abilities,:Banghead. you would have to say I either had one heck of a lucky day or that ctl really holds a grade great. (to the people that know me on here bet you didnt think I had that humility in me did you) Well the truth is the truth!:drinkup
I was in at cleveland bros., Lancaster location about a year ago and they had brochures for the steel undercarriage cats, but no price or delivery date. Bobcat advertises them, but i haven't seen one of them either. Oh, and New Holland has one at a testing location....
I would think running a steel track machine would be expensive, even more than the rubber track machine. Wouldn't the machine be heavy with steel tracks also? Why not use no flat tires with steel over the tire tracks if you have to have tracks?
There is almost no weight differnce between the rubber tracks and steel. About 150lbs.
My biggest concern with a steel undercarriage CTL would be the wear rates. Skids spend a lot of time turning and going backwards. Time will tell about the wear rates and I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig. That being said, in concept they would have a place if the operating costs weren't too high. The last set of tracks I bought for my T250 were around $4K but that was over 2 years ago.
Steel tracks would wear out extremely fast on a ctl. I agree with CM1995. With all of the turning that a skid does, you would be throwing tracks off all the time. Maybe not at first but they would wear out so fast they would get sloppy and loose. If their would be an advantage to steel tracks on a ctl, I guarantee that OEM's would already be selling them.
I respect all the guys on here, we are all working men and think about it, if we dont more or less stick together, just imagine what would happen. As far as steel tracks go, any time you are off road with a ctl would be a better application for steel. As long as you use your head and dont turn like a drunk maniac, steel would be the way to go.
Would you have to give up any top speed with a steel track CTL? I also would say that the resale would be even more in the toliet compared to a regular rubber track CTL. I have had good performance with the steel over the tire Loegering tracks and for the money think they would be a better value. For me the big problem was crossing concrete/blacktop so the steel got to be to much hassle.
would a mini system one undercarage on a ctl/mtl with triple grousers not be the best thing ever for dirt/rock type work. no flat tires, no rubber geting torn off tracks , with good giding . maybe one day???
I would think that a segmented steel track system like is made for mini-excavators would be a nice compromise. The rubber track that has to be totally replaced when wearing out is such a waste. Instead of a dozer-style chain with track pads a series of segments over wheel sized sprockets seems much better. Rubber tracks just do not make sense on rocks or demolition debris.