A low bidder got a foundation job near near here. The job-site is a ****ed-up mess... But that's not the point of this post; the point of this post is - Who'd have thought that you need pads on the track chains of an excavator? That's the way that they ran the machine...
here in Miami some times its hard to make a dime when you got guys who value there equipment hour so cheap like this one guy every one knows he runs stolen fuel no insurance and the best part he charges $40 an hour to run backhoe.
Whatever, Track pads are so overrated !
looks like a newer machine too.
I am more curious as to how does that even happen? I am not surprised if your dumb enough to some how loose all your track pads or whatever happened, your dumb enough to run it without.
I was once told that your worst competition is the fellow about to go bankrupt, not the one that knows what things cost and price accordingly.
You guys are to harsh. Someone told him your undercarriage last longer if it is narrower.
what kind of pads is on the far side
those are the one he pulled off the right side to fix the left side
The infamous gray market machine. I'm sure it came with rubber lined wings instead of track pads originally. You wonder why someone would paint the machine and not take the Rega decal off the side.
How the heck do you scratch the counterweight on a zero swing or near zero swing machine? Some of these guys out there blow my mind. I completely agree that the worst competition is the guy just hanging on by a thread. Few of those around hear...
That is hitting a new low, How can the guy even go to work in the morning. There is no way, I would blow a gasket if I a got beat by someone with iron in that condition. I could say more but it's not worth it. Regards, CD
I would be completely embarrassed if any of my iron looked like that, let alone actually putting it on a job to use.
At the same time we don't know his situation he might be under bidding because he is desperate and on the verge of losing it which is a crappy place to be
I have ran iron way rougher then that. But I have never ran anything missing that many pads....
I went into a tiny decoration rock quarry one day and saw an excavator which they loaded rock with it was actually on the end of its first undercarriage, I think it had like 6000 hrs on it. it was completely missing one track, they would put the bucket down and lift that side up as they walked the other track and swung at the same time again and again for thousands of feet until they got were they were going.. my initial thought was that was ok in the quarry as much as they used it but then I heard they actually mobbed it out to dig outs like that!!!! also came across a road project one day an outfit had two excavators rock hammering the hard spots in the cut slopes same deal one track totally missing two on the same job at the same time.........omg.......lol........TIO
maybe he needed the clearance for the tracks to pass a narrow spot or something and never put them back on.
Company I worked for back in the '80s had an old khoering bantam that had such bad tracks they fell off all the time. One of the operators could actually put one back on by himself without leaving the seat. A lot of times if one came off he would just leave it lay and swing the machine with the bucket. On the way back to the lowboy he'd just put it back on like slipping a boot on before going outside. I saw him do it over and over, but never could make it work out. It was just used for quick junk like rescuing a stuck machine, we had a nearly new 225 Cat and a brand new Mitsubishi for the real jobs.
I'm sure they'll have fun getting out of that soft dirt that it's parked in. Not sure about how the back got scratched (must have been itchy).
It isn't zero swing no more with the track pads missing. It is a little screwy with no pads , but I give him credit for getting it done. My grandfather used to dig foundations by hand with a group of guys , I bet they would really like this machine.
I have been to wrecking yards where undercarriages were in similar shape, but the excavator they were using was in similar condition and you just wondered when they would decide to scrap the whole machine. I think the thing that stands out about these pictures is that a fairly new machine has been so neglected. None of my equipment is new, all have some scrapes and scratches from normal use but I wouldn't put an excavator out on a job without track pads, hope this doesn't become the new normal.
Maybe they started changing the pads over to rubber and then then landed that job? I highly doubt that the pads simply fell off from over-use and neglect. What are the funky looking pads on the left side track? Looking past the silly track pad situation, the machine seems clean and straight.
No sympathy from me whatsoever on this subject. It is guy's like this that ruin our industry and create problems. All my iron is paid for and I can still afford to keep it clean and in a presentable manner. I doubt this machine is even paid for, not that I know the guy but first appearances say a lot. If I really needed work and got beat by a company like this I would throw a s..t fit. But really, it is the fault of the G.C or whoever hired him for supporting this type of activity. Around here, the G.C's that hire cheap and shoddy can have cheap and shoddy. If you want quality, you need to pay for a quality company with a good reputation with well maintained iron, I am not say brand new...just well maintained. I could go on forever, this is the reason why so many of us have struggled for so long, because guy's like this get hired. I wonder if his insurances and bond's are up to date and correct as well. I think it is lame and have no respect for this type of activity. Regards, CD
Don't judge a book by its cover.
While we don't know the story behind the picture, and I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt that there was some application that made it wise to remove pads (though I can't come up with a logical scenario) I completely agree with CD. Good competition is indeed good for the industry, and those that are about to go under hurt everybody else.
They could not have fallen off like that. I have to imagine that they needed the clearance to squeeze in there and took off just enough? I have seen undercarriage literally falling off the machine and still had all the tracks pads (some were cracked and split and missing pieces). That machine is not old enough to have broken all those pads off.
I"m not sure I follow your guys logic on this one, you'd be upset if this guy beat you out of the job, but who in their right mind would want to work for someone who'd hire him with machines looking like that, I'd personally say it says volumes about the person doing the hiring, more than the guy who owns and runs this excavator. On the subject of low ball operators going broke, they have always been going broke, that's what got them into the situation in the first place, poor management and bad decisions, not to mention more than likely poor quality work, they didn't wake up one morning and decide to cut costs and do work far cheaper than anyone else, they've always operated that way. I've never felt bad about a single job I lost due to a low bid, it works both ways, every job you get you underbid someone else, to your competition your the low bidder. I always figured the jobs I got under bid on, just allowed me time to go do a job I could make money on and the one who underbid me was now busy and wouldn't bother me on the next job I did, but everyone looks at it differently. I'll stay home rather than a bid a job too low or at a loss, but not many think that way today, I feel my time is worth something to me, and if I can't turn a profit, I may as well save my time and equipment.
He's working in sand, he's got the 'sand paddle' option... =-) Alex.
after a second look I think those strange looking pads are relay rubber pads with out the rubber. and on this side they are steal pads with out the steal. Dwan
The few pads he has managed to bolt on/left on, are fitted facing the wrong way? I have seen some rough old junk running around Sites in the U.K. that even the Scrap Men would mavel at, but this little swinger looks in near fit order other than its missing a few bits. tctractors