I have a 2014 259D new to me. It has 2700 hrs. Tracks seem to be in good shape. I had problems a week or so ago with the left track not wanting to stay on the machine. I had taken it back to CAT for them to work on a cooling problem, AGAIN, and told them about it. They told me the tracks were not tensioned correctly. I am 99% sure the left one was because we had to detention it to get track back on. We then thensioned, ran, retensioned, and repeated twice. I got it a chance to run last night and could hear the track wanting to not track in the idler. I drove the machine straight on level ground for about 100' got out and found the tracks to be tracking to the outside of the front idler, left more so than the right. Question, is there a way to adjust the alignment? Right Left
I am not a CAT guy, but I don't think there is anyway to adjust the track. I am wondering if maybe you don't have a steel cable in the track that is broke. The tracks look to be in good shape, but you still could have a broken cable that is releasing the tension of the track on one side.
Check the idler and lower rollers. Are you working on a slope?
No it is flat ground. Like mentioned in post, right before i took the pictures I drove straight for about 100'
Last night I measured from the side of the frame to the center of the idlers both front and back and left and right. What was strange is the track i have had the most trouble with was aligned, the right track was 13/16" different from front to back. Can that front tension setup that holds the front idler wear and get pushed out off center?
Your rail frame is what keeps the idler straight. The only way the idler cocks is either the idler bushings/bearings are failing or the rail frame has spread apart...……..or an idler set up that has shims and wears pads that have been sheared off.
How worn are your sprockets and idlers? Excess wear in either sprockets and/or rollers can cause that as well as what Vetech said about the bushings/bearings. Do you know the last time sprocket segments were replaced on the machine? At 2700 hrs the machine should have had at least one segment swap. Another simple question - Is it the right track for the machine?