mini excavator... snow and ice traction explanation is in italics, skip to the question if need be! I'm new to heavy machinery. I have 15 acres on a steep hill with a house. 4-5 months a year we have snow. The access road to the house is paved/steep. I clear 1/4 mile right now with a Jeep. It piles up at the end of the season, so moving snow once in a while would be important. We get some ice too. I'd like to be able to recover the Jeep with the excavator if need be. The other months of the year I have enough work lined up to justify buying something old instead of renting. I cut and clear 10 cords of wood a year, and currently split and trailer out the wood. With a thumb on the excavator I could carry the whole log out, or attach a trailer to the excavator and tow out that way. Theres also a number of trails I want to build for the dirtbike. So a mini excavator is making a lot more sense. I like the idea of getting in tough places with the mini. I would get a large grader bucket for the winter snow moving. I'm thinking something in the 6000-8000 pound range. My only issue is getting traction on packed snow and ice. I know rubber tracks won't work at all. I called Gripstud and they pointed me towards a particular short screw in stud. Would these work? Does anyone have any experience studding a rubber track? Should I go for a steel track instead? Any and all advice is welcome when it comes to tracks on snow and ice, in the steep. I looked at the tracks for a ski slope shaper... they are all deep metal tracks. If this doesn't work, i'll go with a backhoe/loader and tire chains.
Sounds more like you might want a compact track loader, just a thought. The screw in studs should help on ice, not at all probably in snow. In temps below freezing the steel tracks will build snow and ice until all you have is two big ice balls turning but going nowhere. You may be able to build some steel snow/ice cleats to clip onto the rubber tracks, it depends on how much clearance you have between the track and any frame parts, and also the tread pattern of the tracks. Our dumpers have a straight bar lug pattern usually so it's pretty easy to make something to fit.
I would definitely go steel tracks, just for working in the woods & on trails. And then for snow & ice, install something like this: http://montanatrackclaws.com/ I also think I saw other steel track add-ons, called "Bear Claws" or something similar, but I can't find them now. Also, you may be able to get single grouser steel tracks for your machine, rather than the std. triple grouser.
I have my 299XHP's and my mini excavators studded with snowmobile track studs. You tend to loss a few here and there if your making allot of tight spins etc....Traction is marginal at best with robber tracks and even worse with steel tracks on hard snow and ice. Nothing works real good but the best setup we have found is having both rubber tracks heavily studded with snowmobile studs. Don't expect great traction , it is simply difficult to make any of these smaller units hook up well on snow and ice....
Steel tracks can be okay on ice or they can be like wearing ice skates put on sideways.
I called Montana Track Claw. It would end up being close to 2,000 for the mini to be shoe'd with their claws. Not out of the question, but studding a rubber track would be more economical. The claws are very large too. Nice people on the phone there as well. any experience with your studded machines on paved icy road? Steep? The road I'm responsible for goes up about 250ft in 1/4 mile. Thats about 15-20% grade. I can get the Jeep up the road without chains in 4wd no problem. With chains on, I can plow up hill in 2wd no problem! thanks for the responses everyone!
The machines I own will make that hill, our hill is very similar to what you have described. For an example to place the amount of traction in some sort of context for you,when I am pushing snow with the 299 I can only push it down the hill and not up it. Any load or weigh in front on the machine in ice or hard packed frozen snow it will simply spin the tracks. The 299XHP are big heavy units not lacking in HP , torque or physical size and weigh. Marginally adequate. My John Deere 4700 4 WD tractor out performs the big CAT. I do have chains on the JD. I think a tractor such as this would be a far better choice for what you are describing in my humble opinion. Hope I am helping. Mini Excavators or rubber tracked skids are not very good on ice and frozen hard packed snow. There are far superior choices , such as a 4 WD tractor with bucket...
This is sums up what excavators look like on ice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tsPY2YYWcI
My old Bobcat 642 has an odd 7.00 x 15.00 tire size (no longer avail). I found deestone tires avail, and with standard tire chains, works better than the heavier jd-240 with 10.5 x 16.50 tires. When plowing my gravel driveway (hard packed ice). BUT, the skinnier tire, in the mud, will "burn down" faster, when they spin (Don't float).
You might have good luck with taking some old worn tracks and through bolting on angle iron "corner-out" bars for good snow traction, weld on spikes in an alternating pattern for ice traction, probably a good idea to use a hard tool steel for the spikes. This may ruin the belting inside the tracks though if done too close to the middle of the track.
Hey slopecarver ! Your down in Warren...maybe Superior Rubber can make up something that bolts on with studs, sort of like you describe.
They do not offer anything to make a rubber track more grippy on ice, the only made rubber trackpads for steel grousers so they beahaved better on paved surfaces and to my knowledge never made a ice only trackpad. I know this because I was the trackpad design engineer for over a year until they refused to pay me more than an intern wage even with 3 years of engineering experience. Another option would be a steel plate that had bars welded on the trackside that matched the contours of the track and studded bars welded on the outside. You could use a third order threaded lever to clamp the metal trackpad to the track.
Yes, I know that's all they make. I suggested it as a "new product" Seeing your former job, why not design up some (as you described) make up a set for testing, then post back here for comments/suggestions. Maybe Lords will run them for you (bonded to a steel plate) Industrial division (that used to be on 12th street). I have contacts around that you could farm out the various parts to (steel plate, machined studs, etc)
We've been using these for 2 seasons now on rubber tire loaders and forklifts. They work well on ice. We've been installing them in the fall, taking them out again in the spring. No problems getting them back out so far. Haven't tried them on rubber tracks yet. http://www.maxigripicestuds.com/
That looks workable, and inexpensive. Thanks for providing linky.