skid steer tracks

[weisyboy]

gday

after some advice on over tyre tracks for skid steer loaders.

i have a bobcat 763 and with the amount of rain we have been having i cant hardly move on flat ground and even in normal conditions the steep ground i work on traction isnt that good.

i have used a dingo digger (mini loader) with over tyre tracks and the tyres just skided inside as soon as it got wet. this was worse than the tyres on the gorung.

after views on rubber and steel tracks.

regards
Carl Weiss

[Autocar]

We had a 843 and I put steel tracks on it , it was the best money we ever spent. Ive carried 800 lbs on the forks and water was running in the track behind me. Then later a local company stated making rubber ones so they put them on it. If you had frost on the ground you could get hung up but the company wouldn't let me put the steel ones back on. Not sure what everyone else will tell you but steels the way to go in my opinion.

[Reddog]

As long as you don't need to run on tarmac or concrete steel tracks are the way to go.
I have not seen the tires spin in the steel tracks when using normal skidsteer V bar tires.

[Cedarman]

Steel tracks will give you all the traction you can use.  But, you can sure churn the top few inches of ground and deeper if you keep working in the same area.  Tires never slipped inside.  Keep tension proper should do the trick.

[barbender]

The tracks that I have tend to let the tires spin inside after the tracks have worn down a bit, that is becuase this brand (Grouser) has a small raised bar inside the track for the tire to bite into. Once that wears down, anything slick, like greasy soil or snow, renders them pretty useless. It is on my project list to use some rebar and weld new traction bars on for the tires to bite into, and then put a grouser on the outside of the track with the raised cleats like tracks for forwarders have. I think that I will have traction, but they will tear stuff up too!

[Ironwood]

I have used some that allow the afore mentioned slippage, and others that are thicker square bar stock that looks like you could do some serious welding on them if you were so inclined (like side hill off angle holding bars, parrallel the direction of travel). I would buy the heavy bar stock ones, sorry I dont know names. The Grouser style are the ones I have seen slip and they are thinner (likely hardened) steel. The heavier bar stock ones would be the way I would go.

Ironwood

[barbender]

The Grouser brand tracks are actually pretty thick, plenty to weld to. I think they are about 1 1/2" thick.

[Warren]

I have a set of the heavy bar type (grouser ?) tracks on my skid steer.  Only tire slippage I have had, even with super slick KY clay mud all over everything was when I broke a drive chain on one wheel.   As mentioned above,  they will chew up the sod, soil, gravel. 

Excellent traction on everything except ice...   Then they are like being on a set of ice skates with zero directional control...   

[Bandmill Bandit]

have operated with both steel and rubber over tire types Rubber types are OK in dry condition but don't work to well in wet. I dont find that here is much of a traction advantage on them as much as a floatation ad vantage. Steels are good but they are hard on the working surface. About like a small  cleated steel track cat would be.

I have operated one machine with a track conversion kit from this company http://www.loegering.com/tracksystems/vts.asp

They are about as close as you can get to a factory built MTV or a CTL type unit.

Not sure on cost but they are very well built and work well

[barbender]

I agree, they are worthless on ice. Not that good on downed wood either, those are the reasons I wanted to rebuild mine to be like forestry tracks with picks on them.

[amberwood]

Weisy. not sure on the skid steer version as we only run standard rubber on the Mustang and the Positrack is well, rubber tracked. The difference the tracks made on the forwarder over tyre only was massive. They really are the same thing just scaled up. They do make a huge mess of the surface but if you needs to get there then go for it. We get virtually zero slippage between the tyre and track bars wet or dry.  The only thing that stops it now is climbing uphill empty on an 25deg plus slope. You just dig enourmous holes under the bogies.

DTR

[den]

Has anyone used these, their steel bars welded to hi strength chain
http://www.eelriversteel.com/

[Reddog]

I believe the user oakiemac has a set or was looking at them.

Edit: Yup look what the search function found, https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,29741.0.html

[weisyboy]

no that seams like sompthing a bloke cold fadricate himslef.

im all for buildin [I have typed a profane word that is automatically changed by the forum censored words program I should know better], and most of my impliments are home made, if i got some steel bent to that shape and hardened bring em home and weld chain on.