Undercarriage

[piglet80]

Been shopping for a an uprade dozer 65 to 75 horse for use around the farm. I have looked at about 7 different dozers and the sellers always say "yeah theres about 80% left on the undercarriage." Then I drive 3hrs and things don't quite look right for the hrs. said to have been on the machine. Bottom line does anyone know of a good website link that explains measuring undercarriage and how to compare it to original manufactureres specs, to determine percentage worn. I feel like I am dealing with horse traders when dealing with some of these dozer dealers. I am not buying the dozer for production use, but will put about 260 to 360 hrs a year on the machine, so undercarriage life is important to me because of the potential big expense down the road. I don't have the necessary experience to eyeball lets say the rails and say yeah I will get 700 more hrs. out of it. Thanks for any help.

[Cat420]

I think this is what you want. It has pictures and everything. Click Here (http://www.constructionequipment.com/prevention/ce03da004.asp)

[piglet80]

Thanks CAT420 thats exactly what I was looking for. I had seen diagrams similar to this years ago, but forgot how to do the rails. Called my local CAT dealership and they gave me the specs. in inches to calculate % worn using the rail diagram. At least now I have something to go by even if I am not 100% accurate. Thanks again.