why so few around?

Hey guys

Just wondering. Why is, at least where I am in BC, Canada, there are almost no track loaders. You just don't see them around and they're rarely used. Why is that? Is there a major downside to them that I don't see? What are other regions like?

Track loaders are still quite popular everywhere else across the prairies I was on a sewer and water site recently here in Winnipeg and they were using them for almost everything that a wheel loader would be used for due to how wet and muddy it always is here. I know MAP sewer and water in Edmonton have quick couplers and use forks and sand spoons with they're machines. But they are kind of backwards that way. lol I think where you are in B.C. is just one of few places out there where track loaders aren't as popular as elsewhere.

ive seen a few in calgary alberta

I have owned and operated a Case 455C loader since '86 when I got it new.
After a couple of years I got my first excavator to do the stuff the Case couldn't do, like trenching etc. Track loaders have become scarce now in Australia, with excavators becoming the main machine requested by clients.
The Case has done around 30hrs this past year with all the main work now done by the excavator. Generally I would rather spend a day in the excavator than the track-loader and I think most operators would feel the same.
Track loaders are very expensive here now, the hourly rate is not that great, maintenance is higher and more costly, and they can get stuck more easily.
With an excavator you can load trucks faster and there is less impact on the surrounding. You can keep working longer in bad conditions and still get a reasonable finish on a very wet job. Having said all that, I will never sell the Case as it is a great machine and still is perfect for some jobs.
Baz

i think track loaders are going the way of the scraper. they both have times when there the perfect machine for the job but like thebaz said excavators dozers and ctl's becoming more popular they are slowly phasing the track-loaders out. that being said we have a jd 555g and those time when its needed it save a world of time.

why so few

I Had Bought A JD 455GTC Loader Years Ago And Used It Alot. But Then Used Excavators For Everything And Said I Would Never Buy Another Track Loader. Last Winter got A Good Deal On A JD 655C II And All The Guys Love It ! So We Uses It Alot ?

track loaders are still popular here in chicagoland. i honestly would rather run a 963 or 73 than anything else.

We used to have a 955K back in the late 70s/ early 80s. Nobody around here has them except for the landfills

They are hard to operate , you can't just put anybody on them and be productive .You can find somebody to run an excavator pretty easy

Fri973 said:

They are hard to operate , you can't just put anybody on them and be productive .You can find somebody to run an excavator pretty easy

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just like scraper operators. proud to be among the few that still know how.:woohoo

That's what my guess was is that excavators have taken the place of track loaders among other machines. Why are t-loaders hard to operate?

For loading trucks in a pit or at a stockpile, wheel loaders are faster and cheaper to operate. For everything else the track loader did seems excavators are used today.

[QUOTE. Why are t-loaders hard to operate?[/QUOTE]

To operate a track loader well requires a lot of skill and it is a hard machine to "fake it" on a job site. Due to the fact that you have to move the whole machine into whatever you are digging there are many problems that arise.
In bad ground you will get a track loader stuck faster than an excavator, there is no angle control on the bucket so you have to have to use special skills to compensate, you are constantly driving in reverse so you need to extra aware, you can't see the bucket teeth so you have to be able to judge what you are cutting and any mistakes you make you are then going to drive over so you have to compensate for that or make a complete mess.......etc etc.
Some jobs are much easier on a track loader such as spreading and finishing, cutting and filling, but these jobs still require a bit of experience to do well.

track loaders

in the 70s they were everywhere. all the small excavating contractors had them. lots of international machines in this area. when i was a kid they were on every house lot. now excavators are doing most of the work, i think ive seen 1 cat 953 on a house lot in recent times. the local cat dealer does not sell them unless you order one. ive seen 2 at the dealership and they were only there because they were surplus machines from the big dig in boston.we dont use them at work. cant see the point in bringing a track loader to a house lot when you still need the hoe to dig the water/sewer/septic anyway. but....just about every farm has one. old deere 350s and older cats are pretty common. i even bought a t-340 to use on my own property. its a handy machine but an excavator i think will out work the crawler in most jobs in this area. even stripping loam. the excavator can throw it into a pile fairly quick and you can pick out a lot of the junk while your doing it. keep in mind most new house lots in this are are less than half an acre. its not uncommon for us to use a 315 to stump ,strip , excavate and ramp a lot and be finished by lunchtime .another half day to backfill and run the sewer and water. no point in bringing the loader to the job. i think once the concept of using an excavator...[which was considered to be a trenching machine back in the day] for foundation excavation took off. the crawler loader sales fell and the exc. became the all around go to machine

I think two innovations made the excavator the machine of choice,
the quick coupling hitch and the mud bucket for finishing.
Just like the 4in1 bucket added to the usefulness of track loaders, the quick hitch and mud bucket really changed the idea of an excavator as a trenching tool.

with an excavator the undercarriage remain stationary. This reduces weight moved and therefore fuel use. So with less fuel use and lower undercarriage wear, the excavator wins.

In my case I move my equipment with a dumptruck and my excavator has a backfill blade so if I need to move material i put it in the truck. Only thing the loader gets used for is demo were rubber tracks would be damamged and situations were i need the loader for moving materials around.

track loader has to drive to and from the pile/face/excavation/truck.- wears out undercarriage and burns fuel to carry it's own weight around.

excavator sits in one spot swings back and forth on a lubricated roller bearing.
burns way less fuel per ton of earth moved.

WhyWhyZed said:

track loader has to drive to and from the pile/face/excavation/truck.- wears out undercarriage and burns fuel to carry it's own weight around.

excavator sits in one spot swings back and forth on a lubricated roller bearing.
burns way less fuel per ton of earth moved.

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weight helps when you are grinding up houses and demo, allows you to get 18 tons per high side load.Also for compaction when doing house pads.
973 trackloader-65 gals per day
330 excavator 55 gal
460 excavator 100 gal

thebaz said:

I think two innovations made the excavator the machine of choice,
the quick coupling hitch and the mud bucket for finishing.
Just like the 4in1 bucket added to the usefulness of track loaders, the quick hitch and mud bucket really changed the idea of an excavator as a trenching tool.

Click to expand...

what is a mud bucket?

Fri973 said:

weight helps when you are grinding up houses and demo, allows you to get 18 tons per high side load.Also for compaction when doing house pads.
973 trackloader-65 gals per day
330 excavator 55 gal
460 excavator 100 gal

Click to expand...

very true.

TTL still has a market, but the excavator has replaced a lot of track loaders.

I wonder if Alban Tractor still sells them like hotcakes.

I remember talking to guy there in the late 1990's-he said one contractor in that area had 200 963's
maybe in metro transfer stations.