Camoplast tracks

Well it's getting time to replace the rubber bands.
Bridgestone 350mm is what is on the machine.
Leaning towards the camoplast and really thought I liked the HXD Version that boast 3yr or 2500 hrs. Mine are toast at 1600hrs.
What I found out today kinda caught me off guard. The HXD's track on every other sprocket tooth and don't ride as smooth as the standard SD version that does track on every cog.
Seems to me this odd tracking would also put more stress on the points of drive and the track.
" what genius came up with this hair brain idea." And at +300.00 a set.
This info is from the Camo sales rep so I'm thinking it's good info but bad for the consumer.
I would like as smooth a ride as possible... But we are talking an excavator not escalade.
What do you fellas know about this. Am I worrying about nothing. Basically 2k. For new rubber.
Thank you.

most all larger steel track equipment has odd number sprockets that catch every other tooth so they don't wear out faster than the track rails. did you go directly to camoplast check there prices against ebay or some of the online dealers I've had to do this before to get a fair deal from them also try james river JD dealer in north charlotte Statesville rd. they had some good deals about this time last year on rubber tracks

Ok. Maybe it wasn't hair brained.
I can see the wear factor being the motivation.

The Camo quoted 1170 ea. my Taki dealer quoted 950 ea and not sure if the Taki quote was for HSD or SD.
Will kick as many tracks as possible before I buy.
Thank you.

I have bought a ton of Camoplast tracks for our ZX35's and have not been too happy with them. The JD dealer has been good with warranty but the steel cords don't hold up as well as the bridgestones. I have been getting OEM Bridgestone for all of our Cat machines from the Cat dealer for less than the camoplasts and have had great luck.

Call me a cheap a$$, but I just stay after it on Craigslist and Ebay searching for used tracks in all of the sizes I need... its amazing what kind of deals I have found, and the peace of mind knowing that I have a pile of extra tracks on the yard for about the money of a single set of new ones... I sleep like a baby. I also work on asphalt a lot, and have yet to see a set of oem tracks reach 1000 hours.

Thank you for all the replies.
I don't call it cheap.
In today's market... if there is a market at all.
One has to pick and choose how they are going to survive or thrive. It's pretty much that way. feast or starve.
There are a lot of choices out there in every aspect.
And its up to us to make the best choice based on the circumstances and facts available.
I am at a point of having to spend a lot to replenish what I have used up. 'in many areas'
And this site is my choice for field tested experience.

Stay with the Bridgestones. I have purchased many sets of tracks over the years and find the the OEM Bridgestones perform the best and last the longest. They stand behind them too if you have a problem...depending on the surface you work moston, a 1000 hours is a tough number to reach on anyone's tracks. CAT normally has good prices on tracks this time of year here in the Northeast. I personally think the camoplast are far infearior to the bridgestones. Good luck and happy track hunting.

I don't know who Takeuchi uses for their OEM tracks, but I really dislike them. I love Tak machines. I own 4 of them. However, on a Tak TL140 my tracks are about to come apart all over with only 750 hours on the machine used ONLY on dirt! I have several cracks that turned into complete cuts along with HUGE chunks of track that has simply gone missing. I can see 4" to 5" of steel cords where the rubber is missing in several places. I can't afford to replace the tracks with at least 90% of the tread depth missing with such little use. Although I love their machines, I'd strongly suggest avoiding whoever makes the tracks that are clearly stamped "Takeuchi" on the inside of the tracks. Maybe someone here can chime in and tell who makes their tracks so you can avoid them.

I am pretty sure they Bridgestone. I know my TK excavators have all been Bridgestone. I have Bridgestone tracks on my CASE TR320. I also have the same cut/cracks in my tracks. I am also not happy about it.

You are describing my tracks. Deep cracks, hunks missing, but they looked like that when I bought it at 800 hrs.
Bridgestones here as well and seems they are typically the norm for Taki.
My local Tak dealer offers camoplast. If you don't want to spend bridge money. The camo looks good but beauty is skin deep apparently from others experience.
It seems somebody would manufactor a quality track, just saying it seems they are all junk.

Well... they're rubber. No matter who makes it, the harder you use and abuse them, the shorter the lifespan. Stating the obvious I know, but in a parallel world when I worked for a local CAT dealer, CAT finally found a way to make a D5 live in the woods with loggers running it.... took a D6, armored the hell out of it, detuned the horspower a bit and put D5 decals on it... reliability was almost acceptable, except those sawdust heads could still find a way to kill it they tried hard enough. Rubber tracks are inherently self destructing from the moment of installation and this is accelerated by high speeds, hard skid turns and anything you run over that damages the edges of the tracks.

All that diatribe being said (typed) every manufacturer has their own rubber formulas and different areas of the track are different blends of natural and/or synthetic rubber, and even in some cases recycled ground up rubber to save costs. Then you get to the vulcanizing process which is basically cooking the rubber to toughen it and bond it to the metal lugs and cables. Sometimes they don't cook it enough which makes it too soft, sometimes they overcook it, or parts of it, which is what causes chunks to pop out, it's brittle. In any case, any crack or damage which goes down to the cables will be fatal in short order. CTL's are probably the hardest of any machine on tracks due to the speed, loading, spin turns, and hard angles with a short track loop. There are lots of track vendors but only a few real factories making tracks. I would suggest Prowler, Gatorback, and Trojan to name a few, and possibly Dominion. :my2c

Ok. I agree with all you said. But...
They can make a tire that will bounce a million pound plane on a runway at over a hundred miles an hour and still hold air. Take 18 wheeler tires they do fail a lot but take a tremendous amount of abuse.
And a 7000 lb piece of equip at under 10 mph is not obtainable.
With all the tech available today they could do better. "I think"

Oh sure, no problem... but nobody would pay for it. We'll get better tracks when the market not only demands it, but will pay what they're worth. Only CAT can survive with the highest price on the market by saying loudly over and over that their product is better than anybody elses.

:drinkup

I bought some tracks for my TL150 about 4 years ago from some dealer out of Florida and have run the dog pi** out of them and they still pretty well look like new. Of course, I can't find any info on the dealer and there are no identifying marks on the tracks that I can easily see. I guess what ticks me off is that my 140 gets the 'easy' dirt work like putting in lawns or loading dirt into dump trucks where I use my 150 to rip out concrete, peel off turf for concrete/gravel drives and clearing out wooded areas. You'd think the tracks on the 150 would be shredded and the 140 tracks like new, but that's not the case. I bought a set of tracks from the same guy for my TB145 and they also still look great. I wish I could find the guy's info because the tracks on my TB175 are getting pretty shredded but they've lasted for over 2000 hours. My 'guess' is that the tracks are of a somewhat harder rubber compound. I only had to adjust them once after installing them new and they were a real b to install because they were so stiff. Still, they haven't split any, I don't have any chunks missing and they are wearing great. Heck, they were even one of the least expensive tracks I priced too!

Allgood said:

I bought some tracks for my TL150 about 4 years ago from some dealer out of Florida and have run the dog pi** out of them and they still pretty well look like new. Of course, I can't find any info on the dealer and there are no identifying marks on the tracks that I can easily see. I guess what ticks me off is that my 140 gets the 'easy' dirt work like putting in lawns or loading dirt into dump trucks where I use my 150 to rip out concrete, peel off turf for concrete/gravel drives and clearing out wooded areas. You'd think the tracks on the 150 would be shredded and the 140 tracks like new, but that's not the case. I bought a set of tracks from the same guy for my TB145 and they also still look great. I wish I could find the guy's info because the tracks on my TB175 are getting pretty shredded but they've lasted for over 2000 hours. My 'guess' is that the tracks are of a somewhat harder rubber compound. I only had to adjust them once after installing them new and they were a real b to install because they were so stiff. Still, they haven't split any, I don't have any chunks missing and they are wearing great. Heck, they were even one of the least expensive tracks I priced too!

Click to expand...

Was the name of the dealer boltz equipment trelleborg tracks

Gatorback maybe?

http://gatorbacktracksandequipment.com/