Digging over finals

[sultan]

The operator's manual for my Cat hoe makes the point that you should dig and travel toward the idlers whenever practical, because the reason the track tensioners don't butt up to steel, is so that spring will absorb shocks and stresses.There are no springs to protect the final drives.

If you are slamming into things so hard you are bottoming those big springs and blowing tensioner seals....

That makes sense to me. As I said, I try to dig over the idlers for that very reason, but digging over the finals occasionally shouldn't harm the machine provided that I don't bang on it.

 

[RonG]

The only exception is if you are digging up hill,especially with a machine that has a worn undercarriage.If you try to back up a hill with the finals at the rear your tracks can bunch up under the rollers on an older machine and you can throw a track which is never fun,especially on the side of a hill.Ron G

 

[wnydirtguy]

I was told to dig with the idlers in front. The only time you would want the finals in front is if you are running a buster on the machine. This is because when you are using a buster it put extra weight on the back of the machine from pushing down. if the finals are in the back you would be putting extra force on them and could cause damage. just what I have learn over the years.

 

[Johndeere120]

I was always taught to have the idlers at the back,finals in the front when digging because..IF something should go wrong you push your feet/pedals forward and use both hands on the joysticks to get yourself out of trouble and also there is less chance of damage to the idler ram seals from the force of whatever you are excavating...(this is only my opinion)..it works for me

So you are worried about 2k idlers but not 20k drive motors? Dumbest thing I ever heard. And if you are in a situation you need to react so fast to backup with a second to spare you shouldn't be I the seat to begin with