High track crawler loader?

[Burnout]

You know I was never a fan of the old Deere skid steers. But just last week I got to take one of their new CTL's for a cruise.....WOW

I liked our 257B Cat MTL, it was a nice machine to run. Way too hard on undercarriages but it was a good machine. After running the Deere for 45 minutes, I wouldn't wipe my butt with the Cat's.

 

[Palmer78]

I am by no means an expert on high track machines or low track for that matter. But strictly from an observational standpoint I don't see any advantage of the high track.....only disadvantages. Like said before there is more track involved which would be more costly, and there is an extra idler which is more cost. We had a D10N on a jobsite that had a very worn undercarriage but what was most noticeable was that the rails had a very bad concave shape worn into them from going over the idlers. This makes sense.....twice as many idlers would equal twice as much wear into the rails and that made for a very bumpy ride. That was the last job that tractor was on before putting on new tracks. I was told that high tracks are more stable on slopes but that seems to go against basic physics. The transmission and final drives are higher so it should be more top heavy.....right? I have also heard of sprockets slipping on the pins on steep slopes because the teeth make contact with less pins. It would also make sense that the track pins would wear faster because they rotate more. I could be wrong about some of this but these are just some of my simple observations. I think cat could come up with any weird design and most people and companys would buy them just because cat is "what you buy" in the business.

 

[Johnny English]

Hi there, this my first ever post so brace your selves. It is my understanding that high drives were introduced for rock applications. With the final drive being elevated it stops large rocks from damaging them with regular impact, but this has limited use on a D6 compared to a D9 that is in regular quarry use. On the smaller machines the only advantage is that it shakes sand out of the chains to reduce wear in the pins and bushes etc compared to a low drive that can be constantly running in dirt stuck around the under carriage.

 

[Cmark]

Hi guys, newb here......

The ET tractors are a lot easier to pull and repair the tranny and final drives than the oval-track machines. I don't know if this was Cat's prime motive for the design, but it certainly is a great consequence.

 

[JimInOz]

Tracks everywhere...

From 1987....I never did get the follow up info,but it's a common picture.:

 

[mag6000]

There are some hi-drive tracked loaders out here in Northern Ca. They are Cat 931's with LGP pyramid tracks. I've never seen them with buckets, only forks. The farmers out here use them at harvest time to load the pallets of freshly picked produce onto flatbed trucks and trailers, usually when it is muddy. Don't know if they came from Cat configured like that.

I commute through the farm country often. I'll see if I can some pics of one of these loaders soon.

 

[SweCE]

Some pics submitted on a Swedish forum.
Found at; http://www.tpaktopc.net/allis_chalmers.htm

:beatsme

 

[ih100]

Hi. I've never done rock work with a big dozer, apart from a short spell on a 82-50 Terex. I 've put some hours on smaller kit, and I was sceptical about the first EP D6 I operated. that was until I saw a press release about how a D6H compared to a D6E on batters - very little in it, but the EP is slightly better, on standard tracks, let alone bog tracks. If the tracks are to tension and the sprocket has all its teeth, they can't slip. Look at the engine and transmission and they are actually slightly lower on an EP. As for loader stability, look where the iron is on a 953/63 and how low the engine, pumps and motors sit, and they're a lot more stable than the seat of your pants tells you they are.

 

[LonestarCobra]

The modular design of the elevated sprocket tractors does make the repairs alot eaiser. The transmission can come out in as few as 2 hours, and the final drives require virtually no special tooling and press/puller equipment. In the environment that we run them in they seem to hold up just as good as the oval sprocket tractors. Most everyone around my area will go for a D6H or D6R over a D6D anyday. However, I see no feasibility in building an elevated sprocket track loader.

 

[Taylortractornu]

I saw an ES tractor built by the Italiam Industrial and AG firm Macmoter. They build a large range of machiner in cluding a couple dozers one is original and the others look to be New Holland machines. and they make some rear engined trackloaders to that look similar to Cat machines. They make a Hitrack Ag tractor on steel tracks that looks like a smaller Cat set up. I saw one in a video a friend of mine shot in Italy visiting his wifes family. They had a farm loader mounted on it loading manure on a farm and later doing something in a vineyard. Heres pic I got off their site of the bare ag tractor.

 

[John Berry]

We build the Cat high track loaders for Celery and Ag produce. We have built over 50 units. If you have any interest give me a call.
John 805 644 7990

 

[dozerdave]

That is really a wide guage tractor.

 

[John Berry]

Wide Gauge Ag Loader

The new one we are building is on a Cat 939C We make a High Drive and widen the sprockets out to 80" With 30" Shoes. If you send me your e-mail
I will send you a picture.
John

ecopowersys@aol.com

 

[312King]

i would like to see this please send a pic.

silverbulletpowerstroke@yahoo.com

 

[sbacon]

RE: purpose of raised drive sprocket

raised drive sprockets were developed to reduce wear, because raising the drive sprocket keeps it away from the ground, and because the track does not wrap under the sprocket, dirt and rocks fall out of the track before they get to the sprocket. one disadvantage is they generally get less than 90 degrees of wrap, which is generally fine, but it concentrates the force on less of the track than if it had 180 degree wrap as in track loaders. the common applications of track loaders i would assume do not mandate the raised sprocket, because they are generally not expected to sink into the material they are working on.

 

[RDG]

Cat literature on the Hi track design that I have seen & read says that by having a suspended bogie under carriage and elevated final drives it reduces verticle impact shock loads by up to 50%, as well the final drives only drive, they take no impact loads from the blade as the track frames are mounted to the pivot shafts and as for the number of teeth in contact with the bushes, its only the first 3 teeth to make contact with the bushes that take the load be it a Hi drive or Lo drive. The Hi drive is mainly for larger dozers working in extreme impact conditions where it seems to have proven itself over many years to be superior to the other brand of Lo drive dozers judging by the number of the Hi drives in the mines etc. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers RDG.

 

[Burnout]

Wow here's a blast from the past. I think the High-Drive vs. Low-Drive has been done to death. I would like to ask though, if its such a superior design? Why is no one jumping on board with them now that its a free market on building them?, and why is Cat running away from them? Once upon a time they had it from the 4-11. Now your buying 7's with a traditional undercarriage.

 

[ScottAR]

They finally decided that the advantages were mainly on the models with the bogie style bottom rollers. 8's and up? So most of the smaller machines are getting phased out.

 

[ih100]

On the smaller machines it's less to do with advantages/disadvantages than production costs. People will no longer pay the Cat premium when there's no clear blue water between them and other manufacturers in terms of reliability and output. And the "flat tracks" still have a raised sprocket, just not as far.

 

[Jdigger4130]

Here in the bay area of California the track loader is all but obsolete. Demo guys rarely even use em. Peterson tractor which invented the demo bucket for the 977 doesnt even have A crawler loader in there yard!!!! I went by last week and snooped around! Seems like the excavator has claimed the tasks! I went to A vocational school primarily sponsored by Pape Cat and those guys said the primary reason for elevated finals was almost purely maint driven.. The modular design made the downtime very efficient and any other advantage was just circumstance. Seems to me the most important thing about any piece of equipment weather it A human or machine is its cost to run/ move whatever per hr. I know if I was involved W Caterpillar or any machine manufacture I wouldnt put ten cents into A shrinking market.. Already enough built.