What's the toughest rubber track?

That sounds expensive for sprockets.

CM1995 said: Had a couple of real pre-mature failures in the early days not knowing the sprockets needed to be changed along with a new set of tracks. Click to expand... How critical is it to replace the sprockets with the tracks? These aren't worn to a point; they do have a little deformation, but I can grind them smooth when I install the new tracks. At over a grand each I'd like to think I could stretch them a little longer.

I have always replaced the sprockets, with the tracks but if money were tight and the sprockets looked okay, I might give it a shot. I would reverse them if possible. What you can’t see and really measure, is the deepness of the arch before the tooth. Forgive the English but I am kids brain dead this am. The depth of the bottom of each tooth, will be worn, with a slightly different pitch than the new pin on the tracks, especially going forward. Thats why if they could be reversed, it would work better. The rule though, is always replace together.

materthegreater said: How critical is it to replace the sprockets with the tracks? These aren't worn to a point; they do have a little deformation, but I can grind them smooth when I install the new tracks. At over a grand each I'd like to think I could stretch them a little longer. View attachment 364313 Click to expand... I would change the sprockets with the tracks. For the reasons Harley said - HarleyHappy said: I have always replaced the sprockets, with the tracks but if money were tight and the sprockets looked okay, I might give it a shot. I would reverse them if possible. What you can’t see and really measure, is the deepness of the arch before the tooth. Forgive the English but I am kids brain dead this am. The depth of the bottom of each tooth, will be worn, with a slightly different pitch than the new pin on the tracks, especially going forward. Thats why if they could be reversed, it would work better. The rule though, is always replace together. Click to expand...

How many hours are on the original tracks? That would help decide it for me. If you got say 1500 hours that's pretty good. If you got only 800 wouldn't be very good. Then you need to compare price. If the OEM are significantly less money then Bridgestone the cost per hour may be cheaper but you'd be changing them again sooner. CTL tracks are cheaper than steel crawler tracks so paying a little more isn't as big a deal. On a steel track crawler there can be big price differences so you try and find a happy medium unless you're working in extreme conditions. Then you might want to go OEM. Don't see anyone complaining about the Bridgestone tracks though.

Funny, none of the salesmen I've talked to seemed to think it necessary. Maybe because they didn't have the sprockets for this machine. At this point I'm looking at a pair of Bridgestone Extreme Duty Rubber Tracks for $4200 or Midwest Equipment's TNT heavy duty rubber tracks for $3100. I've heard good things about Midwest equipment and their TNT tracks. At this point I'm leaning toward the TNT tracks and just rotating the sprockets. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I'd like to trade this for a newer machine in the next year or two.

materthegreater said: Funny, none of the salesmen I've talked to seemed to think it necessary. Maybe because they didn't have the sprockets for this machine. Click to expand... Because they are in the business of selling tracks.. Seriously if they don't know this they are not very knowledgable in rubber track machines.

I think with the expense of the tracks you wouldn't want to compromise their life using worn sprockets. Sprockets are a ridiculous price but not replacing them could be costlier due to faster wear on the new tracks.

So I just ordered from MWE (Midwest equipment). He sold me their own brand, TNT. The pair was about $1k less than Bridgestone and they have a 24 month warranty vs 1 year from Bridgestone. And said a second time that I don't need to replace the sprockets since they aren't worn to a point. Hopefully by the time the 2 year warranty is up I will have traded in this machine anyway. They should be here in a couple weeks.

We're running KTSU tracks here. But, at my previous employer, I insisted on ITR tracks. Never had a Bridgestone clear the 1000 hour mark, on my TL150, SVL75, SVL75-2, and 864H machines. Many failed before the 700 hour mark. Excavators, on the other hand, could tack Bridgestones out to the 5k hour mark. On a skidsteer, if it were my money, would only run ITR tracks.

heymccall said: We're running KTSU tracks here. But, at my previous employer, I insisted on ITR tracks. Never had a Bridgestone clear the 1000 hour mark, on my TL150, SVL75, SVL75-2, and 864H machines. Many failed before the 700 hour mark. Excavators, on the other hand, could tack Bridgestones out to the 5k hour mark. On a skidsteer, if it were my money, would only run ITR tracks. Click to expand... Interesting. I'll only buy Bridgestone for CTLs. They get slick before they break and easily get 2K hours of them which is way more than any other brand I've bought over the last 25 years.

KenMac said: My machine has operated mostly in wooded areas, but has been tracked on asphalt for about a quarter mile. Click to expand... A whole quarter of mile? I know for a fact my T770 sometimes gets several miles per day working on asphalt.

Might not make them for all machines but I've got steel rails with bolt on rubber pads. Almost indestructible. The rails have 6400 hours on them and just had a set of pads and it ran on concrete most of it's life and broken concrete a lot.

materthegreater said: How critical is it to replace the sprockets with the tracks? These aren't worn to a point; they do have a little deformation, but I can grind them smooth when I install the new tracks. At over a grand each I'd like to think I could stretch them a little longer. Click to expand... materthegreater said: How critical is it to replace the sprockets with the tracks? These aren't worn to a point; they do have a little deformation, but I can grind them smooth when I install the new tracks. At over a grand each I'd like to think I could stretch them a little longer. View attachment 364313 Click to expand... See if you can reverse them to wear on the other side of the tooth. They don't seem to have much wear on the other side.

Yeah, 1320 feet in a day isn't very much.

gwhammy said: See if you can reverse them to wear on the other side of the tooth. They don't seem to have much wear on the other side. Click to expand... That's the plan!

gwhammy said: Might not make them for all machines but I've got steel rails with bolt on rubber pads. Almost indestructible. The rails have 6400 hours on them and just had a set of pads and it ran on concrete most of it's life and broken concrete a lot. Click to expand... What size/type machine?

materthegreater said: That's the plan! Click to expand... I did that once. You will roach the tracks off in a few hundred hours.

Acoals said: I did that once. You will roach the tracks off in a few hundred hours. Click to expand... ^^ Good advice... I would suggest following it.

Acoals said: I did that once. You will roach the tracks off in a few hundred hours. Click to expand... Good thing they have a 2000 hour warranty.