Turning track bushings yourself

[Jakes dozer]

Does anyone out there turn their own track bushings? Or am I the only one crazy enough to want to do so? If anyone does so I would love to know what set up is being used and where it was bought, or how it was built. I have been scanning the web and haven’t stumbled across anything yet.

 

[redneckracin]

I'm by no means an expert, but I'm reasonably sure that anything under a D8 or D9 size machine, its not worth the cost and the pins should be ran out instead of turned. Covid may have changed the pricing but that used to be the rule of thumb. Have you priced out replacement tracks yet?

 

[Nige]

Have you priced out replacement tracks yet?

Price out a pin & bush turn versus replacement link groups (I assume you're planning on reuisng the shoes) and come back with the numbers.
What size of dozer are you talking about.?
Just to give you an idea a track press such as you would find in a dealer shop probably starts at something around $300k and goes rapidly upwards.

 

[Jakes dozer]

I think can have them turned for around $2,000.00 or so. It is D5k I will be having turned. It has already been converted from the system one.

 

[Nige]

Have you had any CTS measurements done on the undercarriage by the dealer.?
Do you have any definite information whether or not the bushings are even in a suitable condition to be turned.?
The condition of the rest of the U/C system also impacts the "turn vs replace" decision. You can't really go anywhere until you have some facts to go on.
CTS is a free service if you give them the impression that you're going to be buying all the replacement U/C parts from them.

 

[ahart]

Short of absolutely no parts availability I can’t think of any scenario that doing a P&B turn on a D5K would ever come close to paying for itself. By the time they need turned there’s usually not enough left to turn, you’d likely run into several pins/bushings that would need changed not to mention the link wear. D5K machines are typically finish tractors and they usually see higher speeds than large tractors which accelerates wear on U/C. Maybe I’m in left field on this one but we’ve never found it economical to do turns on small tractors.

 

[John C.]

The bushings on that size of machine have been made thicker years ago to make it so when they were worn out, so was most of the rest of the undercarriage. Here is a video that explains a bit about the undercarriages on oval track dozers.

 

[Nige]

Maybe I’m in left field on this one but we’ve never found it economical to do turns on small tractors.

Not only that, but in my experience you have to fight hard to make a case to turn P&B on big tractors..........

 

[ahart]

We always turned them on D11s. I’m thinking that the PB turns had something to do with cat’s seal assurance warranty. The mine had a spare set of rails we would put on while they were getting turned. At one time we could swap a set of tracks on an 11 in an hour and a half between shifts, don’t miss that any.

 

[Nige]

I'm sure it all depends on operating conditions, and I think a coal mine would be a lot different to a hard rock mine. On our 10Ts the major wear item was grousers, we could take brand-new SES grousers down to 50% in just over 500 hours in certain areas of the mine. We did like you and wrapped exchange tracks on the tractor while the shoes were being re-grousered.
On the flip side our link groups (Deep Hardened Link or whatever it is called these days) would last 7500+ hours running them to destruction. I think a lot of this was due to having 3rd speed blanked off with ET and using a lowboy rather than walking tractors for all moves over about 1 mile. tractors even got lowboyed to the shop for PMs then back again afterwards.

 

[JD955SC]

I gotta say you’re a little nuts for wanting to do such a tedious job yourself. This is definitely a job you farm out to someone with the track press setup.

we still do P&B turns on smaller tractors so our PSSRs must have sharpened their pencils enough to make it worthwhile, I don’t know I just do what I’m told to do.

 

[terex herder]

I asked my local Deere service manager about turning pins and bushings on my hoe. His response was they bought a fancy track press about 15 years ago. Then shortly afterwards aftermarket tracks came out at a much lower price point than the oem replacements. As a result he thought the press has sat idle for over 10 years.

 

[John C.]

My former employer does lots of D10 and 11 tracks shipped down from Alaska. It wears out men about every three years or so and most of the power stuff is on there. No way to get out of shuffling pads and handling all the components into a parts washer and back out to press everything back together. Add to that the time constraints imposed by an ignoramus in polished shoes at a desk low bidding each project.

 

[JD955SC]

Add to that the time constraints imposed by an ignoramus in polished shoes at a desk low bidding each project

when I find this man I’m going to ask him just why he thinks that never having done the job gives him the knowledge to set the times. Dirt, rust, and seized parts do not exist in his world, either.

 

[ahart]

Dirt, rust, and seized parts do not exist in his world, either.

Agreed. Worst one I ever seen was a D10T running on the coal stock pile at a power plant. Not a single pad bolt would come loose, only time we ever had that trouble at the mine was when the bolts were ran loose on the pad, you could guarantee you were blue wrenching those off.

 

[1693TA]

I'm rather fortunate in this regard. I have access to a track press at a dealership to do anything I need to my own equipment.

Agreed. Worst one I ever seen was a D10T running on the coal stock pile at a power plant. Not a single pad bolt would come loose, only time we ever had that trouble at the mine was when the bolts were ran loose on the pad, you could guarantee you were blue wrenching those off.

We had the same scenario on IH TD25B series tractors often. Blue wrench was the only way you were going to get the pads separated. Always had a spare set of tracks built up but when the mobile track press wagon showed up, we were ready for him.