Drott/Traxcavator opinions please

[Old Operator]

I drove a D6C on the Shrewsbury Bypass, great machine, but was 30 yrs ago. Just a thought re tracks generally - I seem to remember that chains generally had either a single life of about 2000 hrs or if you have the pins & bushes on the chain pressed out & turned 180 degrees @ about 1500 hrs, you then get a second 1500+ hours out of the chains. Likely a new sprocket ring @ the 1500 hr point? honestly cannot remember if so. Mostly a used machine has been pushed past the point of doing this when bought. One thing - there is no doubt about the availability of spares. I do remember a Cat breakers called John Moore in the Stafford area, they may still exist

 

[Zetor Ad]

I drove a D6C on the Shrewsbury Bypass, great machine, but was 30 yrs ago. Just a thought re tracks generally - I seem to remember that chains generally had either a single life of about 2000 hrs or if you have the pins & bushes on the chain pressed out & turned 180 degrees @ about 1500 hrs, you then get a second 1500+ hours out of the chains. Likely a new sprocket ring @ the 1500 hr point? honestly cannot remember if so. Mostly a used machine has been pushed past the point of doing this when bought. One thing - there is no doubt about the availability of spares. I do remember a Cat breakers called John Moore in the Stafford area, they may still exist

Thanks for the info, is 2000hrs pretty standard for chain & sprocket life expectancy?
Thankfully the d6 tracks shows little sign of wear & track pads also look new, I doubt I'll ever wear them off

 

[Stock]

Depends how you operate it and what you are pushing.....................

 

[diggerjones]

I drove a D6C on the Shrewsbury Bypass, great machine, but was 30 yrs ago. Just a thought re tracks generally - I seem to remember that chains generally had either a single life of about 2000 hrs or if you have the pins & bushes on the chain pressed out & turned 180 degrees @ about 1500 hrs, you then get a second 1500+ hours out of the chains. Likely a new sprocket ring @ the 1500 hr point? honestly cannot remember if so. Mostly a used machine has been pushed past the point of doing this when bought. One thing - there is no doubt about the availability of spares. I do remember a Cat breakers called John Moore in the Stafford area, they may still exist

I worked on the Shrewsbury bypass. Nutalls section operating a cat 428. Bridges, formation levels, drains etc.

 

[Old Operator]

Actually thinking about it, I was on the Shrewsbury Northern relief road, was handling the spoil that came out of the deep cut just before Monkmoor Police Stn.This was being dug out by Riley's huge Hitachi - trucked to a tipsite by Loosemoores @ Crosshouses - The 6C belonged to them - but I think Riley was paying me! Think main contractor was Birse?. Sorry about the mix up, was about 30 yrs ago

 

[diggerjones]

Think it was about 1991/1992

 

[Old Operator]

Re the track life thing, as Stock says much depends on the type of ground the tracks operate in - best being clay as it lubricates, & worst is sand - abrasive, also shattered rock is bad. Also track tension is critical - particularly on machines with two top rollers. It is said that track life was many more hours on agricultural machines as they do little reversing. (this was steel tracks - before rubbers) Anybody have a comparison of retrack costs of steel vs rubber on an equal size of machine & expected life of rubber?

 

[Old Operator]

Just a thought - anyone buying either drott (& maybe the D6?) if these have been stored in say the MOD reserve pool & not run much since '05, if they have a rotary distributor injection pump, then it may be wise to add a 'Lubricity improver' to today's low sulphur fuel. This changed in '05 when it went low sulphur, & thus damaging the buna n rubber seals in these pumps over time. Millars, & Opti Lube are examples of additives. It may be by now that there is a built in additive. This problem is less so on in line pumps, & not at all on common rail systems as the seals in the latter are correct for low sulphur fuels