Maintenance is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit as a way to extend the life of products.  Rubber Track and undercarriage parts are no different. At Rubber Track Solutions, we want to ensure that you can get the best life out of your undercarriage parts so we created a simple list to help operators and construction professionals get the best life. Daily and weekly inspections of your undercarriage should be a part of your routine.

5 ways to extend or hamper the life of your tracks?

1.       Cleaning out your undercarriage routinely is the best way to ensure you get the best life out of the products. Material build-up on the undercarriage is one of the most common reasons we see reduced life from a rubber track.  Regularly clean out the undercarriage to remove built-up material that is going to wear your tracks and damage undercarriage parts. i.e. mud, concrete, sand.

2.       Operating conditions – Some material conditions are going to accelerate wear such as sand or other fine soils, take a look around the job site at operating conditions and look for avoidable hazards such as curbs, rebar, loose heavy aggregate, sand piles, etc.

3.       Reverse travel – limit reverse travel.  Setting up the job site in a way that is going to limit high-speed reverse travel is going to help extend the life of your tracks.  In reverse, the track is under much greater tension than going forward.

4.       Driving behavior – tight turns, unnecessary high-speed travel, curb hopping, running over hazards, wheelies, and too heavy loads are all behaviors that we have seen that cause premature failure of rubber tracks.

5.       Misapplied product – the machine type and tread pattern are crucial details that must be paid attention to when selecting products.  The track is the only part of the machine that rides on the ground and the wrong tread pattern can cause premature failure. Check out our tread pattern guide for more information on selecting the right tread pattern for the application: https://rtstracks.com/construction/rts/

While proper maintenance isn’t going to be the end all be all of your track program, it can sure extend the life of the products that you are using. Check with your local RTS expect or call for a free consultation.