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With over 20 years of experience, West-Trak have found three ways in which you can significantly improve the life of your rubber tracks. Firstly, your driving technique, secondly, storing your machinery correctly, and thirdly, keeping up with maintenance on your machine.

 

Driving Techniques

Your driving can greatly impact the life of your rubber track, here are a couple of tips to prevent pre-mature wear on your rubber tracks.

  • Drive slowly and avoid tracking in reverse as this puts stress on the tracks. When you must track in reverse, be sure to do so slowly.
  • Don’t make sharp turns, do a three-point turn when possible.
  • Avoid tracking on slopes as this leads to uneven wear on the tracks and undercarriage.
  • Avoid any potentially damaging surfaces including large and sharp and rocks, broken concrete, curbs, and chemicals. If the rubber is exposed to chemicals, including salts and oils, wash them off promptly.

 

Storage & Maintenance

  • When storing your machinery avoid parking in direct sunlight, especially if storing over a long period of time.
  • Inspection of the rubber tracks and the other components that make up the undercarriage is also very important. Every 50 operating ours on the machine, check for loose drive mounting bolts, wear on the rollers and sprockets, loose sprocket bolts and oil leaks.
  • It’s also important to keep the tracks clean, the build-up of materials in the track rails can cause pressure on the tracks and undercarriage which can significantly decrease the wear life of the track.
  • If the machinery with the rubber tracks is not being used over a long period of time, the rubber track may lose elasticity or become misshapen. To prevent this, every two weeks drive the machine around for five minutes.
  • It is important to verify and maintain proper track tension as directed by the machine manufacturer and is one of the simplest ways to ensure full life out of your track. Over or under tensioning of a track will cause terminal damage leading to costly downtime and track replacement. Loose tracks run the risk of de-tracking while too tight of a tension magnifies the load and increases wear on the entire undercarriage system.