Box5

Doing some road work today and the track hopped off the idler pulley (wasn't tight enough....my fault for not checking it ). I know ur suppose to use a couple iron pipes and put them in the track then rotate the track so u can slide the track over the pulley, but these tracks have offsent guides so u cant really put pipes through to do that...I was thinking a couple 1/4" flat pieces of steel and use those on top of the guides and then be able to slide the track over. If I can't get it on, I have a set of metal tracks I can throw on just to get the excavator back up to the road, but i'd rather just get it on today....

dieselfuelonly

That sucks, had any luck getting it back on yet?

db

If it's like mine the track is tightened by useing a grease gun to extend the rollers to take up the slack in the track. I would think that by useing a winch to retract the roller (somehow realease the grease pressure before winching) you could pull it back far enough to get the track back over the roller.

levigarrett76

Ive had it happen a few times on rentals....pick the machine up with the blade and boom, put the track on the sprocket end and do your best to get it as far on the front roller as possbile, now set it down, put a chain around the top of the track before the front roller, attatch the other end to the boom and pull the chain tight going foward and pulling in a bit....now track the machine fowards to roll the chain around the roller andat the same time keep it tight with the boom...should pop it right back on.....always works for me

shortround

Some of them have a coil spring over grease, for lack of a better discription. You should have a pressure release valve around the tensioner. May have to remove the zerk fitting.

benito

Happens all the time. Release all the grease in the idler tensioner. This is usually done by unthreading a cap with the grease zerk in it. After that, do what LeviGarrett said. It usually works better though if you run the chain through (under) the top of the track instead of over it. Running the track ahead then forces the chain around the idler, lifting the track up & placing it back on the idler. Might be different with rubber tracks though.

Good luck
Ben

Totallyrad

A machine that size is pretty easy to work with. Remove the zerk fitting and use the boom and bucket to compress the idler (smooth roller). Next, put the bucket on the ground and raise the side of the machine that de-tracked. You only need to raise it enough to be able to slide the track under the bottom rollers. Place the track on the sprocket end first, making sure it's seated on the sprocket teeth. Now, you need a couple bars. Usually a standard crow bar about 2 1/2 to 3 feet long and a straight bar work pretty well together. Just work the track back into place from the sprocket end. The rubber tracked units usually don't give you much grief compared to a metal tracked one. Once you have the track back on, replace the zerk fitting and pump the track back up. You will need to run that side in both directions while it's in the air as you get close to reaching the desired tension. Consult the owners manual for the proper adjustment. It is usually referred to in terms of drop, droop or slack and normally is a measurement from a fixed point on the undercarriage and the middle of the sag in the lower portion of the track. Pumping it tight without measuring will only shorten the life of the track and the rest of the undercarriage. It will also tend to de-track quicker in rocks or mud.

Box5

thanks for the help guys, I gave up on the rubber track for now and just went back and put the steel track on. Now I can work on it on level ground and try ur guys techniques. I tried letting the grease out of the fitting but like u know, without pressure on the idler the grease won't come out. So i'll deal with it tomorrow with a chain and some steel bars. TotallyRad, what kinda skid steer do u have?

RickG

Read the help again . Use the bucket to put pressure on the idler to get the grease out .

BCB

Happens all the time to us.... by far the easiestway to get it back takes a skidsteer which i assume you don't have... so do what a lot of these other guys have said release the greese from the cylinder and put the idler side of the track all the way on and get the most of the sprocket side and try to roll it on the chain trick is a good idea i've never thought of that before... anyway your sure to get it back on any of these ways..

JKM

It sounds like there is enough advise here to get it done correctly, it gets alot easier after you do it a few times , i used to be able to swap tracks in 30 minutes at my old job ( both sides). Meta tracks get a little harder , because there isn't much stretch to them , and they usually have to be split.

Box5

that steel track only took about 15 minutes to put on, but it sure tears up the ground alot more, and is alot heavier so I wanna get the rubber one back on.

I wondered why I stopped moving, lol. First time thats happened, but its probably good so I can get use to changing the tracks so it doesnt cost me money on a job. Thanks again for the help, i was probably more frustrated than anything so i'll go at it tomorrow with a better attitude, lol.

Totallyrad

I've got a New Holland LS-170. I just went back and looked at the pics you posted in the beginning. In the future, try to keep the sprockets on the low side when you're on a slope. I didn't think it was a big deal but my 130 has de-tracked 3 times now and twice, I was on a slope, with the idlers down. I went through the owners manual and there was a paragraph explaining that the drive motors should always be on the low side on slopes. It makes sense but it takes a while to remember to spin the machine before heading down a hill.

Box5

yea, the only reason i had it that way was so the blade was pointing down to give added stability since I was working up the hill and this thing doesn't have really long tracks for great stability. I plan to upgrade to a larger machine but this thing gets quite a bit done, it just doesn't have the grunt compared to some of the 7klbs+ mini's though for moving larger stuff.

Totallyrad

I've always thought the Takeuchi's were a little light when it came to the butt department. Check out the Komatsu minis. The contractor I'm working for just rented another one for some ditching I've got to do this week and like the others he's rented, this ones fairly stout.