During my nearly 30-year career as a field technician working with operators and fleet managers on a job site, one machine component seems to adhere to “Murphy’s Law” — anything that can go wrong will go wrong — more frequently than others: undercarriages. One situation I often recall was when an excavator's tracks broke right before we expected three days of rain on residential development in Texas. We needed to find a way to repair the machine on the job site and remove it without sinking and disrupting the grade work they had just completed. We were able to perform a "miracle" that day by replacing a few key parts, but that’s not always the case.
Undercarriage maintenance can be almost half the cost of maintaining your machine, possibly totaling tens of thousands of dollars depending on the machine's age, model or extent of the required repair. To extend your equipment’s lifespan, follow RDO’s guidelines for undercarriage inspection.
Monitor Dozer or Excavator Performance
The tracks and chains are essential for a dozer or excavator's overall mobility and performance. These components endure most of the stress of pushing or pulling. When dozers or excavators work at an angle or push on a slope, the chains' tension reaches a high level, requiring more engine power.
If a dozer or excavator's fuel consumption increases, the fleet manager should contact the operator and have them double-check the machine's undercarriage.
Even if the machine's operator is still learning the ropes and could miss a slight dip in performance, the fleet manager can schedule an undercarriage inspection with a trusted expert every 1,000 hours or at least once a year. Depending on the machine's age or a job site's environmental factors, such as if the soil is dense, sandy or wet, the undercarriage may need to be inspected more frequently.
Key Component to Check and Clean: Chains
Check chains to ensure they are still in good shape because once they're worn, stress cascades to more undercarriage components, causing parts to increase wear, so replacements might be required earlier than expected. Remember that when one link of the chain breaks, you'll have to replace several or even the whole chain to make the machine move again.
When rocks or dense soil get stuck between tracks or chains, they act like sandpaper, causing premature wear. During daily inspections, operators must remove these environmental materials that get stuck between the rollers, chain or frame.
Operators should often clean their machine's undercarriage on any job site. Clean the undercarriage's components daily, especially where the shoes or rollers rub against each other. Before a machine moves to another job site, operators should check and clean its undercarriage, as the soil may change from sandy to rockier and denser.
Teach Operators Steps to Inspect Undercarriages
Operators will be the first to notice when their machine's undercarriage needs to be inspected. First, they need to understand the two main chain types to catch a worn chain before it breaks.
- Dry pin chains are commonly used for excavators. These chains travel to one area job site and stay put, so they wear less.
- Sealed-lube pin chains are commonly used for dozers because they travel on job sites and require an extra lubrication layer to decrease wear.
After operators understand the different chain types, they can work alongside their trusted equipment expert to learn the ropes. Here are the steps I teach operators:
- Log into John Deere’s Expert App to check the manufacturer’s specs.
- Examine rollers, idlers, sprockets and track shoes for wear and tear. Look for any bending, cracking or thinning of these parts.
- Measure the width of the shoes and the diameters of the top or bottom rollers.
- Compare the manufacturer’s specs to the undercarriage’s rollers, idlers, sprockets and track shoe measurements to understand the components' current wear and tear.
- Measure the tracks’ max tension before applying John Deere or another manufacturer’s recommended lubrication.
When the operator understands how to inspect their machine’s undercarriage, they can calculate the average production hours within a week and estimate how many months before replacement parts, like rollers or chains, will be required.
Get the Most Out of Annual Inspections
Unplanned downtime is not cheap — most undercarriage total repair jobs start at $10,000 and go up — so I always encourage contractors to partner with a dealer who provides accurate info so they can start budgeting for the parts or discuss different machine models.
Contractors can choose an aftermarket service package at trusted equipment stores like RDO Equipment Co. that includes undercarriage inspections. Fleet managers understand their machine’s undercarriage components and quickly recommend what may need replacing.
At RDO, we value fleet managers’ expertise and discuss options so we can help ensure the longest life cycle for the undercarriage. Through these conversations, we can schedule preventative maintenance and undercarriage inspections based on job sites and knowledge of average production hours. Together, we minimize downtime and safeguard against unexpected delays so dozer or excavator operators can complete the job in less time.
Joe Olivas
More than 27 years ago, Joe Olivas kept diesel engines up and running as a field service technician while he served in the U.S. Army. After he concluded his military service, he continued as a diesel technician, working all over Texas. Now at RDO Equipment Co. as a Customer Service Advisor, he partners with contractors, so they extend their machines’ lifetime through preventative maintenance and machine monitoring.
