tracts

[Howard Yoder]

have a good set of tracts with decent rails but they run them on bad sprockets. I was thinking of turning the pins and bushings and putting on a good set of sprockets but a local man without looking at them said I'm just throwing my money away. what do you think I also could run them the way they are I just thought it would be better to turn them?

[Lavoy]

I am probably a little biased on this subject, but I too feel that turning pins and bushings is a waste of time and money. I will qualify this statement a little bit. If the pins and bushings are run and then turned according to factory spec, I might be a little more inclined to agree, but I have never yet had a set come through here that were not well past spec.
Believe it or not, the back side of the pin and bushing do wear, even though they are not on the tension side. The spec for 100% worn is 1/8" per link, which is 1/16" for the pin, and 1/16" for the bushing. That is only 62 1/2 thousandths of an inch wear on each piece. If you have half that wear on the back side of yours, you are at 50% worn, and you just got them back from the track shop.
Turning pins and bushings does absolutely nothing as far as taking the snake out of the track, it will be just as sloppy after as before.
Perhaps the final reason, and maybe a small one, is that if you plan on keeping the crawler for any length of time, put in the new parts while we can get them, or before a big price increase. Many years ago, in a short time period, the pins and bushings from Deere tripled within about a one year period. Pins and bushings for 420-1010 from Deere are about $1200 for enough to do both sides now, they used to be less than $400. I am getting low on pins and bushings, and need to reorder. I called last week, and from last year, the price has gone up close to $100 per set of pins and bushings for 420-1010. Add to that fact that my delay from date of order to date of delivery is about 7-9 months, and you kind of get the picture.
You have to make your own decision based on your usage, and your pocketbook, but while they are in the shop, you are already going to pay the labor, all you are adding is the parts. Plus it is so much more time consuming to turn rather than replace, that the labor charge may actually be higher for turning versus replacing.
I'll get off my soapbox now.
Lavoy

[Howard Yoder]

thanks for taking the time to explane it it does make sense. If i where to make decisions on the bases of my pocketbook it would be easy. LOL I won't be using this crawler much anymore so I will probably just use the tracts the way they are unless i can talk the wife into a new pickup and a trip out to the Dakotas. How far are you from Mount Rushmore?

[Lavoy]

It depends on what route you take, and how hard you run, but the fastest would be about 7 hours. Rushmore is in SW corner or SD, I am in SE corner of ND, about 70 miles North of the border.
Lavoy