Thanks! Yep...after pondering, I'd thought the largest part of the snow getting in was during the turns...when it hit the snow banks. It's a quick try with skirts...next option is cut-outs...arrrg.roadbuilder wrote:Hi Al,
If you already have full rock guards, relief holes would help as the others have said. They work well on excavators and fellerbuchers. If your homeade skirts are heavy duty enough they might work. I think they should be added to both sides of the track frame as rock guards are. I wonder though, if anyplace that snow or mud collects, then if not removed, freezes, it could cause some damage due to expansion? Would the skirts cause more to collect? I don't do much dozer work in snow around here, so I'm throwing this out more as an observation of how chains fill with other loose types of material. I realize you probably already know this, but it is just intended as food for thought. I apply it to any tracked machine and am assuming it will apply in some extent to snow as well. Cold weather guys correct me if I'm wrong.
Once when I was first learning to run dozer, I locked up a track and spun a 180 on the skid road. My Uncle then walked over to me and said not to do that as it was a bad habit and doing that wasn't good for sub grades or the machine either. He told me to turn around in increments, alittle forward, slight turn, reverse, slight turn and so on. He didn't go into details but I took him at his word. Over the years I began to see how the machine part of the technique worked.
Full rock guards and correct track tension help alleviate this, but it still happens a bit when tracks get really loose.
Hard turns or skid turns allow loose or turned up material to slide over the top of the pads. (it does this on the inside as well, usually opposing end or corners depending on direction of the turn and travel). The longer and tighter the turn, the more and further the material is "pushed", filling the chains. You know what happens next. First time I heard that popping, my stomach turned.I was thinking gears, but when I got off the machine (400hp,D-8L) ("elevated sprockets are immune to dirt build up" is a myth), I found chips off the corners of a couple sprocket teeth and the rails were packed with mineral soil. Like Lavoy says, forward and backward are how you clean them. Depending on how bad they are packed, you might want to start slower, then speed up. Mud, and I assume various stages of snow can squeeze up from between pads, (not forgetting sloughing from the cut bank or over the push arms), so being aware of what you add by turning, might help a bit in limiting the amount of build up. I not saying don't ever lock a track, but limit the length of travel with it locked.
Being aware of what your tracks are doing to the surface also helps keep the boss from having a rigging fit when he sees the furrows or windrows left behind by someone who turned hard on a finished surface.
Happy plowing!
Then I suppose I'll be asking everyone on their opinions of making the flame cuts while on the rails...and the best way to keep the rails cool while doing so. Having had all the pads off when I replaced the rails last summer, sure wish I knew what I know now!
