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Wayne
04-18-2003 22:38:41
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Re: Greatly appreciate serious input on undercarriage questions in reply to Robert, 04-18-2003 18:47:36
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Hey Robert, I don't know how detailed of a response you want, because I can't quote exact specs on life expectancy, etc.,of the parts because that is too dependant on where and how you run the machine. I can tell you that I've been working on heavy equipment all my life and can only say what I've seen based on experience. You asked what's the difference in Bearco and CAT, well, basically the price. Bearco has been around for alot of years selling aftermarket parts and if they didn't have quality products they wouldn't still be in the undercarriage business. I've put on alot of their parts over the years, and have seen many pieces of equipment running their parts without any problems. I can tell you from experience that the rails are tough. Several years ago I had a customer break a link in a set of worn out rails. He was right in the middle of a job and didn't have time to take the machine down for all new parts. In order to get him going I had to machine down a rail close to 5/16 inch to "wear it out" to the same height as the others. I used a carbide cutter in the mill to do it and I can tell you the rails are tough. Not hard mind you, but tough enough that I could tell without a doubt they were an excellent alloy. So far as the CAT stuff, yes they have good parts, but the price is grossly inflated on alot of items just because of the name. I'm in the process of building a D-9G transmission that CAT want's $27,000 for. I'm using aftermarket parts from CGI, and Federal Mogal, and when I get done parts and labor will be in the $8000 range. The "aftermarket" bearings are all BCA which is an excellent brand, and even CAT doesn't make their own. I checked on a transmission pump for it...CAT-$1400, aftermarket name brand $160..... This showes you the difference in price and the markup CAT puts on many of their parts, and undercarriage parts are no different. I got a little off the subject there with the transmission, but it was just a good up to date example of what I was saying. If you look at a worse case scenario, and imagine that the Bearco parts aren't quite as tough as the CAT parts, it still doesn't work out even. If they only lasted 1/2 the time of the CAT parts, your still only looking at $10,000 to do a complete set of Bearco parts twice, vs $3,000 more for just one set from CAT. As for the extra for the Hi-Pro vs the standard. I'd base that decision on wether you were running the machine everyday, as well as the kind of material you were working in. If you were running somewhere with an extremely abrasive environment, like a sand pit, it would probably be worth the extra expense, if not, I wouldn't worry about it. The main thing is you want the life of the rails, height wise, to be as comparable with the turning of the pins and bushings as possible. If you haven't turned the pins/busings and the rail is already worn down to the maximum, then your basically throwing away the last half of the life of the other parts. Thing is, your paying for the maximum life of all the parts, so why not get as much life out of all of them as you can. If you can't do that, then no part you buy will be a "bargain".
Ok, that's my .05, hope it helps. Good luck, Wayne
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