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Crawlers, Dozers, Loaders & Backhoes Discussion Forum

Any ASV owners want to comment on track durability

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Mark Salser

01-05-2004 07:38:19




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I've been following this board for a while and have been interested in hearing comments about the ASV machines. I'm wondering if anyone out there can comment on how well the rubber tracks hold up over time. I'd be interested in using it to do some land clearing and drainage work on some forest land in western Washington. The low ground pressure is appealing because of wet ground, but I'm wondering how well the rubber tracks hold up to roots, rocks, etc. Has anyone out there used one of these machines for forestry applications and if so what did you think? Any feedback on their durability wouuld be greatly appreciated.

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Mike

01-08-2004 14:28:31




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 Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track durabi in reply to Mark Salser, 01-05-2004 07:38:19  
If I remember correctly from your other posts you are going to use the machine in mostly sand/sandy soil. The rubber tracks will probably last 1000-1500 hours along with the rollers and sprockets. The sand is highly abrasive even to the rubber,and is even worse when it gets wet,turning into a grinding compound. Track life will be even shorter with a lot of twisting and turning,such as in grading around obstructions,houses etc or if the tracks are cut on a stump or curb.The sand eats at the cuts,making them bigger. This can really start to up your hourly cost of use when you factor in undercarriage replacement.We rent ASV's all the time for residential work near the shore.The company we rent from usually rotates the machine out of their fleet at under 1000 hours before they have to replace belts,rollers sprockets,and bucket pins and bushings from sand wear.We figure we can rent for less than buying one when we figure in maintenance and repairs on 500hrs/year use

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gatractorman

01-06-2004 04:23:10




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 Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track durabi in reply to Mark Salser, 01-05-2004 07:38:19  
I cant comment on ASV track durability but if you would care to hear about Bobcat durability I can expound on that some, without any unneccesary abuse about 1500 hours is all you can expect from B/C tracks, then it depends on track style and width but can cost up to $6000 for replacement tracks (from the B/C dealer, aftermarkets are probably cheaper) B/C uses 12" and 18" tracks, the 12" tracks don't get big hunks of rubber torn off the side like the 18's do but then the traction issue comes in the 12's dont have as much and therefore get's spun more and if you happen to come into contact with a rock while spinning it will cut a gash in the track thus further reducing it's life, 18" tracks are built on the same design as the 12's and having only 12" of actual metal support in the track so you have 3" on each side that has no support other than the rubber itself and it is quite possible to turn 18" tracks into 12" in a very short length of time.

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Mark Salser

01-06-2004 06:07:19




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 Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track du in reply to gatractorman, 01-06-2004 04:23:10  
Gatractorman, Thanks for the info on the Bobcat tracks. Have any ASV owners out there had similar problems, or are the ASV tracks more heavily engineered?



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justJeff

01-05-2004 16:51:22




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 Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track durabi in reply to Mark Salser, 01-05-2004 07:38:19  
Mark, we're in western WA too, at the coast. The dealer for ASV in Olympia is J&I equipment, if you need their number let me know. They also rent the ASV's. In summer the RC50 goes for 790/wk, I'm not sure about the larger machines. I think we're going to rent a RC50 and try it out for our clearing needs here. We build spec houses and currently sub out all of our dirt work. I did buy a cad digger today for some of our trenching though. I too am anxious to see how they clear brush and such. What part of the state are you in?

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Mark Salser

01-06-2004 05:59:13




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 Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track du in reply to justJeff, 01-05-2004 16:51:22  
Hey justJeff, Our farm is located over near Everett. We've got an old dairy farm with lots of forest that we are converting to an equestrian facility. For me the biggest concerns are dealing with drainage problems on forest roads and then doing clearing work. We've got a John Deere 5510 with a backhoe attachment - it works fine for putting in culverts and such, but it needs quite a bit of space to manuever and it tends to churn up the soil into mud. It seems like a tracked machine would lend itself well to improving drainage paths so that our culverts function well, and the relatively small size of the ASV machines seems good for that. I thought that maybe a crawler loader is really what I ought to get, but I'm leery of all the undercarriage issues, and I also figure that the ground pressure must be higher (thus more likely to bog down in mud). Also, the variety of attachments for the ASV seems like it would be generally much more useful on a farm (whatever machine I get I plan to keep for a long time). For land clearing I was thinking of working in concert with somebody on an excavator, so the ASV wouldn't be doing the really heavy work, but would mostly be cleaning up and parking out the area. We would be parking out areas of about 20 acres. Am I naive in thinking a machine like the ASV would be useful for this? I have a friend in North Carolina who runs a big farm maintenace business and uses CAT T200's to do a lot of stuff. He swears by them and believes that they can do quite a bit of dozing while being more versatile - is he nuts in believing that?

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TimV

01-05-2004 20:00:15




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 Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track du in reply to justJeff, 01-05-2004 16:51:22  
Jeff: Haven't had anything intelligent to add to the ASV discussion, so I've sat back and listened. However, I'm glad you bought the CadDigger--I think you'll like it for trenching work. They're not the fastest machine on the planet, but they work very well in tight spots, and are easy to transport. Also, they beat the usual alternative--that stick with the flat blade on the end. I always seemed to have a difficult time getting my hands to fit one of those right, particularly if there was a lot of rocks in the ground!

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Jeff

01-05-2004 11:42:14




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 Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track durabi in reply to Mark Salser, 01-05-2004 07:38:19  
Durability is good, but our tracks plug up in clay based mud... In forestry applications I dont like them, because the visiblity is VERY bad... Hard to get inbetween tight areas. In more open construction areas, they are nice..



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JimInOz

01-05-2004 19:38:42




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 Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on track du in reply to Jeff, 01-05-2004 11:42:14  
I have a 4.5 ton Mitsubishi dozer with PAT blade & 18" excavator plates.It came from forestry application ( road maintain/stump tidy up/drainage).It floats well in softer ground & still picks up a full blade of dirt in dry ground. Obviously not a heavy duty unit,but excellent for accessory work where a skidsteer can't work.I also excavate shed sites/clean small ponds etc.A ripper is a must.I know the early Mitsubishis had a good reputation,but not sure if there's anyone out there doing lotsa hours on the later models. Nice dozer to operate too!

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Mark Salser

01-06-2004 06:04:09




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 Re: Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on trac in reply to JimInOz, 01-05-2004 19:38:42  
JimInOz, what is a PAT blade (I'm a neophyte at all this heavy equipment stuff)?



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TimV

01-06-2004 08:31:26




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment on in reply to Mark Salser, 01-06-2004 06:04:09  
Mark: Power Angle Tilt, also commonly referred to as a 6-way (up/down, left/right angle, forward/back angle) blade



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Mark Salser

01-08-2004 13:49:19




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to comment in reply to TimV, 01-06-2004 08:31:26  
Thanks Tim and also to everybody else who posted input. I still don't know what to get, but it sounds like I really need to rent a couple of different pieces of equipment and see how they do for me.



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justJeff

01-08-2004 15:41:31




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Any ASV owners want to com in reply to Mark Salser, 01-08-2004 13:49:19  
Mark, I spoke with Paul at J&I Equipment in Olympia today. They are the closest ASV dealer to us. New tracks for an RC50 are $2,500. The tracks are warranted for 1,000 hours. What the other poster said about sand wearing on things is true.



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