Increasing traction for bucket crawler???

Some of the bucket crawlers I looked at had holes in the tracks like they might be made to add some kind of hardware at least. I was thinking about using some heavy angle iron (3/8" to 1/2") bolted crosswise.

Any thoughts pro-con?

Thanks

Having said that, quite a few operators DownUnder in the logging industry use Cat 977's, especially K's and L's with full-grousered loader-width track shoes on them for logging, particularly with forks at the loading area or in the mill yard.

I would not recommend using ordinary angle iron bolt-ons 'coz they just won't last. If you plan on using weld-on grouser bar to build up your grousers, do it on the front bar only and DON'T do it on the chain if you have sealed and lubricated track chains. This WILL destroy the seals in the pins and bushes and let all the lubricant out, dramatically reducing the life of your pins and bushes.

Hope this helps.

You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.

Welding grouser bar onto the pads is probably the best solution, but before you do so, you should confirm the condition of all of the undercarriage components prior to investing in the material and the labor of installing it, which is another tedious time consuming task especially if stick welding. Say your pins and bushes have a lot of internal wear, are stretched and they are not riding in the root of the sprocket, and you don't have adjustment left, by adding grouser bar, you increase the bite you have into underfoot conditions, get more traction, but you may increase the wear factor beyond normal wear rates, even slip the chain in the sprocket, substantially shorten the life of your already worn undercarriage, as you increase the stress applied to transfer power from the sprocket to the chain ( pin/bushing ). It's all related somehow, best to consider doing some research, by seeing what you can find out what was an undercarriage option for your machine when it was offered new as well so you don't exceed what it was designed for, it won't take long to find a weak spot, especially if you work it hard. You don't want to install new grouser bar that is too tall either.

I do know of a 955 or a 977 Cat (forget now, been awhile ) that had grouser stock installed on the pads, I was in the shop while they were being installed, and very soon after, ( I think the machine had some substantial rebuilding all the way around as well ) it was used 1 mile away to excavate through shale for the new shop building. Cat components are engineered strong, they invested a lot of time and money in this area over many years, as well as their final drives being stronger than most other manufacturers, so depending on the machine you have and it's reputation in the conditions you plan to use it, you may want to do some research, spending a lot of time and money to get more traction just to have some other component fail would be highly undesirable. You say temporarily, 1/2" heavy angle with the highest strenghth bolts you can find, torqued right down may only last for a little while anyway, so maybe it would get you through, if you are careful, I'd be very easy on the machine, pushing stumps out is very hard on any machine, digging around them, undermining the root system 1st and then breaking them out will be less abusive and easier to pop em out.

Eventually I plan on putting some tapered grouser extensions on my loader, as I could use a bit more traction.