Hey, track experts, consider this......

When I get around to rebuilding the undercarriage on my CASE 310, I'm considering making the under carriage rigidly attached similar to the new ones. Inspection on mine shows that the leaf springs are sagging and with the pivot for the rails in front of the sprocket will cause the chain to have move movement than if the rails were made not to move. I would leave the idler the same with the spring loaded adjuster.

Would this be a good thing to do? The new ones are rigid, and all skid loaders are rigidly mounted even with the tracks on them. I know that some compliance to uneven earth would be lost, but tracks seem to level the earth when pushing hard anyways. It would seem making the rails rigidly attached to the machine could reduce all the motion and the wear caused by the movements.

One other thought. Has there ever been an arrangement by any brand where the front idler roll is mounted rigidly to the rails and the top track support roller made spring loaded? It would seem that the spring loaded top roller supporting the track would be more effective in keeping the track tensioned, similar to a spring loader tensioner sprocket on a chain drive.

What's your opinion?

Ken McWilliams
Dayton,OH