Tracks make the Difference!

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Joined
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Got into a little mud today. It has actually dried up over the last few weeks. I worked there in 1' deep mud but never remembered to take a video. Had one of the kids shoot this today.

Don't try this without tracks!

[video=youtube;gtC36_WTSYo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gtC36_WTSYo[/video]
 
Yeah the tracks are the only way to go on a bobcat. U can't go anywhere with wheels on a Bobcat. There about useless in the woods.
 
I still have more snow than mud.

I have already been mowing. Although still a fire in the mornings here.

Plenty of mud here and there though. It doesnt ever really get dry until mid summer to early fall, then the mud starts again. I tell ya whut though, those two months of dry and real hot are brutal. I think the splits dry more during those two months than all the rest of the year. Say like in july and august, you can cut in the morning, and by the afternoon you can see checks starting in the rounds. I got used to it, I can do it. It gets hot, just slow down a little and drink lotsa luids, etc. Work in the shade as much as possible.

This past winter, not much white dirt, just flurries. Some years we get snow cover on the ground, other years, nada. Heck, one year we had 11 good snowfalls! That was odd though. We are apparently right at the very edge of that normal line, which is more clearly seen as, where do they commonly throw salt on the roads? A few counties north of us they do, here, nope. The snow/no snow line area.

I miss snow, dont want nine months of it, but a month with snow would be nice. BUT, not having vehicles rust all out from salt is pretty nice, too. Tradeoffs.
 
I have already been mowing. Although still a fire in the mornings here.

Plenty of mud here and there though. It doesnt ever really get dry until mid summer to early fall, then the mud starts again. I tell ya whut though, those two months of dry and real hot are brutal. I think the splits dry more during those two months than all the rest of the year. Say like in july and august, you can cut in the morning, and by the afternoon you can see checks starting in the rounds. I got used to it, I can do it. It gets hot, just slow down a little and drink lotsa luids, etc. Work in the shade as much as possible.

This past winter, not much white dirt, just flurries. Some years we get snow cover on the ground, other years, nada. Heck, one year we had 11 good snowfalls! That was odd though. We are apparently right at the very edge of that normal line, which is more clearly seen as, where do they commonly throw salt on the roads? A few counties north of us they do, here, nope. The snow/no snow line area.

I miss snow, dont want nine months of it, but a month with snow would be nice. BUT, not having vehicles rust all out from salt is pretty nice, too. Tradeoffs.

The salt up here really sucks.
 
My question is. Would you rather have a skidsteer with add on tracks or one with tracks only? Any advantages or disadvantages to both?
 
Yeah the tracks are the only way to go on a bobcat. U can't go anywhere with wheels on a Bobcat. There about useless in the woods.


Oh man, I just flat out disagree with this statement! I have 3 skidsteers on rubber and I go everywhere in the woods with them. I have no issues whatsoever getting around in the woods on tires.

To answer another poster's question on tires vs. tracks. Tracks are not much use in snow. The weight is spread out too much to get traction. At work we have 8 skidsteers, with aftermarket track systems where the wheels come off and the tracks are put on. We remove them in winter for snow plowing.

Ted
 
I have already been mowing. Although still a fire in the mornings here.

Plenty of mud here and there though. It doesnt ever really get dry until mid summer to early fall, then the mud starts again. I tell ya whut though, those two months of dry and real hot are brutal. I think the splits dry more during those two months than all the rest of the year. Say like in july and august, you can cut in the morning, and by the afternoon you can see checks starting in the rounds. I got used to it, I can do it. It gets hot, just slow down a little and drink lotsa luids, etc. Work in the shade as much as possible.

This past winter, not much white dirt, just flurries. Some years we get snow cover on the ground, other years, nada. Heck, one year we had 11 good snowfalls! That was odd though. We are apparently right at the very edge of that normal line, which is more clearly seen as, where do they commonly throw salt on the roads? A few counties north of us they do, here, nope. The snow/no snow line area.

I miss snow, dont want nine months of it, but a month with snow would be nice. BUT, not having vehicles rust all out from salt is pretty nice, too. Tradeoffs.

yea its impossible up here to have a rust free vehicle unless you park it for the winter months. The salt is terrible that's the worst part, but driving in the snow is about as fun as it gets. I love taking the snowmobile on the roads, or taking the fourwheeler on the roads during snowstorms, or even my pickemup truck, made lots of journeys short and long through the snow since i started driving. Snow makes cutting wood better too, no dirt on the logs from skidding.
 
flyboy, we need to see pics of your tire skidders in the same type of mud as arts. We skid tops out of a bush using 4 wheel drive tractors but we don't usually go there when it's wet. We don't own the land and would prefer to stay on good terms with the owner. We're getting ready to start another new bush and there is a small river running thru it, the last owner made a mess using his 4 wheel drive tractor in the mud. I have a buddy that just bought a skidder on tracks for back filling basements and he is real happy with it. He had been renting one with wheels and was always getting stuck with it. We have lots of heavy wet clay here and the clog up fast and you are sitting on your belly quick.
 
Hey Art, Those are not the normal type flat rubber tracks; those are add-on steel cleats on a track like a dozer. That puppy would just about would just about rip its way through anything. I rented a skid steer with rubber tracks on it to clean out my barn, the darn thing would float on top and spin in the muck. Had to go back to the wheels for the day. Are those tracks hard to take off and put on??? Something like letting the air out of the tires? I could see using them in the woods. We have a lot of clay, a rubber track around here would just slide around ontop of the mud. Nice set up!!:rock:
 
flyboy, we need to see pics of your tire skidders in the same type of mud as arts. We skid tops out of a bush using 4 wheel drive tractors but we don't usually go there when it's wet. We don't own the land and would prefer to stay on good terms with the owner. We're getting ready to start another new bush and there is a small river running thru it, the last owner made a mess using his 4 wheel drive tractor in the mud. I have a buddy that just bought a skidder on tracks for back filling basements and he is real happy with it. He had been renting one with wheels and was always getting stuck with it. We have lots of heavy wet clay here and the clog up fast and you are sitting on your belly quick.


I am in sand country so I don't have mud problems. I agree in clay mud, you aren't going anywhere without tracks. But unless I am a paid logger, I would never cut in mud anyway.
Like I said b efore all of ours at work are on tracks in the summer as we work in clay alot. Plus the traction difference is huge!

Ted

Ted
 
Hey Art, Those are not the normal type flat rubber tracks; those are add-on steel cleats on a track like a dozer. That puppy would just about would just about rip its way through anything. I rented a skid steer with rubber tracks on it to clean out my barn, the darn thing would float on top and spin in the muck. Had to go back to the wheels for the day. Are those tracks hard to take off and put on??? Something like letting the air out of the tires? I could see using them in the woods. We have a lot of clay, a rubber track around here would just slide around ontop of the mud. Nice set up!!:rock:

These are "Eel Trax" Not sure if the company is still in business. I bought them 2nd hand never used for $300. Best $ I ever spent. They stay on my machine all the time; I'm never on pavement. I've had them for 5+ years. My Bobcat had worn out foam filled tires when I got it. They are still on under the tracks! The tires will spin inside the tracks so I don't worry about excessive stress on the drive train. You have to remove links to tighten them when they stretch. That can be a pain but it doesn't need done often. All in all I like them; they help get the job done!

2766106_1.jpg
 
Nice!! I can see how something like that would work in my area. Those pads have a wide enough footprint yet enough space between them to really grab. My friend has something like a 6 wheel Coot and he has tracks like that but narrow pads. Sounds kind’a nasty when he goes out hunting but the guy can rip right through a swamp like nothing. Several years ago I ran Stainless beads on the pads so he could dig in to the ice better.

I’ll bet some logger or farmer came up with that idea. It looks as if it would be easy enough to change a link and not that cumbersome to put on. I was looking at tracks for my ATV but a nice set of tag wheels on the back and something like that track might work out better. I could make a frame and do something like a mini 5 wheel so the weight is on the wheels and not on the ATV… Increase the wood hauling capacity during the spring.

Some of us are not as lucky as Ted. Some of us live North of him and we have a heavy clay type soil.

Thanks for the pictures.. Another thing to think about… :msp_thumbup:
 
Nice!! I can see how something like that would work in my area. Those pads have a wide enough footprint yet enough space between them to really grab. My friend has something like a 6 wheel Coot and he has tracks like that but narrow pads. Sounds kind’a nasty when he goes out hunting but the guy can rip right through a swamp like nothing. Several years ago I ran Stainless beads on the pads so he could dig in to the ice better.

I’ll bet some logger or farmer came up with that idea. It looks as if it would be easy enough to change a link and not that cumbersome to put on. I was looking at tracks for my ATV but a nice set of tag wheels on the back and something like that track might work out better. I could make a frame and do something like a mini 5 wheel so the weight is on the wheels and not on the ATV… Increase the wood hauling capacity during the spring.

Some of us are not as lucky as Ted. Some of us live North of him and we have a heavy clay type soil.

Thanks for the pictures.. Another thing to think about… :msp_thumbup:

There is another type of add-on track made by Lograine. They are more like grousers on a dozer. Much more open in the centers and bite better in mud. Only issue with these is that they have bushings where the grousers are attached to the dogbones that hold them together. Those need to be replaced quite often. Not expensive but a pain to take the tracks off and replace and then re-install. Advantage being, far more traction in mud or blow sand.

Ted
 
Wish I had pictures

You wanna see things home made that go in the mud..dang..long time ago, late 70s, happened to drive by a staging area for access for opening day of deer season down in the everglades. Man o man cool stuff! Not just airboats, but tracked and wheeled vehicles. Things like..describe it..say a carriage, a truck frame, had triplies on it all around, tractor tires, with the engine and the body, made from a boat, like 8 feet up in the air. Really, like 8 feet up. That was just one of maybe 200 vehicles there. Every conceivable way to go through a swamp, you name it, someone had built it. Swamp buggies!

Here is link

Swamp buggy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



and woo HOO, the internet comes through! Here ya go!

https://www.google.com/search?q=Swa...Q&biw=1014&bih=574&sei=E-FiUYCIErGp0AH79YDYBw
 
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