Maximize Undercarriage Life

Quick Tip Video: Undercarriage Life for Maximum Performance of  Your Cat^® Equipment

To make sure your Caterpillar^® tracked machine is ready to work when you are, it’s always a good idea to maintain a healthy undercarriage life. By familiarizing yourself with some of the most common undercarriage maintenance procedures, you’ll help ensure your tracked equipment is in top shape. In addition, by conducting regular checks on the undercarriage, you’ll also extend the life of your Cat machine and protect your investment.

Watch the following quick tip video, in which a knowledgeable Caterpillar representative gives you a clear overview of how to inspect and care for the undercarriage of tracked equipment.

 

Transcript

Hey, I’m Dave with today’s quick tip and I’m here to help you make the most of your investment.

Make inspecting your undercarriage a part of your daily routine.

Look for cracks and damage to the tracks.

Remove excess amounts of dirt and large debris from your undercarriage.

Concrete, rocks and even hardened mud or dirt can increase the fraction your track experiences which will cause wear and may even cause the track to fall off.

Manually extract large items and the occasional power washing will help keep your undercarriage in good shape.

You should also look for loose hardware and oil leaks.

Know the grease points on your specific model.

It is important to grease them daily to lubricate the bushings on your undercarriage brands.

Proper greasing also helps push dirt out.

Tracks should not be too loose or too tight.

Refer to your operation and maintenance manual on the proper tension test procedures for your machines specific undercarriage.

Different styles of undercarriage have different tensioning procedures.

The proper track tension will extend the life of your undercarriage.

So remember, for healthy machine undercarriages, apply these three simple rules

1. Keep it clean
2. Keep it greased
3. Keep it tensioned

Consult your operation and maintenance manuals for more information.

That’s been today’s quick tip, thanks for watching.

 

Make Undercarriage Inspection Part of Your Daily Routine

This instructional video can serve as a training video for new operators or as part of a refresher course for experienced personnel. It demonstrates how to make checking the life of your undercarriage a part of your daily routine.

When conducting a visual daily inspection of your undercarriage, the video reminds operators that spotting cracks and damage to the tracks early on is better than letting it go until the track fails or pops off later — leaving you with unplanned downtime.

In addition, the video covers many of the cleaning and greasing techniques you should make part of the daily inspection of your undercarriage. This includes the removal of excess dirt, debris, concrete, rocks and hardened mud. All of these substances in large enough amounts can contribute to excessive wear and cause tracks to pull off and fail. Besides manually removing debris from the tracks, it’s also advisable to carry out an occasional power wash to keep the undercarriage clean and perform daily greasing to keep bushings lubricated.

When conducting your visual inspection, you should also look for loose hardware and oil leaks. Plus, you should check that your tracks are not too loose or too tight. The testing procedures for proper track tension differ for different models of track-driven equipment, so consulting your operation and maintenance manual for this and other information is advisable.

Remember: The three rules of maintaining a healthy undercarriage involve keeping it cleaned, keeping it greased and keeping it properly tensioned.

Choose Altorfer Cat for All Your Caterpillar Undercarriage Maintenance Needs

Even the most robust equipment needs maintenance to keep it in good working order. That’s why we offer Altorfer Equipment Management Solutions — EMSolutions — to provide you with a comprehensive maintenance and repair plan for your entire fleet. This includes state-of-the-art tools like VisionLink^TM and ProductLink^TM so you know how it’s performing in real-time. That way, you can anticipate any issues or failures and take action in a timely manner. As a result, you’ll be able to minimize unplanned downtime as well as costly and avoidable repairs.

At Altorfer CAT, we’re proud to have been serving the needs of companies just like yours for more than 60 years. Currently, we have 29 locations in 24 cities across Eastern Iowa, Central and Northern Illinois, the Chicago metropolitan area, Northwest Indiana, and Northern Missouri. For quality equipment, parts and service, contact us or call 800-333-5993 today!