ForConstructionPros.com

Much of the undercarriage-related owning and operating costs for pavers and milling machines are driven by your maintenance practices. As with most tracked equipment, a little attention goes a long way.

Track tension is perhaps the largest cost driver. Adjustment naturally gets looser with wear. "Most of your wear comes from internal pin and bushing wear, which you really can't see," says Rob Hannan, segment manager for milling products at Volvo. "That makes the track chain a little bit longer, so you have to take up the slack. If there are 30 pins and bushings and you take .5mm wear on each pin, it would be 15mm, which is over half an inch."

While periodic adjustment of track tension is needed, improper adjustment can do more harm than good. "Excessive track tension can cause excessive wear not only on the track components, but also on the drive system as the track will be more difficult to operate," says Dennis Clausen, director of training, GOMACO Corp.

"Over-tightening is always wrong," agrees Guido Bottin, vice president of operations, Berco. "It leads to accelerated wear of the components (pins, bushings and sprockets) and can cause breakages, especially in the steel chains. On the other side, running with a loose undercarriage may lead to detracking of the chains with possible damage to the system."

Advice for managing tension
Every manufacturer recommends checking track tension more or less frequently according to the load conditions, Bottin notes. For new machines with bolt-on shoes (steel only or rubberized), Berco recommends checking both tension and tightness of the bolt after the first 50 hours for heavy-duty use, or after the first 100 hours for moderate to light-duty use. "Additional checks should occur every other 200 to 250 additional hours of usage," he adds.