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Bell Land Improvement, Elgin, IL, specializes in mid- to large-sized earthmoving projects, including residential subdivisions, golf courses and road work. Its rather extensive equipment fleet includes dozers, excavators, articulated dump trucks and nearly 50 self-propelled scrapers.

Over the past four or five years, the contractor has also worked with Martin Equipment of Illinois, Inc.to lease six to eight 413-hp Bell Equipment 4206D-T construction scraper tractors with ATI self-tensioning modular tracks. These units are mated to scraper pans capable of self loading up to 31 yds. (struck), or top or push loading up to 38 yds. (heaped).

"We haven't really found anything that competes with the track setup," says Brian Ziller, general superintendent for Bell Land Improvement. "The Bells work extremely well in our low ground pressure situations."

The only problem the contractor has encountered with the systems relates to distribution of the load weight. "We had a lot of weight at the very rear of the machine with that pan strapped right on the tongue," Ziller says. This has proven hard on the track systems.

So when Mark Klein at Martin Equipment came up with a possible solution, Bell Land Improvement jumped at the chance to test it out. Ziller and his colleagues weren't disappointed in the results.