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John Deere recommends the narrowest shoe possible to achieve required flotation. "If a machine is equipped with wider shoes than necessary for the application, you can expect to see shortened undercarriage life," Van Hook explains. "Wide shoes are necessary in soft underfoot conditions, but take that wide shoe into harder ground conditions, stumps or rocks, and you can expect to see reduced life. Wide shoes have an impact on track chain wear in general and can increase the load on the complete undercarriage system and components."

Hyundai's Pooley and Tom Novak point out that track tension must be checked daily for jobsite conditions. "You want to slacken tension for soft and muddy conditions and tighten for rock and general hard ground conditions. Slack measurement depends on size of machine, and manufacturers specify that in their operators manual," they say.

Undercarriage maintenance
Manufacturers agree that undercarriage maintenance doesn't vary much according to machine size, and it's neither time-consuming nor expensive. Emmans explains: "Much of it is only taking the time to check and inspect components to confirm their condition," he says. "Machines built over the past 10 years generally do not require oil changes within components as their oil capacities and seals usually last the life of the component. This lifetime is defined as wearing from the new external dimension to a published end-of-life dimension and can be measured physically on the component."

By knowing the new and end-of-life dimension you can quickly determine the percentage of wear that you have left. "All components are designed to wear at roughly the same rate," Emmans explains. "If you have one component that is damaged or worn more than others, it will increase overall wear and shorten the life of all related components. The most often noted example is a failed bottom roller that will not turn. As the machine travels, the chain is dragged across this seized roller, wearing flat areas on the bottom. This wear is reflected on the chain surface and increases friction, which increases wear on the chain pins, bushings, sprockets and idlers. For one seized roller, all components suffer and have a shorter life."

Proper maintenance starts with a daily inspection or as soon as the machine returns. "Use a track spade to clean the dirt from the top rollers and around the sprockets and idlers," he suggests. "The cleaning serves two purposes: to remove material that might freeze or dry overnight and cause components to be stuck in the first movement the next day, and to allow a visual inspection for loose, worn or missing components."