What do you do with your Quadratrack?

[Tractractor 0]

Since things are pretty slow here, I thought I would contribute several photos of a site near Mountville, Pa. where I found this Quadratrack outstanding in its field. More traction than any crawler. What better way to add some pullin work to its career than to hitch it up to a small pan. Check the pics. Jere.

[R-Cubed 0]

I don't know what makes you think it has more traction than "ANY" crawler. I would take it on in a tug-0-war with my TD24 any time!

[bgoathill 0]

The only reason he has good traction is because of that scraper. As it loads it transfers weight to the tractor. Also that is some excellent hard material he is working on. Put some sand pockets or wet gumbo clay and he'll be stopped dead in his tracks. The local coop bought one a few years back to pull a 30 foot anhydrous bar and it wouldn't do it. After half a season they traded it for a wheeled tractor.

[IH RD 0]

Quadtracks have positive drive lugs on the tracks, unlike the earlier Cat Challengers that used friction drives, I heard a lot of ugly stories with them slipping between the drive wheel & the tracks in muddy conditions .

I also heard of a guy that filled his Challenger up with diesel & the nozzle didn't click off, the fuel ran down on the track. Needless to say he had a heck of a time getting the track cleaned off. The wheel would just spin inside of the tracks he had to keep shoveling dry dirt in the drive wheel to wear the fuel off !

Quadtracks are all our co-op will use in the fall to apply NH3, they've rented 3 every fall for the past 4 years!

I think they're the "cadilac" of the rubber track machines, they're on my machinery want list -just wish they weren't so damned expensive!

IH RD

[u-joint 0]

i dont know?

if i remember right the early quads were 425HP. the 9380 wheel tractors i was around seems like were 34000 pounds with no ballast. the quads are heavier than the wheeled versions. that thing in the pic has around a ton of weights in front, and i bet as many or more in the rear. i would put it at around 40000 pounds.

425HP and 40,000 pounds vs a TD24? not sure what a 24 weighs, or the HP?

my moneys on the quad!

[Loren 0]

The Corps. of Eng. here is doing a redo on the resevoir damm and building waterfowl ponds and dikes at the same time. First of last week I saw 2 of the big 4Xdual JD's pulling tandem pans. I never get to see the big wheeled jobs run so it struck me as interesting see 2 of them hooked to construction type scrapers in an odd area.

[sawmill 0]

Loren

They used the same setup,that you

described to build some large lagoons

here. I watched them work all through

the job.

They moved massive amounts of dirt,

in short order. They were fast and

didn't seem to give any trouble.

[Old Pokey 0]

If it were me I would phrase it differently to say something more to the effect of "it has different traction than any crawler".

A quadtrack really does have more traction than a crawler if any steering correction is needed or any steering is to be done period. The quads can steer under full power and make the steering correction needed with very little loss in traction.

The two track crawler on the other hand will need to release power to the inside track to make a steering correction. If the load pulling is greater than the ability of one track to pull, no steering correction can be made.

The abilities of the quad with walking track frames also has other advantages. Such as terrain following.

However, there are several disadvantages to the quad as well. In the woods the quad cannot pivot on the axis of one track frame. Its maneuverability is somewhat limited in this way. If a condition were to arrise where a piece of equipment needed to be backed into or out of a channel with side walls, the crawler can steer the implement with less swing area.

To get the best of both worlds, a fixed frame quad with four corner steering would be a force to be reckoned with.

[Ragnor 0]

Two of like units have been working on the four lane upgrade from Red Deer to the Sylvan Lake turn off....at the moment they are engaged in the spreading of black dirt on the median, backslopes and borrow pits......have not been able to stop for pics, as the other lane is fairly busy....may have to sneak in for a boo....have a good one, R.

[Tractractor 0]

Well guys, I guess I stired up alot of interesting facts I didn't know before about Quadratracks. Seems like they have their place & type of work just like the track machines do. For what its worth, my favorite machine is still the big ol TD24.

[Loren 0]

What I can't figure out Sawmill is that they keep building big piles of dirt from maybe 30-40 tandem dumps then the next time I come by it's gone. A couple more days and another one is starting.

[sawmill 0]

Loren

Did you see any crop circles near by?

Maybe aliens are hauling it off in the

dark.

To be honest, I don't have a clue.

If it is a government job,they probably

have another contractor hauling it back

to the pit.

[sawmill 0]

Loren

They hauled a lot of Bentenite( spelling)

and clay into these lagoons,and spread

it with the cans.

Maybe that is what you are seeing.

[R-Cubed 0]

Steers under power to both tracks? A 24, 25, or 30 can do that with their 2 speed tracks. A 24 weighs 50,000 lb and has about 40,000 lb pulling force. Horsepower is inconsequential. A Ferrari has more power than the Quad. It's the tractive power that matters in this business. The Quad has a 50 year technology advantage that isn't much help when out muscled.

Just before the pulloff I'll let him throw a bucket of oil on my tracks and I will do the same to his.

[Old Pokey 0]

Steers under power to both tracks?  A 24, 25, or 30 can do that with their 2 speed tracks. A 24 weighs 50,000 lb and has about 40,000 lb pulling force. Horsepower is inconsequential. A Ferrari has more power than the Quad. It's the tractive power that matters in this business. The Quad has a 50 year technology advantage that isn't much help when out muscled.

Just before the pulloff I'll let him throw a bucket of oil on my tracks  and I will do the same to his.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What possible good will it do to throw oil on a positive drive track?

I would like to hear more about your "tractive power" as it applies to the 2 units. Especially if horsepower is inconsequential.

Thanks.

[R-Cubed 0]

The oil won't hurt me but from the previous posts it could make the rubber tracks on his klunker slip.

As for HP, that is what allows you to pull FAST under load. In a tug of war we aren't looking for speed.

[Loren 0]

R, someone was saying earlier that the Quad has a lugged track drive, like the sprockets and chain on a crawler. Doesn't slip.

[Loren 0]

If that's it then the Meloniteiteitie must be durt colored, cause it sure looks like durt! Went by this morning and the stack that was there Fri' is gone and another built 150 yards away. Crazy, it tis.

[sawmill 0]

Loren

It could be the rare earth material

Lunarloctite. Maybe they are using it

in the key way for the dam.

[u-joint 0]

a ferrari has more power than a quad?

a ferrari has about 20% of the 1600 pounds of torque the big cam cummins is producing in the quad. torque is the ability to keep motion in motion. a key factor here, not sane to compare the two!

wheel tractors lose drawbar pull when compared to a tracked tractor.

in general a 300HP wheeled tractor is comparable to a 200HP tracked

tractor.

with a quad you gain this back. 425HP and 1600 foot pounds torque compared to 200HP and no more than 600 foot pounds of torque in a 24.

this is why my money is on the quad!

i have the 24 at 33600 pounds pull in first gear maintaining governed speed. i will see if i can find the quads pull tomorrow.

HP is inconsequential here? put a five horse briggs in the 24 and gear it down so it will pull itself. then hook to the quadtrack, there is not enough time in the day for the briggs to do anything when you throttle the quad.

[unscrupless_modifer 0]

Hada go put my boots on. Its geten real deep here.

[R-Cubed 0]

Max horsepower is a constant while torque is not. a 500 hp Ferarri will put out 2000 ft lb of torque if it is geared down. Torque is changed every time you shift gears. You say the Quad has 38000# and 450 hp? I have 50,000# with huge tracks and 290hp. Unfortunately long ago Deas Plant told me that my 290 HP engine would tear up my finals so I'm going to have to pass on the pull-off. Could I win with a 9HP Briggs geared down sufficiently? Probably, but I would need some ballast to replace the engine weight lost with the Briggs. What would win is weight and related traction, not horsepower. Let's see, I have about 12 ft. lb of torque with the Briggs so I need a 166 to 1 gear reduction to get 2000 ft lb. Yes it would be a slow tractor but it would pull !

=======================

According to my manual the 24 will pull 41,985 lb in first gear. That sounds about right since most crawlers have a tractive effort off around 85% of their weight. The quad would have to pull with 105% of it's weight to equal that. That is the basis for my logical win. (on paper)

[logan 0]

We pull a 18 yard cat pull behind scraper with our qaudtrack stx500. I will have to get some pictures of it. logan

[R-Cubed 0]

I take it you haven't seen this ad.

[sawmill 0]

R Cubed

Are you plugging in the fact ,that the

Quad is pulling through a convertor that

multiplies the torque several times.

It delivers more even usable power to

the planataries. Better gear trains and

bearings, and balanced to use all the

power supplied.

I am a hard core crawler guy, but a

new medium size road grader will

out pull a TD 24 or old D8 on hard

ground.

I have watched the quads and big

JD's pull scrapers. I admit when they

hauled them in I thought it was a joke.

They were pulling two scrapers, each

bigger than what most old crawlers

use to pull. No one had to push them

to load and did it easy.

I have pulled scrapers of all sizes with

crawlers, But those modern thingies will

go.

It is the usable power to the ground,

weight,balance,and ground contact

surface that gets the job done.