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Morrisburg, ON | Hi there, We made the jump to a tracked tractor this year. I read every thread on here about tracks before doing so and I'm glad I did. The only thing that the search function couldn't find was how to change tracks. So here it is. :D
I'm really pleased with the mt765d. It performed extremely well on our 24 row planter with the 25" belts. Next to no berming on the end rows and you could hardly see where it had been after the planter had made its marks. I'm now almost 100% certain that the threads on track berming being an issue are more about extremely jealous neighbours or really bad operators than the limitations of a 2 tracked tractor. After a day in the seat you figure out how to move your hand that little bit to make the perfect smooth turn. Yes if you turn too sharp too fast it will make a ridge. However if you do a brake stand (the wheeled equivalent to a poor tracked tractor operator) with a tractor with duals it makes a ditch too! From reading the search function threads I was very nervous about berming. On our clay-loam conventional tillage soils it isn't an issue at all. Sand I just don't know we farm next to none.
We are going to run the 25" camoplast 6500 belts for planting, land leveling and grain cart. The 18" camoplast 4500 belts will only be used to side dress corn.
This is the process of changing the tracks in photos. The missing parts and fine details are well outlined in the owners manual. The first belt took us 3.5 hours to completely change. The second one took just over an hour. I'm going to budget 3 hours total for the job in the future now that we know what we're doing and have made our mistakes. 2.5 people did the work over that time. 2 would work but that third set of eyes watching while mounting and dismounting was a big help.
Any questions or comments are welcome.
Warren
We purchased some heavy duty 20mt screw type jack stands that go from 28 to 48" high. We needed that height to support the tractor. I feel much safer with a stand in its lower half of operation than all the way up. The tractor was completely stable throughout the process.
The tracks need to be about 8 inches off the ground to get the guide blocks to clear the drive wheel.
The book instructions were pretty good. Very simple to take the pressure off the tracks using the provided hydrualic hose. A tip a farmer in Texas told me on twitter was to use the forklift to help get every last bit of oil out of the cylinder! Thanks Alan.
I forget where I read this tip but it worked brilliantly. A light ratchet strap on the third bogey wheel keeps it from falling down when the tracks are loose.
You have to loosen all the bolts on the bogies and the front idler wheel while the tracks are tight and the tractor is on the ground. They spin easily if you don't.
I'm glad I listened to Nick Debuc (Soucey Engineer and college friend) and made the dealer let us keep the wide bogey wheels when we had them swap the wide drives for the mid sized. They really keep the 25 inch belt down and I think are helping with berming and wear.
Next you remove the 3 outer bogies and the front outside idler wheel. Book says take the rear outer drive off but that's too much like work!
We were unsure of the weight and opted to use the forklift for the first one. 2 people can easily carry the wheel so it wasn't necessary. Better safe than sorry!
Ready to remove the track
Our first setup at handling the track. Not recommended. See below for much more user friendly process.
This worked slick! I suggest using straps to carry the belt instead of chains. The forklift holding the track wide over the drive wheel and the engine crane holding the front slack. The pallet jack didn't need to be pushed it just rolled along on its own. This setup saved us about half an hour verses the above photo.
Swapped the bogey wheels and reattached the front idler. Then you can pressurize the track again.
25 to 18 isn't a lot on paper but man it sure looks different!!!
Side 2. Had it off in 30 minutes.
Ready to re-align the front idler wheels to make the belt track properly.
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| Nice job where did you buy the jacks-tands from ? |
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WC MN & Valley of the Sun, AZ | Thanks for sharing, always wondered about the details. |
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Black Hawk County, IA | We pull the driver disc with the forklift and leave it on the forks. Then use a skid loader with forks on to handle the belt. Can do each side in about an hour. Less hardware to R&R and torque this way. J |
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Morrisburg, ON | But there is more bolts on the drive wheel? We don't have front idler weights, need to get some, that might make the difference and force me to take the drive wheel off instead of taking on and off the wheel weights.
Warren |
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Black Hawk County, IA | 18 bolts on drive wheel. You took off 24 for midrollers plus 12 on idler. We don't change our midrollers. J |
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West Union, IOWA FLOLO Farm 52175 | Here is last weeks project.
Be dang careful jacking up the tractor the way you are,I was building this rig but had a slight issue... So I resorted to jacking the way you are...
My wife tries to help around here and she jumped in to help, I'm not going into all the details, but she's on crutches lucky to have a leg.
I rebuilt the failed part on the jig, and finished it.
You can't see the block under the I beam..
But if I had a high clearance sprayer and changed tires I'd make one for that too(set up higher)
Edited by loran 6/6/2015 19:57
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Ontario's middle east | Is Arden in strictly an advisory position? He looks awful clean. ;0) |
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Central Iowa | . |
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Morrisburg, ON | I'd like to see some different pics of that jig. I'm not worried at all about the jack stands we used. You'd have to hit the tractor awfully hard to knock it off and even then with 2ft steel plates on the bottom of the jack stands I'm not even sure it would fall over. Maybe the Deere is different? |
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Morrisburg, ON | Oh ok, I misread your reply. Yes that would be less work. However when I saw the math behind not switching the mid rollers it became a no brainer.
Warren |
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Morrisburg, ON | LOL. Re read the post and seek out the comment on 2.5 workers.
Warren |
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Bartlett TX | Glad I could help. It gets easier every time you swap them. |
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Morrisburg, ON | Thanks again!
Warren |
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Eastern ND | How about the spot the jack/ jackstand contacts the tractor. If not perfectly flat, the jack/ stand could be suceptible to sliding or the tractor could rotate and fall off the jack. But, with a 2' square base on the stands, that seems unlikely. How about the jack? Hyd bottle jack is way smaller.
Local Deere dealer throws floor dry down to help the tracks slide on the concrete floor. |
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West Union, IOWA FLOLO Farm 52175 | I used to drive the tractor up on planks..... Then just jack up enough to take pressure off,pull planks.....
That worked pretty good, but lot of man handling
I'll probably email you pics, I hesitate putting them here.....
With the Jig, I'm betting I can change belts in under an hour Solo.... |
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west central IL | Tell me more about the wide vs narrow Bogeys. We have a mt765b with 25 or 24"s and have issues with berming pulling a 16 row planter. Its not terrible but noticable. I'd think your 24 row would make the turn easier and the berms less evident. Neighbor pulls a 12 row and plants every other pass to prevent the ridges. That said I'm not sure if my bogeys are wide or narrow... I'll have to check. Does the width of those definately make a difference on the berming? wider being better? Thinking mine might be narrows. |
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Morrisburg, ON | Keeping the tracks square with the ground and not curved up IMO will keep the track from pushing as much soil. I have no way of proving that to you but from what I've seen I think it makes a difference. The biggest benefit to the full width bogies is track life. The lugs wear evenly vs center first. The belts in the casing also don't continually flex upwards prolonging their life. You're also not gaining compaction reduction benefits from any part of the track that is flexing upwards. For the few extra bolts to torque it is definitely worth changing them. I'm going to be looking for aftermarket wide bogey wheels for our Lexion's terratracs. The 36 inch belts and the 30 inch belts use the same bogey wheels. I'm noticing accelerated wear to the center portion vs the outside.
Warren |
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nw iowa | 765C with 25" track & 16" track same bogies for both. The 25" belts do curl up, but they berm very little. The 16" track with bogies to the edge of the track berm terrible. To change belts I do drive the belt on one side up on bridge planks. It takes very little jacking to remove planks & belt. Air over hyd jack takes some of the work out of it. All I take off is the front idler
and retract the track tension cylinder with a come along.
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Swapping 25" tracks for 18" on our MT765D pics
