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combine tracks
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Illinois John
Posted 10/3/2007 07:53 (#213633 - in reply to #213529)
Subject: RE: combine tracks


Crawford County, Robinson, Illinois

I bought a used set of Gilbert and Riplo (http://griptrac.com/) tracks many years ago.  They were 36" pads, with rubber road insets, 5 roller.  Gilbert and Riplo were the favored tracks in our area then, you could just remove the wheels and bolt the tracks directly on the hubs.  I had no problems with my 1680.  The Gilbert and Riplo tracks are made for John Deere hubs, I had to buy $1,000 adapters to use them on my CIH combine.

They are much easier on a combine compared to running in deep mud.  There was a year before I had them that we completed 1,000 acres running knee deep ruts with a mud hog, I felt that was much worse on the combine and the land than running without the tracks.  That said, they are a mess to work with, and you need a forklift to put them on easily.  I bought a 20-ton air jack that was borrowed by neighbors with tracks, that plus the forklift made changing to tracks pretty easy--doing it without the right equipment would be dangerous as well as almost impossible.

The rubber road pads would allow short distances on a local blacktop road, such as moving to a nearby field or crossing the blacktop to get to another field across the road.  Moving several miles, I felt it better to load on a track cart, as if there was an uneven surface on the blacktop, such as a high crown, sometimes the cleats might make a small mark.  I was very careful not to rise the ire of the local road commissioners or neighbors, one could easily make enemies of neighbors for such a callow disregard of an expensive road paid for by all taxpayers.  The rubber road pads were great to allow me to move to a place good for loading, as one could also really tear up a road in the loading process as well.

I sold my tracks after only one year of use when someone around Indianapolis needed them for a wet harvest and we were dry.  I actually needed them two years in the fifteen years I owned them, the first year I had the tracks, but could not get delivery of the adapters I needed until after harvest was over, and I had made the abovementioned knee deep ruts.

It helps to have a mudhog with tracks, makes steering easier and the back end doesn't drag as badly.  Several neighbors used the same type tracks without a mudhog very successfully.

If I had to purchase tracks today, my choice (I haven't researched for several years, there may be better) would be the Gilbert and Riplo (of Ravena, Michigan) full rubber tracks.  They can be driven down the road with no more damage than a Challenger on tracks.  A few persons have had them in the area, and give good report on their use.  The key to tracks is to get as much surface on the ground as possible, the more rollers in the track and the wider the surface the better the float, it is only logical. 

Several neighbors have been successful in adapting different tracks to different combines.  The main problem with tracks is getting them when you need them.  You can buy them cheaper and easier during the summer, but when everybody wants them, they can be hard to find and very expensive. 

I hope you can find a good set of tracks to do the job for you at a good price.  I don't believe you will be sorry, if your conditions really do need them.  Locals that are very set on no-till put them on often when it only starts to get wet, to prevent ruts that could cause them to disturb the soil surface.  Being able to put them on and off easily is very important if that is your reason for tracks.



Edited by Illinois John 10/3/2007 08:03




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