52
SHOES
General Information
Track Shoe Cause and Effect
Performance
Shoe wear and structural life is more
affected by soil and underfoot conditions
plus operating conditions than any other
component in the undercarriage. So, wear
rate and structural problems are good indi-
cators of soil and underfoot and operating
conditions, but a poor indicator of the con-
dition of other components. Therefore,
shoe wear, and structural problems and
shoe selection is an independent topic.
However, proper shoe type and width
selection has a substantial impact on the
expected performance of all other under-
carriage components.
How to Interpret
Shoe Wear Patterns
Grouser Wear
(Single or Multi-Grousered Shoes)
CAUSES: Sliding contact with underfoot
material.
ACCELERATORS: Weight, horsepower,
speed, impact, abrasiveness, terrain, and
all operating variables that cause non-pro-
ductive slippage, turning or sliding.
EFFECTS: Loss of traction, bending
strength and regrouserability when wear
limits reached or exceeded.
REMEDIES: (1) Reduce or eliminate con-
trollable accelerators variables particularly
slippage and unnecessary turning. (2) Use
extreme service shoes if single grouser shoe
is critical item requiring service before pins
and bushings.
Plate Wear and
Leading-Trailing Edge Wear
(Single and Multi-grouser shoe)
CAUSES: Same as grouser wear.
ACCELERATORS: Same as “Grouser
Wear.”
EFFECTS: Loss of bending or beam
strength. May prevent successful regrous-
ered life despite condition of grouser.
REMEDIES: Same as “Grouser Wear.”
Use Sealed and Lubricated Track if lead-
ing and trailing edge wear is a critical
wear item.
Grouser Corner Wear
CAUSES: Same as “Grouser Wear” but
different underfoot and operating accelera-
tor are predominant.
ACCELERATORS: Same as “Grouser
Wear” except terrain is probably less smooth.
Too wide shoes in high impact condition on
rough terrain will accelerate this effect partic-
ularly where much turning is evident.
EFFECT: Reduces effective shoe wear life
and regrouserability.
REMEDIES: Reduce or eliminate control-
lable accelerator variables and use narrow-
est shoe that will give adequate flotation.