Issue # 6: Cletrac Facts

It’s wintertime and snow has fallen here in eastern Pennsylvania. The driveway has been opened by our Cockshutt OC-4 and its efficient Anderson 6-way hydraulic dozer blade. When snow falls, very few pieces of equipment rival the surefootedness of a crawler tractor for snow removal. However, snow can present its own share of undercarriage problems. Most of these problems are totally absent when doing typical dirt work.

Let me share with you a few learning experiences that we have had over time. For years, we did most of our snow removal with our OC-46 loader with very little trouble. The OC-46 was a low-hour machine when we bought it, so it was basically in good condition. One of the first things we did was install new track pins and bushings.

As years passed, we acquired bigger Oliver crawler loaders such as the OC-96 and the OC-156. Both of these machines had their own personalities partly due to the condition they were in and some of the features they had. Some of its characteristics also had to do with us as operators. Neither of these machines was built in great quantities and my background was related more to farm and mechanics and not as a heavy equipment operator. So, as you can expect, there were several things that we had to learn while operating these big crawlers.

First Awakening: Ice and Sleet

When we got our OC-156 crawler/loader operating, we felt that we had a crawler that was practically unstoppable. We began to hope for a great big snowfall just so we could try it out. Instead, we got lots of ice and sleet that winter. Ice and crawler tractors with loader-type grousers (sometimes known as street plates) are a poor mix.

Some of you are aware that we are located on a slope. Several times we have taken a fast ride downhill on this 28,000 pound sled! Once we narrowly missed plowing into an electric pole with a transformer on it. That pole still bears a little scar where the end bucket tooth grazed it as we slid by. On another occasion we were expecting a load of steel. The truck driver wondered if he could get up our driveway. I told him “If you can’t get up here, we’ll pull you up.” No success, the OC-156 was almost helpless on the ice. We ended up using it to unload the steel down by the road.

Later that winter we had quite a sleet storm, which blew and drifted. My neighbor, John Hoover, asked if I would open up his barnyard. So I went down to his place with the OC-156. I approached the first big drift and lowered the bucket to the ground, engaged the clutch and opened the throttle. Breaking through the three-foot drifts of this heavy, crusty stuff made the big Hercules diesel engine sound good. John was walking behind observing the action. Pretty soon I heard him yell “You’re throwing a track!” I dismounted and saw that not only was the track coming off, but it had also broken a link in the process.

Needless to say, I wasn’t a very happy camper at that point. Unbeknownst to me, this sleet mixture was starting to melt a little and was packing in the track chain and became solid ice, which was packed as hard as a rock. This put extreme strain on the track chain causing it to break at a weak link. The track chain was worn thinner than we had really been aware of. As it was late in the day already, we left the crawler set right where it was until the next morning, hoping that it didn’t snow overnight.

That evening I got some track links, pins and some tools ready. The next morning, Harold and I loaded up the tools in the bucket of the OC-46 and set out to get our big horse up on its tracks again. We cleaned out an area beside our sick crawler with the OC-46. Next we jacked it up and removed the track. The pin was driven out of the broken link and the replacement link was installed. Next we loosened up the track idler adjustment. The track was put under the machine and brought up and around the track idler with the OC-46 allowing us to get it hooked back up. I sent Harold back to the shop with the OC-156 and finished the snow removal job with the OC-46.

Tune in to each exciting issue of Oliver Heritage for every exciting segment of Cletrac Facts by Landis Zimmerman!!!