Over the tire tracks (OTT)

There are several stories in the works.  I am waiting on the septic field to be completed so I can tell that story.  I am also waiting on the inspectors opinion of my waterproofing tests.   The latest drama is my inspectors concern about the back-filling.  Since this concern came in after the footings were formed, it could be quite costly to remedy…  I’ll find out tomorrow where that will go (it ended up fine, video of the back-filling showed enough tamping).  In the mean time, I am guessing I won’t get any more permits approved until we sort these things out.

So, lets talk about something completely different, my new Over the Tire Tracks (OTT) for my Skid Steer.

My skid-steer was pretty useless in sand.  As soon as you start to turn, it starts to sink and and you are quickly stuck.  I researched over the tire tracks (OTT) and quickly discovered that even if you buy tracks, they won’t work very well unless you also buy new tires.  The back tires were already new, I just needed to replace the front tires…  I figured that I should replace the tires and see if I still needed the tracks.  $400 later, I discovered that my skid-steer was still pretty useless in the sand.

I don’t spend money lightly, and OTT are expensive, so I spent weeks looking for a decent “used” pair. Occasionally, the steel bar kind would show up on Craig’s list.  Of course they were all rusty and most seemed to be for the wrong tire size or spacing…  but the kicker was that they were still selling for more than half their new price.  From my research, I knew that these bar tracks would give good traction on some types of ground, but I needed “flotation” on the sand.  I needed wide rubber pad tracks.  I didn’t see those second hand anywhere.

Also, OTT tracks also require at least 3 inches of space between the tires and the side of the Skid Steer…  I measured and had only 2.25 inches.  I called around and found that the 3 inches was definitely a minimum.  The solution was to buy and install “wheel spacers”, another $300.  This made me wait even longer to order…

Eventually, I gave in and ordered a set of Prowler Stealth OTT with the extra spacers.  I almost backed out, so the sales guy offered me an even better deal, plus free shipping.  They arrived a week later on a 1400 lb pallet that I was able to easily offload from the truck with my skid steer…

I took the wheels off and put on the wheel spacers.  They were just over 2″ thick, which added 4″ of lateral stability to my SkidSteer…  They went on pretty easily thanks to the old, but powerful socket driver my father left with me during his last visit.  Basically, you bolt them on where the tire was and then use their new wheel studs to bolt your old tires back on.

 

After all 4 wheels were back on, it was time to get the tracks on…  These suckers were heavy.  I managed to lay out one side and drive the skid steer on to it, then I used a rope tied around the wheel to pull the track up onto the wheel as I drove forward.  For the other end of the track, the only option was muscling it into place.  I found it difficult to lift it and guide it properly over the tire treads, so I appreciated my wife helping out with that part.

Prowler provides some tools to help you wrangle the tracks together so you can slide in the carriage bolts.  I am guessing that these tools probably work well with the other types of track that they sell (as shown in the instructions), but the Stealth rubber tracks have less space between them and it is tough to get the turnbuckle in place.  Once it is in place, it tends to turn the rubber pads out of alignment rather than bring them together.   Eventually, I managed to get the first track bolted on, but that was just the start.  Once the track was in place, I was able to measure the slack and find that I needed to remove about 5 inches of total length.  That is too little to remove a whole link, so you need to do it by unhooking and re-hooking individual links using the half inch shorter hole. This meant I was going to get lots of practice.

The instructions show using the turnbuckle tool positioned between the tires, and I did the first couple that way, but I soon found it was easiest to take advantage of the natural slack in-front of the tire.  I could pretty easily move that link into position, the hard part was reaching inside to put the carriage bolt in place.  As I got more and more links tightened, it got harder and harder to pull the track into position and I was back to using the turnbuckle for the last couple holes.

One problem with the turnbuckle is that it was pulling the tracks together in a way that rotated them so that I couldn’t get the bolts in the right place…  I eventually solved this problem by adding stakes that kept everything flat.  I eventually got the first track all tightened up.  I had shifted 9 links.

I then shifted 9 links on the other track while it was laying on the ground.  That was a lot easier.  Getting the second track up on the skidsteer was also easier, thanks to some practice.  But it still took me quite a while to get the last two bolts in place to secure the track…

How did it work out?  Pretty well.  I can now actually use the skid steer on my sandy site.  I have since used it to save about $1000 worth of footings work.  I also used it to unload a couple tons of rebar from the top of a truck.  It moved a few hundred feet of 8″ pipe to the edge of a trench in one trip, etc…   I am sure it will come in very handy for the rest of the construction phase…  And then?  Maybe I sell the skid steer with the tracks?