06/02/2026
What are the Main Parts of a Tracked Undercarriage?
The track group serves to transfer the weight of tracked machinery to the ground while ensuring sufficient driving force is generated. Track groups frequently operate in muddy, uneven terrain and stony soil, enduring harsh conditions and uneven stress distribution, making them prone to wear. Consequently, besides requiring excellent traction, the track group must possess sufficient strength, rigidity, and wear resistance, while remaining as lightweight as possible.
The track group serves to transfer the weight of tracked machinery to the ground while ensuring sufficient driving force is generated. Track groups frequently operate in muddy, uneven terrain and stony soil, enduring harsh conditions and uneven stress distribution, making them prone to wear. Consequently, besides requiring excellent traction, the track group must possess sufficient strength, rigidity, and wear resistance, while remaining as lightweight as possible.
Track groups come in two forms: monocoque and modular. Monocoque track group features interlocking teeth on the track plate that directly engage with the drive sprocket, with the plate itself serving as the rolling surface for idler wheels and other components. This design offers poor wear resistance. Currently, the modular track group predominates. These comprise track plates, track links, pins, and bushings. Left and right track links connect tightly with bushings, while pins insert into bushings with controlled clearance to ensure rotational flexibility at joints. Both ends of the pins engage snugly with the corresponding holes in adjacent track links. To secure the track, the pins fit loosely within the track link holes, facilitating overall installation and removal. This configuration offers a small pitch, good flexibility, and relatively high travel speeds. The pins and bushings possess high hardness, wear resistance, and extended service life. Track pitches are now standardised. Track plate designs vary widely; standards mandate the use of rolled track plates, which are lightweight, high-strength, structurally simple, and cost-effective.
Track plates come in single-rib, double-rib, and triple-rib varieties. Single-ribbed track plates possess higher rib strength, readily penetrating the ground to generate substantial traction force, and are primarily employed on bulldozers. Double-ribbed track plates, being slightly shorter, facilitate easier steering and offer improved track plate rigidity; they are specified for use on loaders. Triple-ribbed track plates also feature short ribs; the increased number of ribs enhances both the track plate's rigidity and strength, providing greater load-bearing capacity, and they are designated for use on excavators. Each three-rib track plate features four connecting holes and two mud-clearing holes centrally positioned. When the track links pass over the drive wheel, the wheel teeth automatically dislodge accumulated mud from the links. Adjacent track plates incorporate overlapping sections to prevent high stresses caused by stones becoming trapped between them. Additionally, specialised triangular-section track plates are designed for operation on marshy, soft ground.